Baku-APA. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was sending his deputy Williams Burns back to Egypt on Friday to further press its leaders to shun violence and promote an inclusive political process in the country, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
Burns, who traveled to Egypt two weeks ago after the army's ouster of elected President Mohamed Morsi on July 3 sparked mass protests and bloodshed, will be joining officials from the European Union and the Middle East in his push for a successful transition in Egypt, the State Department said.
He will discuss with the Egyptian leaders "the importance of avoiding violence and helping to facilitate a peaceful and inclusive political process," it said in a statement.
The State Department, however, did not say whether Burns will talk with members of the Muslim Brotherhood, who criticized Kerry for saying on Thursday that the Egypt's military was "restoring democracy" when it ousted Morsi at the request of "millions and millions of people."
"The United States looks forward to seeing a peaceful transition to a democratically-elected civilian government that protects the rights of all Egyptians," the department said.
Washington has refused to label Morsi's removal a coup, enabling it to continue its 1.3 billion dollars in annual aid to the Egyptian military. It, however, has halted the delivery of four F-16 fighters to Cairo in a show of its unhappiness with the military's handling of the situation.
Nearly 300 people have been killed in violence since Morsi's ouster, and his Islamist supporters are still encamped in two squares in Cairo -- Rabaa al-Adaweya in Nasr City and Nahdet Misr in Giza, demanding his reinstatement.
Egypt's interim government on Wednesday instructed its security forces to end the sit-ins, raising the spectra of more deadly confrontations.
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