CAIRO, April 4 (UPI) -- The Muslim Brotherhood's political arm in Egypt said its delegation to the United States is on a diplomatic mission to discuss ways to rebuild Egypt.
The Muslim Brotherhood announced members from its Freedom and Justice Party were on a U.S. tour, which is to culminate with a one-day conference on political Islam at the Carnegie Endowment for International peace Thursday in Washington.
"The delegation will discuss domestic issues of concern to Egyptian community in the U.S., and various ways to utilize their experience and resources to help develop and rebuild Egypt," the party said in a statement on its Ikhwanweb media site.
The Muslim Brotherhood reversed an earlier decision to not field a candidate for president by this week nominating senior financial official Khairat al-Shater. The movement has gained a political foothold in post-revolutionary Egypt.
When banned under the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the Muslim Brotherhood took 20 percent of the seats in the Egyptian Parliament by running its candidates as independents in 2005.
The group had run under the slogan Islam is the Solution. In a 2005 article published by The Guardian newspaper in London, Shater said the Muslim Brotherhood was tolerant of other religious and political groups.
"We believe that the domination of political life by a single political party or group, whether the ruling party, the Muslim Brotherhood or any other, is not desirable," he wrote.
