Protest near Cairo airport delays Kerry departure

CAIRO - Agence France-Presse

US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speaks to the media with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr at Egypt's Foreign Ministry in Cairo on March 2. AP Photo

Hundreds of Egyptian football fans blocked a main road to Cairo's international airport on Sunday, forcing a delay in visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry's departure, an airport official said.
 
The Al-Ahly club fans blocked the road in anticipation of a court ruling this weekend in which rival soccer fans in Port Said face sentencing over a deadly football riot. The Al-Ahly fans want them convicted.
 
An airport official said police have deployed armored vehicles to prevent the fans from getting closer to the airport.
 
Kerry has still not arrived at the airport, the official said, although he had been scheduled to leave at around 2 p.m. GMT.
 
The Al-Ahly fans, known as Ultras, blocked roads and trains in January ahead of a court ruling that sentenced a first group of 21 defendants to death over last year's football riot in which 74 fans, mostly from Cairo, were killed.

Kerry urges unity as he wraps up Egypt visit

US Secretary of State John Kerry was to meet the Egyptian president Sunday as he wraps up a trip to Cairo, where he urged divided factions to reach a consensus that would pave the way for economic recovery.
 
Before going into talks with Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, the US secretary of state met army chief Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
 
Kerry flew in to Cairo from Turkey on Saturday and urged a wide range of political and business leaders to reach a consensus, after months of political turmoil and unrest.
 
"There must be a willingness on all sides to make meaningful compromises on the issues that matter most to the Egyptian people," Kerry told reporters after talks on Saturday with Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr.
 
"We do believe that in this moment of economic challenge that it is important for the Egyptian people to come together around the economic choices and to find some common ground in making those choices," he said.
 
Kerry's visit comes with Egypt deeply divided between Morsi's mainly Islamist allies and a wide-ranging opposition that accuses Morsi of failing to address the country's economic needs and political concerns.
 
Kerry said he would discuss with Morsi on Sunday ways in which the United States could help Egypt recover from its economic crisis.
 
"And I emphasise again, as strongly as I can, we're not here to interfere, I'm here to listen," Kerry said.
 
Meeting some of Egypt's business leaders, Kerry stressed the importance of a $4.8-billion IMF loan, which is partly conditioned on a measure of agreement between the nation's divided factions.
 
"It is paramount, essential, urgent that the Egyptian economy gets stronger, that it gets back on its feet," he said. "It is clear to us that the IMF arrangement needs to be reached. So we need to give the marketplace the confidence." Kerry said Washington was prepared to help Egypt, which has seen its foreign currency reserve slide to a critical level and the Egyptian pound lose around eight percent against the dollar.
 
On his first tour as secretary of state, Kerry met British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before coming to Cairo.
 
"All of them are prepared to be helpful but all of them believe that Egypt needs to make some fundamental economic choices," he said.
 
Kerry began the Cairo leg of his tour by meeting Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, before evening talks with Amr.
 
Outside the foreign ministry, dozens of protesters burned pictures of Kerry as they chanted against perceived US support for Morsi.
 
But Kerry insisted the United States was not biased towards any party.
 
"I make it particularly clear today on behalf of President Obama and the American people that we come here as friends for the Egyptian people, not for one government, or one person or one party or one ideology but for the Egyptian people." Kerry also spoke with Mohamed ElBaradei by telephone. ElBaradei and opposition figure Hamdeen Sabahi had refused to meet him in person.
 
All three are leading figures in the National Salvation Front, a coalition of liberal and leftist parties opposed to Morsi, which has announced a boycott of elections that begin next month.
 
The president has called for staggered parliamentary elections to start on April 22. The NSF said it would boycott the polls, expressing doubts over their transparency.