Egypt PM rules out reconciliation with Brotherhood

Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab has ruled out the possibility of reconciliation with the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement from which ousted president Mohamed Morsi hails.

"Reconciliation with whom?" Mahlab asked in an interview with Russia Today's Arabic-language news channel late Wednesday.

"I don't think there can be any reconciliation with those who killed people and blew things up," he said.

In the year since, the Brotherhood has led opposition to Egypt's army-backed authorities, which has landed most of its leaders and supporters in jail on incitement-to- violence charges – charges they say are politically driven.

Mahlab, however, said his government could not mend fences with what he described as a "terrorist" group.  

"I think we have to fight this terrorist organisation," he said during the interview.

These statements come after Egyptian authorities proposed on Wednesday an initiative for reconciliation in the country within months, most likely after a law on transitional justice is approved by the upcoming parliament that would be elected before the end of the year, an official said.

"An initiative would be presented after the transitional justice law is issued by the parliament, and the law would regulate the terms of the proposed reconciliation initiative," Mahmoud Fawzi, spokesman for the country's Transitional Justice Ministry, told Anadolu Agency.

The parliamentary elections are considered the third and final phase of the military-backed transitional roadmap adopted following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.

Egypt completed the first phase of the transitional roadmap in January by holding a referendum on an amended version of the constitution.

In May, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who is widely seen as the architect of Morsi's ouster and subsequent imprisonment one year ago, was declared the winner of Egypt's presidential election– the second phase of the roadmap.

The ministry's reconciliation plan would be likely aimed toward ending months of political turmoil in the country following Morsi's ouster by the army last year.

Earlier this week, Morsi's main support bloc rejected an initiative tabled by pro-Islamist ex-MP Mohamed al-Omda for reconciliation between the army-backed authorities and Morsi backers, led by his decades-old Muslim Brotherhood group.

The initiative calls for a return to the "democratic track" and the removal of all state restrictions on the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist movements proscribed in the wake of Morsi's ouster last year.

Al-Omda's overture, however, would also allow al-Sisi to continue his four-year term, which would be considered a "transitional" period during which the military and the Brotherhood would be expected to agree on a peaceful course of cooperation.

Fawzi also said that his ministry has finalised the draft law on transitional justice, which would require parliament consent before it could produce a full-fledged reconciliation plan.

"The law would aim to reveal the facts of the past, offer compensation to victims and brought about accord and peaceful coexistence," he added, without giving details.

Fawzi also called on the Brotherhood to "return to the national fold and rectify its mistakes."

"The Brotherhood must admit their mistakes that led the people to take to the streets on July 30 of last year [a few days before Morsi's ouster]," he added.

Since Morsi's ouster last year, the Egyptian authorities have unleashed a deadly crackdown on the Brotherhood and its supporters.

Last December, the army-backed government designated the Brotherhood a "terrorist organisation," blaming it for a string of deadly attacks on security forces – allegations the group categorically denies.