Ashton expected to offer mediation to end Egypt crisis

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton Cairo – Akram Ali European Union\'s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is expected to arrive in Cairo later Sunday on her second visit to the country in just two weeks .
The top European diplomat is expected to urge the Egyptian leadership to start dialogue and end the bloodshed.
The European Union\'s foreign policy chief will meet Monday with interim President Adly Mansour, before meeting army chief and Defence Minister General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and then Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy.
Sources told Arab Today that Ashton will discuss the EU perspective on the ongoing events in Egypt, especially the clashes on Saturday in Nasr City, eastern Cairo,
where 72 people were killed.
The sources also revealed that Ashton will also meet representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood to offer mediation to end the crisis and reach reconciliation.
Ashton will allegedly renew the EU request for releasing ousted president Mohammed Morsi, who was detained for 15 days pending investigations into allegations of collaboration with foreign forces.
On Saturday evening, Mansour chaired a meeting of the National Defence Council at Ittihadiya palace, with senior officials discussing ways to resolve the current crisis.
In a statement, the presidency said that the meeting was attended by interim Vice-President Mohamed ElBaradei, Prime Minister ?Hazem el-Beblawi, Deputy PM and Minister of Defence General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, Justice Minister Adel Abdel-Hamid, Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy and Chief of Staff of ?the Armed Forces Sedki Sobhi.
The Council is expected to make an official statement on Sunday.
Meanwhile, umbrella group National Salvation Front (NSF) has condemned the  most recent violence and killing of a large number of Muslim Brotherhood activists.
However, the group, which was the main Egyptian opposition coalition during President Mohammed Morsi\'s reign, said that it \"can’t help\" but blame and condemn the Muslim Brotherhood for the deaths.
NSF said that the Brotherhood had \"gathered its supporters in Rabaa Al-Adawiya [sit-in in Cairo\'s Nasr City] for a month now and claims that confronting the armed forces and the police, attacking private and governmental institutions, and endangering the lives of the Egyptian citizens is jihad for God, and they will receive martyrdom if they [die] in these attacks.”
The NSF has also accused the Brotherhood of adopting an “inciting hostility approach” by exaggerating the numbers of deaths and injuries during the clashes. The Brotherhood, as described by the NSF, is seeking to “increase the conflicts, and cause more innocent Egyptian casualties.”
The Front demanded the immediate formation of an independent committee to investigate the incident and present its finding to the interior minister.
The Muslim Brotherhood, on the other hand, thanked fellow Islamist groups for supporting its bid to preserve the \"constitutional legitimacy.\"
In a statement, it confirmed that it is studying initiatives proposed by a number of politicians, intellectuals and activists to restore democratic legitimacy in Egypt following the July 3 military coup.
\"We deeply appreciate the sincere patriotic stands of all the most respectable intellectual symbols and political figures in Egypt, our homeland, who are determined to restore constitutional legitimacy,\" the Brotherhood said.
\"The Brotherhood, as an integral part of the Pro-Legitimacy, Anti-Coup National Alliance, listens to all offers and initiatives on the scene, but can only express an opinion about them after consideration and consultation with all Alliance parties,\" the Islamist movement added.