Egypt refuses reconciliation with terrorist groups: MP

CAIRO – 24 April 2017: Egypt refuses any talks about reconciliation with terrorist groups, undersecretary of the parliament’s Defense and National Security Committee announced Sunday, responding to The Islamic Group’s (Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya) calls for terrorist organizations in Sinai to stop their attacks and enter into a dialogue with the state.

Parliament Member Yehya Kedwany stressed that there would be no reconciliation with those who “rose their weapons in the face of Egyptians and killed policemen, armed force members and civilians.”

“Egypt is unlike any other place in the region. We are not Yemen or Syria, and we will not allow foreign interventions or build the state on a weak foundation,” Kedwany said, adding that these terrorist organizations are “ignorant and corrupt … and they represent a deviant ideology of Islam.”

Kedwany emphasized that there is “no retreat from implementing the law and no dialogue with the killers.”

Al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya and its political fraction Al-Benaa Wal Tanmeya (Building and Development Party)have called for terrorist organizations in Sinai to halt their operations against state institutions, starting Sinai Liberation Day on Tuesday.

In a statement released by the group on Saturday, they called for “measures to prevent more deterioration, in light of the intensifying crisis”. These measures require the armed groups in Sinai to stop their operations, and the Egyptian government to cease its raids and prosecutions starting Tuesday.