Foreign mediation fails to resolve Egypt crisis

Egypt's presidency announced Wednesday that foreign mediation has failed to persuade the Muslim Brotherhood to find a peaceful solution to the political deadlock in the country, state-run al-Ahram Online said.

"Today, the diplomatic efforts phase ended," the presidency said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

The presidency blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for the failure of the talks.

"Muslim Brotherhood group is fully responsible for foiling the efforts, and it is also accountable for any resulted developments related to law violation or social peace threat," the statement said.

"In the frame of the state's keenness to give a chance for all diplomatic efforts... the Egyptian government allowed visits of the US and UN envoys as well as officials from UAE and Qatar to urge the Brotherhood to respect the public will represented in demonstrations of June 30 and July 26," the statement read.

"Such efforts have not fulfilled the prospective success despite full support of the interim administration," it added.

Egypt has turned into a destination for Arab and Western diplomats over the ongoing political crisis that hit the country since Morsi's popular-backed overthrow by the army July 3. Pro-Morsi Islamist leaders have joined an open-ended sit-in for over a month calling for Morsi's reinstatement.

US Republican senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham arrived here Monday on a two-day official visit to meet Egyptian interim rulers and members of the Muslim Brotherhood, including those from its Freedom and Justice Party.

The US officials' visit overlapped another one of US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns to Egypt.