Egypt's interim president vows to stick to election timetable Hundreds were killed across the country that day as police stormed two protest camps in Cairo by Mr Morsi's Islamist supporters. The violence has died down in recent days in most of the country, barring the restive Sinai peninsula where the army is battling a militant insurgency. "If security continues to gradually improve, I think there is no need to extend the state of emergency," Mr Mansour said in the interview with state television. The police and military crackdown on August 14 sparked a storm of international condemnation, particularly of the operation to clear the Cairo protest camps. However Mr Mansour said police acted "in accordance with international standards." The interim president also addressed foreign policy during the hour-long interview, saying Egypt would wait for a UN report before assigning blame for an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria. "Egypt denounces the use of chemical attacks by any party," he stressed. But he added that his government would wait for the UN inspectors' report "so we can determine the responsible party." The United States, France, Turkey and other countries have already blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for the attack. Mr Mansour said patience was running thin with the influential Gulf state Qatar, which closely supported Mr Morsi and criticised the popularly-backed coup that toppled the Islamist president. "I hope we can keep our reserve of patience, which is about to run out," said the famously phlegmatic leader. Mr Morsi's removal however was enthusiatically supported by Saudi Arabia and several other Gulf states that pledged $12 billion in aid to the interim government.