ElBaradei reveals role in 2013 Egyptian coup
ElBaradei reveals role in 2013 Egyptian coup
Analysis: Former presidential candidate Mohammed ElBaradei has explained why he stopped supporting the regime that took power in Egypt.
2 min read
Baradei said after the 2013 coup Egypt lacked justice and inclusiveness [AFP]
Mohammed ElBaradei, the former Egyptian vice-president, said he took in the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi believing it would lead to an early presidential election, a dignified exit for Morsi, and an inclusive approach incorporating the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists.
ElBaradei, also a former presidential candidate, told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine, that he had been convinced by a plan sketched out by none other than Bernadino Leon, the UN Special Representative to Libya, in his then-role as European Union Special Representative for the Southern Mediterranean.
"All this was thrown out the window. Once violence started to take hold there was no space for someone like me," said ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1997 to 2009.
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After the coup, he argued, there was no space left for him to operate effectively in an Egyptian society lacking clear concepts of justice and inclusiveness.
He resigned on 14 August 2013, and is now based in Austria.
In his , ElBaradei wrote: "It has become difficult for me to continue bearing the responsibility for decisions with which I do not agree and the consequences of which I fear.
"I cannot bear the responsibility for a single drop of blood before God, before my own conscience or the citizens."
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