Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Egyptian security forces have not yet moved to disperse supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi from their camps in the capital.
Security sources and a government official had said that police would take initial action against Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins in two areas of Cairo early on Monday. However, Egyptian security forces held off from launching operations to disperse Islamist supporters.
The city is left in an apparent calm, but things could quickly change as Morsi supporters bring reinforcements to their camps in response to the Muslim Brotherhood' call.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nabil Fahmi appealed to the international community to have faith in the new government's ability in "restoring order and re-launching the economy".
Since the overthrow of Mohammed Morsi, the first democratically elected president on 3 July, Egypt has been in turmoil. At least 300 people have been killed in street violence so far, including dozens of supporters of the former president killed by police forces in two separate incidents.
The country has been in a serious economic and political crisis since riots in 2011 toppled the 30-year, US-backed authoritarian rule of President Hosni Mubarak.
For the past two years, the 84-million strong Arab nation has been split between Islamists and non-Islamists, a division that has polarised the country's social and political life.
The West has looked at events in Egypt with extreme concern. The country, which controls the Suez Canal, receives US$ 1.5 billion in aid, mostly military, from the United States.
American, European and Arab diplomats as well as Egyptian officials have tried to restrain the military from using force, fearful that bloodshed could trigger a bloody civil war.
On 7 August, caretaker Prime Minister Beblawi said that diplomatic negotiations promoted by the West had failed. He also appealed to the Muslim Brotherhood to leave the streets and go home.