January 31st, 2011 by Naureen

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak‘s move to appoint a new government saying that the situation in the country called for action not appointments. Gibbs called for negotiations “with a broad cross-section of the Egyptian people, including the current government” and said that the transition will “have to address the freedoms that the people of Egypt seek” including free and fair elections, scrapping the emergency laws, and changes to the constitution to allow greater democracy. When asked whether the US government was comfortable with and could work with the Muslim Brotherhood in power, Gibbs stated, “I think, from what we can see, it’s not accurate to say that those protesting are made up of one particular group or one particular ideology. I think it is clear that an increase in democratic representation has to include a whole host of important non-secular actors. We do not have contact with [the Muslim Brotherhood], and we have, as we have throughout the world, standards for that contact… adherence to the law, adherence to non-violence and a willingness to be part of a democratic process and not simply use those process [to win power].”

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