ANTIQUES SHOPS

The rally on a breezy summer night in Fayoum, a bastion of Islamist support 100 km south of Cairo, is an indication that Islamists of all colors are uniting against Ahmed Shafik, Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister, in the Saturday-Sunday vote.

Egypt's Islamist groups are divided by often bitter doctrinal and political differences, but appear to have set them aside to avoid an outcome that could threaten the dramatic political gains they have chalked up in the 16 months since Mubarak was deposed.

Addressing the Fayoum crowd of several hundred men, many of them with the long beards of Salafi Muslims, Sheikh Adel Nasr said now was the time not for party politics but for a higher goal: stopping Mubarak's regime from reconstituting itself.

"Rally the people, rally the people, rally the people! Organise yourselves, so that this battle is won in favor of right and the people who represent it," he said.

As well as the hardline Salafi parties, supporters of Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh, the former Brotherhood politician knocked out of the vote in the first round, are also backing Morsy, who represents Egypt's oldest and best organized Islamist group.

In Fayoum, Abol Fotouh's former campaign headquarters has turned into a support centre for Morsy, who came first in Fayoum in the first round of voting.

The Gama'a al-Islamiya, a Salafi group that once carried arms against the state, handed out fliers with the same message.

"Our strength is in our unity," declared the pamphlet.

Yet beyond the Islamist movement, that unity has been harder to detect, reflecting the suspicions between Islamists and other groups that have been a defining feature of the post-Mubarak era and are likely to remain so, regardless of the election outcome.

Morsy and Abol Fotouh together polled less than 42 percent in the first round of the election, on a turnout of 46 percent, and are competing with Shafik to pull in non-Islamist votes.

Shafik, a former air force commander, is in part relying on divisions among groups that want to draw a line under the Mubarak era to boost his share of the vote. His constituency includes Egyptians alarmed by the rise of the Brotherhood - a movement outlawed and demonized by the state for decades.

VOW TO BE INCLUSIVE

In his first round campaign, Morsy used Fayoum as a platform for rallying hardline support by pledging to work for the release of Omar Abdel Rahman, the Gama'a al-Islamiya spiritual leader jailed in the United States for plotting attacks in New York.

His run-off campaign aims to convince the Brotherhood's critics in the secular reform movement and Egyptians at large that it can be trusted with power, and to address charges that it has tried to squeeze rivals out of political life.

On Wednesday he reiterated his pledge to form an inclusive administration comprising a coalition government and vice presidents from outside the Brotherhood.

His manifesto of 15 key promises also includes a vow to protect press freedom and women's rights.

But despite that, he has won few open endorsements from liberal and leftist politicians who share the Brotherhood's stated goal of democratic reform, and its deep aversion to electing one of Mubarak's old lieutenants.

Hassan Nafaa, a political scientist who has been critical of the Brotherhood, said they "don't want to open up or are cautious of opening up to the non-Islamists".

One of the few non-Islamist movements to openly state its support for the Brotherhood is 'April 6' - the protest group whose online activism helped to ignite the anti-Mubarak revolt.

The Brotherhood has accused some of its non-Islamist rivals of political opportunism in demanding too much in return for their backing. One proposal required the Brotherhood promise to dissolve itself in return for an endorsement.

But the Brotherhood's critics accuse it of repeating mistakes that have alienated other parts of the reform movement.

"They have taken a decision to lead the country on their own ... at a time that should be not one of majorities but one of participation among all the parties to build the state and prevent any return of the old regime," said Bassil Adel of the Free Egyptians party, a group with a liberal platform.

Liberal politician Ayman Nour said the Brotherhood had failed to build an alliance with non-Islamists, but added:

"The real alliance is that the national forces have united against Shafik, not with the Brotherhood."

He declined to confirm that he would vote for Morsy.

The Brotherhood appears to have accepted that it cannot completely win over its critics, openly describing itself as the lesser of two evils.

"If what separates you from the Brotherhood is a political difference, then what separates you from the old regime is blood and corruption," one pro-Morsy pamphlet declares.

(Additional reporting by Yasmine Saleh; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Houses were burnt down late on Wednesday in two villages near the Bangladesh border, but there were no reports of further deaths. Scores of people are feared to have died in the rioting that broke out in Rakhine state on June 8.

Violence has largely subsided in after days of arson attacks and killing that have presented reformist President Thein Sein with one of his biggest challenges since taking office last year.

Places that had been flashpoints earlier in the week, including state capital Sittwe, were quiet, said Caw Tun, a member of a development group, the Wan Latt Foundation.

"Tensions between the two groups have eased. There are around 20,000 refugees in Sittwe. Most of them are from the villages where people fled in fear of the violence," Aung Myat Kyaw, a senator for Rakhine state, told Reuters.

"They are in need of food and, because of the heavy rain, there are concerns about the refugees' health and whether they have enough shelter," he added.

The violence had killed 21 people as of Monday, state media said, but activists fear the death toll could be much higher. At least 1,600 houses have been burnt down.

The army has taken hundreds of Rohingyas to Muslim villages outside Sittwe to ensure their safety.

"They are worried for their lives. The army is there so their life is secure," said Shwe Maung, a Muslim member of parliament for the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party. "There are still so many Rohingyas in downtown Sittwe and they are afraid of being attacked."

The United Nations and a medical aid group said this week they were pulling staff out of the area because of the violence. U.N. special envoy for Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, travelled to the area on Wednesday.

It is unclear what sparked the rioting. Relations between the two communities have been uneasy for generations and tension flared last month after the gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman that was blamed on Muslims.

That led to the killing of 10 Muslims in reprisal on June 3, when a Buddhist mob stopped a bus they were travelling on. The passengers had no connection to the murdered woman. State media said three Muslims are on trial for the woman's death.

POLITICAL REFORM

The violence follows a year of dramatic political change after nearly 50 years of repressive military rule.

Hundreds of political prisoners have been freed, truces struck with ethnic minority rebel groups and the opposition party of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi swept by-elections.

The government has also allowed trade unions and promised to get rid of forced labour. Recognising this progress, the International Labour Organization lifted restrictions on Myanmar on Wednesday.

That announcement in Geneva came just before Suu Kyi arrived in the city for her first trip to Europe in a quarter of a century.

That is another sign of the transformation of the former Burma: under the junta, she refused to leave the country, afraid the generals would not let her back in to pursue the fight for democracy.

The communal violence in Rakhine state and the international reaction may prompt further change: the Rohingyas are not included among the officially recognised ethnic groups of Myanmar but Thein Sein may be forced to improve their plight.

Up to 800,000 Rohingyas live along Myanmar's border with Bangladesh in abject conditions. Neither country recognises them as citizens and the Bangladeshi authorities have turned away boats of Rohingyas fleeing the violence this week.

(Reporting by Reuters staff reporters; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Robert Birsel)