The Union of Revolutionary Youth, a group of political activists, denounced US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s meeting with Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in a statement on Sunday.

Clinton arrived in Cairo on Saturday, in the first visit for a US official to Egypt after the election of a new president in June. She was received by President Mohamed Morsy and held talks with her Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Kamel Amr.

Tantawi met with Clinton and her accompanying delegation on Sunday. According to the website of the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram, the meeting tackled local and regional developments as well as ways to strengthen relations between the two countries. During the meeting, Clinton expressed Washington’s desire to strengthen relations with Egypt as a strategic partner in the region.

The Union of Revolutionary Youth rejected Clinton's meeting in an official phone call to the secretary of state, saying that it would widen divisions between President Mohamed Morsy and the military council, and would also suggest that two powers rule Egypt, the military council and Morsy. They stressed that any talks about local affairs or foreign policy should be held with the elected president.

It also called for ending the political role of the military council and for it to completely hand over power.