Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for a broad cross-section of Egyptian political forces to be included in talks with the government to make sure that people's "legitimate aspirations" are met.

In a conversation with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik on Saturday night, Clinton "emphasized the need to ensure that the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people are met, and that a broad cross-section of political actors and civil society have to be a part of the Egyptian-led process," the State Department said in a statement on Sunday.

Clinton also stressed that incidents of harassment and detention of activists, journalists and other elements of civil society must stop, the brief statement said. It gave no other details of the conversation.