US Defense Secretary discusses with with Egypt’s Sisi about political roadmap

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urged Egypt’s interim authorities to “advance the political roadmap” in a phone call with the country’s army chief on Tuesday, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Hagel and General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also discussed Egypt’s efforts “to maintain security” on the Sinai peninsula and “to secure and rebuild Coptic Christian communities” hit by violence, Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement.

Hagel “urged Minister Al-Sisi to continue to take steps to demonstrate the interim government’s commitment to advance the political roadmap,” he said.

Relations between Washington and Cairo have come under strain since Sisi led a July 3 coup against President Mohamed Mursi, the country’s first elected leader, followed by a violent crackdown against his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood.

Hagel’s phone conversation came after the United States last week renewed calls for Egypt to lift a state of emergency in force since August, and amid more arrests of Mursi supporters.

Since Mursi’s overthrow by the army in July and his detention, more than 2,000 members of the Brotherhood have been arrested and several are facing trial.