by Lady Michelle-Jennifer Santos, Chief Visionary Founder & Owner
August 16, 2013 (TSR) – In its lowest relationship with Egypt ever, the United States warned its citizens on Thursday not to travel to Egypt and called on those already there to leave.
The State Department travel warning was issued one day after a crackdown on street protests in Cairo ordered by Egypt’s military-backed government.
At least 421 civilians died in Wednesday’s violence, ministry spokesman Mohammed Fathallah said.
He said 137 people had been killed in the main Rabaa al-Adawiya camp which pro-Morsi protesters had occupied for weeks.
At the smaller of the two encampments in Nahda square, 57 people were killed and 227 died in the rest of the country, he said.
The interior ministry said 43 policemen had also been killed.
According to Health Ministry, some 525 people were killed in the crackdown and 3,717 others injured, making Wednesday the deadliest day since the African country’s popular uprising in 2011 that ousted Hosni Mubarak.
Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood party, however, put the death toll far higher, saying more than 2,000 people had died in the police crackdown on Morsi supporters.
Morsi loyalists have insisted that their demonstrations are exclusively peaceful, but an AFP reporter saw several protesters carrying weapons at Rabaa on Wednesday.
The Egyptian security forces started Wednesday dawn the evacuation operation at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square in Cairo’s Nasr City and Nahda Square in Giza. Pro-Morsi protesters had been sitting in there for some 45 days.
After Wednesday’s deadly clashes, Egypt announced a state of emergency nationwide for one month and imposed curfew on a number of turmoil governorates.
The headquarters of Egypt’s Giza governorate has been stormed and set on fire by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday, state TV reported.
The governorate building has been evacuated and the streets leading to it have been blocked off by security men, according to the report.
Meanwhile, local al-Youm al-Sabea newspaper said that hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members broke into the governorate building after hurling Molotov cocktails and firing gunshots at the premises.
US Administration believes Egypt state of emergency should be lifted immediately, State Department Spokeswoman said Thursday.
Moreover, Egypt’s interim Vice President for International Relations, Mohamed ElBaradei, offered his resignation after the violence, saying he is no longer able to bear responsibility for any drop of blood, “particularly as I believe it could have been avoided” or decisions he does not agree with and that he is quite concerned about their consequences.
The United States said on Thursday it will review aid to Egypt “in all forms” after President Barack Obama canceled joint military exercises with Egypt next month in response to a bloody clampdown by Egyptian security forces.
“Going forward, as you saw evidence of this morning with the announcement, we will continue to assess and review our aid in all forms,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told a briefing.
Psaki also condemned the “reprehensible attacks” over the past few days against Coptic Christian churches and recent attacks on public buildings in Egypt. “These attacks are further aggravating an already fragile atmosphere,” she added.
The two Persian Gulf states, together with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, had welcomed the ouster of Morsi by the Egyptian army on July 3.
U.S. officials have been grappling with how to handle the $1.55 billion in mostly military aid Washington sends each year to Cairo. The Obama administration is still very careful not to label of what took place as “coup”.
After the ouster of Egypt’s first elected president, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait pledged a total of USD 12 million in aid to help Egypt’s weakening economy.
The Brotherhood remained defiant on Thursday, with spokesman Gehad al-Haddad saying demonstrations would continue.
“We will always be non-violent and peaceful. We remain strong, defiant and resolved,” he tweeted.
“We will push forward until we bring down this military coup.”
Egyptian authorities say the interim government forces will stand firm against any more protests.
