Egyptian groups seek truce with army

CAIRO: Two former Egyptian militant groups have proposed a truce between the military and the ousted president’s Muslim Brotherhood group, in a move that highlights the extent to which the Brotherhood has been weakened by a massive security crackdown.
The leaders of the Gamaa Islamiya and Islamic Jihad movements said Monday their initiative calls for supporters of former President Muhammad Mursi to cease street demonstrations if the military-backed government halts their moves against them.
The two groups, which waged an insurgency against the government in the 1990s but later renounced violence, want the army and Brotherhood to enter into dialogue.
Mursi’s allies have previously insisted on his reinstatement as a precondition to talks, but Islamic Jihad leader Mohammed Abu Samra told The Associated Press that the proposed truce had no “red lines.”
While the groups do not speak for the Brotherhood itself, the initiative is a new sign of flexibility from the pro-Mursi camp, whose protest campaign is waning. Hundreds of Brotherhood leaders and organizers have been arrested in the crackdown and numbers at their formerly massive rallies have dwindled. “We are paving the way for talks,” Abu Samra said. “We can’t hold talks while we are at the points of swords in the midst of killings and crackdowns.”