It was very clear from the beginning that General Sisi was the man with whom one should be talking, yet the State Department continued to talk with ElBaradei, who was really without any true portfolio in the new regime. He was placed there as a concession, not because anyone having actual power would be listening to him.
Via Fox News:
Secretary of State John Kerry spent the last few weeks believing that U.S. policy in Egypt would best be served by negotiating with Interim Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, the former United Nations diplomat from Vienna who resigned his post after just 30 days, said a senior U.S. State Department official in Cairo.
“ElBaradei was the wrong guy to negotiate with, but ‘S’ believed he would be able to convince Mansour and [General] Sisi. State worked almost exclusively through the guy that ended up resigning after 30 days on the job,” said the official, denoting Secretary Kerry with the State Department’s standard, “S” referral.
Meanwhile, El Baradei didn’t even last 30 days in the VP position. After the government moved in on the MB camps, he resigned in protest, despite the action having broad support among the people. ElBaradei, on Sunday, left (fled ?) to Austria:
On Sunday morning, Mohamed ElBaradei, former Vice President for Foreign Affairs, boarded a plane headed to Austria three days after submitting his resignation in protest of the violent crackdown on Cairo’s two main pro-Morsi sit-ins.
ElBaradei declined to give interviews at the airport, leaving question marks around the reason behind his departure and whether or not he will return.
ElBaradei had arrived at the airport minutes before his plane was scheduled to take off, Al-Ahram reported, but stayed in his car after he learnt that it was slightly delayed. He then headed to the terminal from which his plane took off, the newspaper reported.
Meanwhile back in Egypt, a law professor has filed charges against El Baradei for resigning, claiming it a “breach of the public trust”, which would amount to a misdemeanor.
ElBaradei is probably sitting in a cafe in Vienna, bemoaning how he and Kerry could have gotten this so wrong.