Egypt rules out involvement in Syria's war
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri has ruled out Egypt's taking part in Syria's ongoing civil conflict that has lasted nearly six years.
"We will not get involved in the conflict and will not engage in any military solution," Shoukri told journalists in an interview in Berlin. "We have been calling for an end to the conflict that has proved ineffective over six years. Any progress will take place through agreement between the political forces on the future of Syria," he added.
Syria's crisis started in March 2011 with peaceful anti-government protests. The situation quickly developed into a full-blown, multi-sided war estimated to have killed more than 300,000 people.
Shoukri said that Egypt is preparing to host a meeting of different Syrian opposition groups aimed at unifying them ahead of negotiations with the Syrian government to be sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva in February.
"Egypt is working to enhance the national opposition's abilities," Shoukri said. "It persistently calls on the Syrian government to show flexibility and full engagement in the political course."
In recent months, the West-backed Syrian opposition has been fractured and ineffective, allowing the forces of President Bashar al-Assad to regain a lot of ground they had previously lost to the rebels. Last month, al-Assad's forces retook control of the divided city of Aleppo, marking the regime's biggest victory since the start of the conflict.
Once Syria's commercial hub, Aleppo had been divided between the Syrian government and the opposition since 2012.
Shoukri called for a "comprehensive" global approach against terrorism. "There must be a comprehensive perspective in tackling radical thinking covering all terrorist organisations, political circumstances and existing conflicts that have provided the arena for them to spread."
He accused unnamed countries of supporting terrorism for political gains.
Egypt has seen a spate of deadly attacks mainly targeting security forces since the army's 2013 overthrow of president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood following mass protests against his rule. Egypt has blamed the attacks on the Muslim Brotherhood and designated it as a terrorist organisation.
On Monday, eight Egyptian policemen and one civilian were killed in two separate militant attacks in the troubled Sinai Peninsula. Shoukri defended a draft law passed in November last year regulating the work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Egypt.
"This draft law was worked out by the House of Deputies parliament that represents people," he said. "There should be respect for institutions that express popular will."
The bill require NGOs to apply to a special commission before carrying out or publishing the results of any field research or opinion surveys.
Under the new law, NGOs could be dissolved by a court order on various grounds, including receiving foreign funding without approval of a special commission that includes representatives from several ministries.
The UN warned that the law could "devastate civil society" in the country and turn it into a government puppet. (dpa)
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