By Zainab Joaque
A Senior Assistant in Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says his country does not have a “regime”. Speaking at a press conference at the Egyptian embassy in Freetown, Ambassador Raouf Saad said, “we have a government in place and we will continue the civil rule and the democratization process”. He said that he was here as a special envoy to the government of Sierra Leone in an attempt to “set the record straight” regarding the suspension of his country by the African Union. Ambassador Saad said that they officially rejected the AU decision as calling it “inaccurate and wrong”, and that the organization turned down their request to honour their invitation to assess the situation firsthand. “We chose to visit [Sierra Leone] even though you are not part of the Peace and Security Council, but Sierra Leone is very important to Egypt as brothers in Africa” he said, adding that he had met Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana describing the meeting as “fruitful”. He said that they were visiting member countries to explain their situation to them and “to express our dissatisfaction as the [AU] decision shocked the Egyptian people”. He denied that the toppling of President Morsi was a coup d’état and should not considered unconstitutional. “We have to differentiate what we mean by coup d’état and popular uprising” Ambassador Saad, adding “what happened is contrary to what they are saying as the young people made a decision and it should be respected”.
