Washington on Wednesday urged Egypt’s military and political factions to resolve their differences through dialogue.
“We absolutely do not believe that the time for dialogue has passed,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
Western envoys had pressured the Brotherhood to end its sit ins, according to Islamists who attended the talks. They also demanded that the government release jailed Islamist leaders as a confidence building measure.
Egyptian authorities bear a “special responsibility” to crack the stalemate and “ensure the safety and welfare of its citizens,” Kerry and Ashton stressed.
“This remains a very fragile situation,” they warned.
Morsi himself is being held on suspicion of having collaborated with Palestinian militants to kill policemen and stage jail breaks during an early 2011 uprising against strongman Hosni Mubarak, while Morsi was in prison.
The Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, and his deputies, are to stand trial later this month on charges of inciting the shootings of protesters outside their headquarters on June 30.
The government says it is up to the judiciary to release prisoners. The Islamists say their release is a precondition for further talks on finding a settlement, which could include symbolically reinstating Morsi, who would then call early elections.
Authorities have promised demonstrators a safe exit and said ending their protests would allow the Brotherhood’s return to political life.
More than 80 protesters were killed in clashes with police at the main sit in outside Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque on June 27.
Over 50 people died in earlier clashes with soldiers outside an elite army base.
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