Kerry Calls for Elections in Egypt
Foreign Policy reports:
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry(D-MA) both said independently today that the Egyptian government should cease the use of violence against protesters but only Kerry called for free and fair elections this year.
"I call on the Egyptian government and security forces to exercise restraint in dealing with protesters and to respect the human rights of its citizens to seek greater participation in their own government," Clinton said on Friday. She called on President Hosni Mubarak's government to cease blocking communications inside Egypt and allow peaceful protests.
"These protests underscore that there are deep grievances within Egyptian society, and the Egyptian government needs to understand that violence will not make these grievances go away," Clinton said.
That's stronger than Vice President Joseph Biden's comments on Thursday night on PBS News Hour, strong>when he said< about Mubarak, "I would not refer to him as a dictator," noting that the protesters grievances should be heard "if they are" legitimate.
