Egypt uprising 'repudiates' Al-Qaeda: McCain

John McCain and Joseph Lieberman
visit Cairo’s Tahrir Square © AFP

CAIRO (AFP) – Two senior US lawmakers said Sunday during a visit to Cairo that the Egyptian revolt that toppled president Hosni Mubarak showed change in the region was possible without extremism.

“This revolution is a repudiation of Al-Qaeda,” Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican, said after talks with Arab League chief Amr Mussa.

“This revolution has shown the people of the world, not just in the Arab world, that peaceful change can come about and violence and extremism is not required in order to achieve democracy and freedom,” he told reporters.

McCain and Connecticut Independent counterpart Joe Lieberman are the first members of the US congress to visit Egypt after Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising.

Before the revolution, it was thought “there were only two choices: on the one hand a secular dictatorship, on the other hand a fear of a religious extremist dictatorship,” Lieberman said.

“There is a third way that Egypt has shown the world and that is a peaceful democratic future that is inclusive of the widest range of people,” he said.

Before resigning, Mubarak handed power to a military council that has vowed to pave the way for a free democratic system.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has set up a panel to oversee constitutional amendments and pledged free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections after a transitional period.