Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Egyptian army had no choice but to overthrow Mohammad Mursi
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Egyptian army had no choice but to overthrow Mohammad Mursi.
Writing in the Observer newspaper, Blair, who acts as Middle East envoy for the United States, Russia, the EU and the UN, said on Sunday that the army's only alternative would have been to let Egypt descend into chaos.
"The events that led to the Egyptian army's removal of President Mohamed Mursi confronted the military with a simple choice: intervention or chaos," wrote Blair, who led Britain for a decade from 1997.
Blair said the West had strong incentives to support Egypt's democratic transition. "At its crudest, we can't afford for Egypt to collapse. So we should engage with the new de facto power," he wrote. "In that way, we can also help shape a path back to the ballot box that is designed by and for Egyptians."
Blair argued that Western nations have a responsibility to work towards peace in the wider Middle East. "We feel it should be someone else's job to help sort it out. But it is our job," he wrote.