"The principal danger, in Soliman’s view, was the group’s exploitation of religion to influence and mobilize the public"
Egypt's recently appointed vice-president Omar Suleiman has previously harshly criticized Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood in his communications with US officials, according to leaked US diplomatic cables, according to Al-Jazeera.But the leaked cables raise questions over whether the former intelligence chief can be seen as an honest broker in any negotiations.
The revelations came as Suleiman met opposition leaders, including the Muslim Brotherhood, on Sunday in an bid to end a political crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets in opposition to Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's president.
In the cables, obtained by the Reuters news agency through the whistle-blowing organization WikiLeaks, Suleiman is reported to have told US officials that the Muslim Brotherhood was creating armed groups.
He is also said to take "an especially hard line on Tehran", and in one dated January 2 2008, Suleiman is quoted as saying that Iran remained "a significant threat to Egypt".
In a cable dated February 15, 2006, Francis Ricciardone, then the US ambassador to Egypt, reported that Suleiman had "asserted that the MB [Muslim Brotherhood] had spawned '11 different Islamist extremist organizations', most notably the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Gama'a Islamiya [Islamic Group]".
The cable, which uses the spelling "Soliman", goes on to say: "The principal danger, in Soliman's view, was the group's exploitation of religion to influence and mobilize the public." It continues: "Soliman termed the MB's recent success in the parliamentary elections as 'unfortunate', adding his view that although the group was technically illegal, existing Egyptian laws were insufficient to keep the MB in check."
