Foreign Secretary on situation in Egypt
Foreign Secretary William Hague expressed his deep concern about the ongoing violence in Egypt and emphasised the need for peaceful reform.
皇冠体育app Foreign Secretary said that the welfare of British Nationals in Egypt remained his top priority, and that he had deployed additional FCO staff to Egypt to support the Embassy in providing consular assistance. 皇冠体育app Foreign Secretary said:
鈥淲e鈥檝e given very clear and we keep it under continual review.鈥�
皇冠体育app Foreign Office currently advises against all but essential travel to Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor and Suez, and recommends that British nationals without a pressing need to be in Cairo, Alexandria or Suez leave by commercial means, where it is safe to do so.
皇冠体育app Foreign Secretary said, 鈥渢he great majority of Britons who are in Egypt are, of course, in the Red Sea resorts like Sharm-el-Sheikh. At the moment those have been calm. Our Honorary Consul is there and the travel operators say that things are working fairly normally in those places but we do keep our travel advice under very careful and constant review and so we will change it if we feel it鈥檚 necessary to do so鈥�.
皇冠体育app includes a telephone number which is staffed 24 hours a day.
Commenting on the political situation, the Foreign Secretary urged Egypt鈥檚 leaders, 鈥渢o embark on peaceful reform and demonstrate to their people and others across the world that they are genuinely prepared to do that鈥�.
He said that peaceful reform, 鈥渞equires the Egyptian people to express their aspirations in a peaceful way鈥� and expressed hope that reform would lead to 鈥渁 more broadly based Government, and the inclusion of opposition figures鈥�. He said that the UK was, 鈥渋n favour of greater freedom and democracy, of a more open and flexible political system, and of serious economic developments鈥�.
皇冠体育app Foreign Secretary also called for the Egyptian Government to respect, 鈥渇reedom of expression鈥� and said it was a mistake to close down the Internet.
皇冠体育app Foreign Secretary will continue to make this position clear when he speaks to the Egyptian Foreign Minister later this evening. 皇冠体育app British Government continues to work actively with international partners to respond to events in Egypt. Earlier today the Foreign Secretary discussed developments with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and yesterday he spoke to EU High Representative Baroness Ashton.
European Foreign Ministers will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the situation.
Prime Minister David Cameron has spoken to President Mubarak. Along with the leaders of France and Germany he has publicly called on the President to display moderation and avoid the use of violence against protesters. 皇冠体育appy also asked that respect be shown for human rights and democratic freedoms and called for the holding of free and fair elections.