CAIRO
A poster of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi is pictured on barbed wires during a protest by his supporters at El-Thadiya presidential palace in Cairo November 15, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
CAIRO (Reuters) – A coalition of Islamists said on Saturday it was ready to seek dialogue to end Egypt’s bloody political crisis, on condition that the army-backed government halt a security crackdown.
The public offer was the first of its kind by the group since the violent dispersal of pro-Islamist sit-ins this summer, and it notably did not call for the reinstatement of ousted president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
The most populous Arab state was thrown into turmoil after the army overthrew Mursi on July 3.
It was not immediately clear if the move would be backed by top leaders of the Brotherhood, which is part of the alliance, the National Coalition to Support Legitimacy, or how the military-backed government would respond.
Since hundreds were killed by security forces in the break-up of Islamist protest vigils in August, there has been no sign that either side is willing to open a dialogue to ease the turmoil, which has ravaged investment and tourism.
Saturday’s initiative could signal a willingness by the Brotherhood to pull their supporters off the streets, limiting the chance for confrontation, ahead of another round of mass protests called for this week.
The Coalition said at a press conference that dialogue could occur only if detainees were released and Islamist protesters were allowed to demonstrate peacefully.
It also made the dialogue conditional on an end to “hate campaigns” by the media. It said that satellite channels that broadcast Islamist views must be allowed back on air.
State and private media have been in lockstep with the military-backed authorities since Mursi’s overthrow, helping to whip up a public frenzy against the Brotherhood and its supporters.
TWO-WEEK WINDOW
Mohamed Ali Bishr, a Brotherhood leader who represented the group in meetings with Western diplomats as they attempted to negotiate an end to the sit-ins before they were broken up, said the dialogue offer was “limited to two weeks”.
Bishr, one of the few Brotherhood leaders not in jail, is seen as someone who could possibly negotiate with the military-backed authorities.
The government has unleashed a fierce crackdown against the Brotherhood since Mursi’s overthrow, arresting thousands of its members, including Mursi and most of its top leaders.
It has accused the Brotherhood of carrying out terrorist acts and said it would only be welcome in politics again if it renounced violence.
The group has been banned, and a panel of judges on Saturday recommended that its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, be dissolved.
The Brotherhood, for decades a non-violent underground movement, denies espousing the use of force and says the army staged a coup and undermined democratic gains made since a popular uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
It remains to be seen whether either the government or the top Brotherhood leaders, who have rejected dialogue outright and insist that Mursi remains the legitimate president, might be ready to compromise.
“It could be a turning point in the crisis if it was taken seriously by the government,” said Khail al-Anani, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
“This is the first time for the coalition to implicitly remove the requirement of reinstating Mursi,” he said. “It can give a small window for negotiation.”
If the initiative gains traction, it might result in the Brotherhood suspending street protests and limiting the scope for confrontation. A state of emergency and nightly curfew, declared after Mursi’s overthrow, were ended on Thursday.
Western allies want the government to create an inclusive political process to bring stability to Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel and controls the strategic Suez Canal.
(Writing by Maggie Fick; Editing by Michael Georgy and Kevin Liffey)
Supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi argue with riot police and army personnel during clashes near Rabaa Adawiya square in Cairo August 14, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Asmaa Waguih
CAIRO |
CAIRO (Reuters) – Workers in blue overalls clamber over scaffolding around Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque, whitewashing its charred walls to restore a semblance of normalcy to the corner of Cairo where the struggle for Egypt reached a bloody climax this month.
After a stunning reversal in which the army seized upon a tide of public discontent to overthrow freely elected President Mohamed Mursi, the powerful state apparatus appears to have all but neutralized the Muslim Brotherhood to which he belongs.
Not only that. Even as the army-backed government promises to shepherd Egypt towards democracy, its plans for a new political transition speak of a deep entrenchment of the old order that ran Egypt under veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
In the space of a few weeks, security forces have arrested the Brotherhood’s leaders and killed its supporters by the hundreds in the streets. Meanwhile, a committee appointed without debate has proposed constitutional amendments that would open the way for a political comeback by Mubarak-era officials.
The prospect of financial meltdown has been staved off by billions of dollars in aid from Gulf states hostile to the Brotherhood, and Western censure has been muted, at best.
In a highly symbolic victory for the old guard, the 85-year-old Mubarak was himself released from jail last week, albeit to await a retrial for ordering the killing of protesters in 2011.
Keen to show support for the army, Egyptians who may once have displayed pictures of Mubarak now celebrate Egypt’s new top soldier, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a hero to those who rallied against Brotherhood rule. One Sisi fan in Cairo is reportedly selling chocolate treats bearing the general’s image.
And in language that would have been unthinkable only a few weeks ago, a state-run magazine this week described the 2011 uprising that toppled Mubarak as a “setback”.
WEEK OF BLOODSHED
With a nightly curfew enforced by the army, Cairo seems eerily calm. It is hard to believe Egypt has just suffered the bloodiest week in the Arab republic’s history.
More than 900 people were killed, including some 100 police and soldiers, after security forces on August 14 destroyed the protest camps set up by Mursi’s backers after he was toppled.
The state had labeled the sit-ins a “threat to national security”. Accusing the Brotherhood of turning to violence – a charge the Brotherhood rejects as a pretext for the crackdown – the government has declared a “war on terrorism”.
Fear has sucked the momentum from anti-government protests, and the arrests of Mursi and the other leaders have muted the Brotherhood’s voice. Essam el-Erian and Mohamed el-Beltagi, lawmakers even under Mubarak, have been reduced to issuing video messages from hiding.
Ahmed Mefreh of the international rights group Alkarama Foundation said more than 2,000 Mursi supporters had been arrested in Cairo alone.
“The Brotherhood were losers in an impossible confrontation,” said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University and veteran political activist.
The first draft of the new constitution seeks to restore the voting system that kept Mubarak in power for 30 years, something that has disappointed smaller parties that have struggled to establish themselves since the end of his one-man rule.
It would also lift a ban on former members of his government seeking office, and remove controversial Islamist-inspired language brought in last year.
The government has begun to revive the political security apparatus that was shelved, but not dismantled, after the 2011 revolt. It has appointed ex-military figures to positions which, like the presidency, were once dominated by them.
It seems unlikely the next president will be a rival to the power of the old establishment. The oath of allegiance sworn by conscripts no longer mentions loyalty to the head of state.
“What you will see is a very diminished role for the presidency – except of course if a military or security figure decides to run for that position,” said Nathan Brown, a leading expert on Egypt at George Washington University.
He also noted that in contrast to other countries, where the army might pledge loyalty to the constitution and laws, in Egypt, soldiers and officers will not swear allegiance to “any civilian official, law or procedure”.
MILITARY PRESIDENT?
Exhausted by 2-1/2 years of turmoil, many Egyptians now believe only the army can restore stability, and the military, which suffered a public backlash after taking power in 2011, has proved more adept this time at marshalling support.
Even though he has indicated he doesn’t want the job, the 58-year-old Sisi looks an obvious candidate for president.
Speculation that he will run has intensified since a first photo emerged last week of the general in civilian clothes.
“General Sisi is a popular hero par excellence, and if he decides to enter the elections he is the most popular at the moment,” said Hamdeen Sabahi, a leftist who came a close third in last year’s presidential election and backed Mursi’s removal.
Sabahi believes Sisi will stick by his word not to run.
Nevertheless, state TV aired a show on Wednesday discussing the merits of a president from the military, in which the guest said there was nothing wrong with having a general at the helm.
As yet, nobody has declared their candidacy – in contrast to the frenzied campaigning before the vote won by Mursi last year with the help of the Brotherhood’s unrivalled political machine.
Asked about his own aspirations, Sabahi told Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper he had yet to decide: “Now is a moment that requires national ranks to unite in the face of terrorism.”
State media now describe the Muslim Brotherhood in terms akin to al Qaeda. The “war on terrorism” that the government has announced has already seen two of its top leaders put on trial on charges of inciting murder, by a court they say is political.
Pro-Brotherhood protests, though still continuing, have shrunk dramatically, stifled in part by a state of emergency.
“I do not go out in any protests where there is danger,” said one 26-year-old Brotherhood activist in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria who asked not to be named. “We’ve been demonstrating for two months and achieved nothing.”
BROTHERHOOD IN HIDING
Speaking by phone from hiding, Brotherhood politician Farid Ismail said opposition to the “putschist regime” was large and growing.
“They want to make it seem that matters are proceeding through fait accompli politics,” he said. “They will not win. This is not victory.”
But the group has few tools at its disposal to press the demand to which it still clings in public: a solution based on the constitution that was endorsed by a referendum last year.
“They now understand that they have lost and are under pressure from a wave of repression and arrests,” said a Western diplomat. “So they are in a second phase of saying they won’t return to any political process unless the repression stops and there are releases.”
Though experts on the Brotherhood dismiss the idea it would be directly involved in violence, some have voiced fears that grievances could fuel a new wave of attacks by Islamist militants, reminiscent of the campaign of the 1990s and 1980s.
Western nations that sought to forge a deal between the Brotherhood and the government still advocate reconciliation to keep the group in formal politics. But the prospects seem dim.
So far, it appears that the Brotherhood will not be part of the 50-member assembly that will discuss the new constitution.
Even some of those who backed Mursi’s removal now warn against ostracizing such a large and established organization.
“We must not repeat the mistakes of the Muslim Brotherhood – using the fact that the balance of power is in the favor of a particular party right now – and disregard the views of another segment of the population,” said Khaled Dawoud, spokesman for the liberal Dustour Party.
“We need a political solution to the problem that would reintegrate the Muslim Brotherhood into the political process because the price of security confrontation alone is very hefty, in the short term and in the long term.”
Pro-reform activists argue that a return to the past is impossible after the 2011 uprising and that any effort to roll back their gains would eventually spawn a new protest movement. The constitution has yet to be finalized and they will oppose clauses that seek to limit new freedoms, these activists say.
But for now, barring a major rethink on all sides, the Brothers look set to sit out the new transition from the sidelines – or jail.
(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Alistair Lyon)
RIYADH |
RIYADH (Reuters) – In his full-throated cry of support for the Egyptian authorities, Saudi King Abdullah on Friday described street protests by the Muslim Brotherhood as representing “terrorism and sedition”.
That stark view of a crisis that has killed hundreds in the past week shows why the world’s top oil exporter will continue to back Egypt’s crackdown on the Brotherhood even while its Western allies try to convince the generals to back down.
When the “Arab Spring” revolts blew across the Middle East in 2011 – toppling one authoritarian president after another – the kings and emirs of the rich Gulf monarchies held on to power but were shaken as never before.
One of King Abdullah’s nephews, Mecca Governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal, decried the uprisings in a poem as a “dust storm sweeping Arab lands” in which traditional rulers had been defamed as “backward, reactionary and barbaric”.
Two years later, those same rulers now see a chance to restore the stable order that had held for generations in the region, and are determined to spend their oil billions to bring back trusted friends.
Nowhere is that more true than Egypt, long Saudi Arabia’s most powerful regional ally and whose army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has close connections to the ruling family after serving as defense attaché in Riyadh.
The gulf rulers’ are alarmed by popular Islamist movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which benefited most from the downfall of entrenched dictators after 2011 and which the princes see as threatening the principle of hereditary monarchy.
“Saudi strategists might see groups influenced by the Brotherhood as the only ones that could emerge to challenge their rule,” said a Saudi journalist speaking on condition he not be identified.
The Saudi stance is shared with the United Arab Emirates, which this year put on trial Islamists it suspects of plotting to overthrow the state, and on Friday praised Egypt’s army for responding to protests with “maximum self restraint”.
Only days after Egypt’s army ousted the Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi from the presidency on July 3, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi pledged aid of $ 8 billion. A third Gulf monarchy, Kuwait, added another $ 4 billion, which should cover Egypt’s deficit for months.
UNFLINCHING SUPPORT
Saudi princes regard the Brotherhood as an ideological competitor with an aggressively activist political doctrine that disdains Riyadh’s ties with the West and aims to introduce democracy. Riyadh accuses the Brotherhood of betraying its trust after it gave members shelter from persecution in Egypt in the 1960s, only to see them agitate for change in Saudi Arabia.
“There’s a lot of concern throughout the Gulf that the Brotherhood is attempting to infiltrate and to destabilize governments,” said Robert Jordan, former U.S. ambassador to Riyadh and now based in Dubai.
Last month Saudi security forces summoned for questioning two prominent clerics who had signed a letter condemning the Egyptian army’s seizure of power, Saudi media reported.
On Saturday, billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, another nephew of the Saudi king, sacked a Kuwaiti preacher from his top job at a religious television station he owns because of the cleric’s brotherhood ties.
The tough Saudi line is shared with the Emirates, which has no quarter for the Brotherhood.
“I don’t think the UAE will step back from giving help to Egypt according to how many are dying. They are convinced that the government is doing the right thing and defending the country from a terrorist group,” said Ibtisam al-Qitbi, a political analyst in Dubai.
Kuwait, the other Gulf kingdom to promise billions, is also wary of the Brotherhood and expelled nine Egyptian members of the group on Sunday for protesting, but its position is somewhat more nuanced than that of either Riyadh or Abu Dhabi.
Brotherhood politicians serve as opposition members of Kuwait’s parliament and have long been part of the establishment. A Foreign Ministry statement on Friday regretted the “large number of Egyptian fatalities”.
“There is a dilemma in Kuwait. The Muslim Brothers are well entrenched in the political scene and also in the government apparatus,” said Ghanem al-Najjar, professor of political science at Kuwait University.
The one rich Gulf country that did not share the Saudi-led consensus was Qatar, which backed Egypt with $ 7 billion during Mursi’s year in power.
Qatar condemned both Mursi’s removal and last week’s violence, calling on the generals to “refrain from the security option” in tackling protests.
Nevertheless, Qatar has a new ruler after its emir stepped down this year in favor of his son, and many in the Gulf believe it is stepping back from an ambitious foreign policy that saw it lavish funds on Arab Spring revolutionaries.
“THE KING DOESN’T LIKE BLOOD”
In addition to cash, which Cairo urgently needs to buy food and fuel, Gulf friends provide it with diplomatic cover. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, another nephew of the king, used a visit to France on Sunday to warn Western countries not to pile pressure on Cairo, saying “we will not achieve anything through threats”.
The West also viewed the Brotherhood’s rise with alarm. But Western countries were clearly hoping that democracy would force the Islamists either to adapt to popular demands for better government or be voted out of office. The absolute monarchies of the Gulf never shared that faith in popular rule.
“The Saudis are not wildly enthusiastic about the argument that the best way of getting the Egypt we all want is by having the Muslim Brotherhood lose an election,” said a diplomat in the Gulf, arguing that Riyadh supported the crackdown.
Nevertheless, the violence of the past week could bring precisely the sort of instability Riyadh was seeking to avert: “The king,” the diplomat added, “doesn’t like blood being spilled.”
The Gulf princes may have written a blank cheque for Sisi, but in return for their cash, they will be expecting the Egyptian military commander to deliver the promised stability.
“Restoring order and making sure to avoid any complications, getting security back, is the most important thing now. Then any political discussion can take place,” said Abdulaziz al-Sager, head of the private Gulf Research Centre thinktank in Jeddah.
(Reporting by Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Sylvia Westall in Baghdad and Andrew Torchia in Dubai; Editing by Peter Graff)
FILE — In this Saturday, April 13, 2013 file photo, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak waves to his supporters from behind bars as he attends a hearing in his retrial on appeal in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian judiciary officials say former President Hosni Mubarak could be freed from custody this week. They say a court on Monday, Aug. 19, 2013 ordered his release in a corruption case that alleged he and his two sons embezzled funds for presidential palaces. (AP Photo, File)
FILE — In this Saturday, April 13, 2013 file photo, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak waves to his supporters from behind bars as he attends a hearing in his retrial on appeal in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian judiciary officials say former President Hosni Mubarak could be freed from custody this week. They say a court on Monday, Aug. 19, 2013 ordered his release in a corruption case that alleged he and his two sons embezzled funds for presidential palaces. (AP Photo, File)
FILE – In this Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011 file photo, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sits during his meeting with Emirates foreign minister, not pictured, at the Presidential palace in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian judiciary officials say former President Hosni Mubarak could be freed from custody this week. They say a court on Monday, Aug. 19, 2013 ordered his release in a corruption case that alleged he and his two sons embezzled funds for presidential palaces. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)
Map locates Rafah, Egypt, where 25 off-duty policemen are killed by militants; 2c x 3 1/2 inches; 96.3 mm x 88 mm;
FILE – In this file photo taken Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, an Egyptian Army soldier takes his position on top of an armored vehicle while guarding an entrance to Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt. Israel is carefully watching events in Egypt and keeping in touch with the Egyptian army through the Arab nation’s latest turmoil, officials say, working together in the common battle against Islamic militants. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
FILE – In this file photo taken Friday, Aug. 16, 2013, Egyptian army soldiers take their positions on top and next to their armored vehicles while guarding an entrance of Tahrir square, in Cairo, Egypt. Israel is carefully watching events in Egypt and keeping in touch with the Egyptian army through the Arab nation’s latest turmoil, officials say, working together in the common battle against Islamic militants. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
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CAIRO (AP) — Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who is on retrial for the killings of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising that led to his ouster, could be released from custody later this week, judicial officials said Monday.
The officials said there were no longer any grounds to hold the 85-year-old former autocrat because of the expiration of a two-year legal limit for holding an individual in custody pending a final verdict.
Mubarak has been in detention since April 2011. He was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison in June last year for his failure to stop the killing of some 900 protesters in the 18-day uprising against his rule. His sentence was overturned on appeal and he is now being retried, along with his security chief and six top police commanders.
Monday’s stunning announcement came as Islamic militants ambushed two mini-buses carrying off-duty policemen in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and killed 25 of them execution-style. The brazen daylight attack deepened the turmoil roiling the country and underscored the volatility of the strategic region.
Monday’s killings, which took place near the border town of Rafah in northern Sinai, came a day after 36 detainees were killed in clashes with security forces north of Cairo. In all, nearly 1,000 people have been killed in violence between security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi since last Wednesday. The government has ordered an investigation into their deaths.
A few hours after the attack near Rafah, suspected militants shot to death a police major as he stood guard outside a bank in the city of el-Arish, also in northern Sinai, security officials said.
Tensions in Egypt have soared since the army ousted Morsi, Mubarak’s successor, in a July 3 coup following days of protests by millions of Egyptians demanding the Islamist president leave and accusing him of abusing his powers.
But Morsi’s supporters have fought back, staging demonstrations demanding that he be reinstated and denouncing the military coup.
On Wednesday, the military raided two protest camps of Morsi’s supporters in Cairo, killing hundreds of people and triggering the current wave of violence.
Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the country’s military chief, said Sunday that the crackdown, followed by a state of emergency and a nighttime curfew imposed in Cairo and several other flashpoint provinces, is needed to protect the country from “civil war.” El-Sissi has vowed the military would stand firm in the face of the rising violence but also called for the inclusion of Islamists in the post-Morsi political process.
Sinai, a strategic region bordering the Gaza Strip and Israel, has seen almost daily attacks since Morsi’s ouster — leading many to link the militants there to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which Morsi hails.
Egyptian military and security forces have been engaged in a long-running battle against militants in the northern half of the peninsula.
Al-Qaida-linked fighters, some of whom consider Morsi’s Brotherhood to be too moderate, and tribesmen have used the area for smuggling and other criminal activity for years and have on occasion fired rockets into Israel and staged cross-border attacks. A year ago, 16 Egyptian border guards, a branch of the army, were slain in Sinai near the borders with Gaza and Israel in a yet unresolved attack that is widely blamed on militants.
In Monday’s attack, the militants forced the two vehicles to stop, ordered the policemen out and forced them to lie on the ground before shooting them, the officials said. The policemen were in civilian clothes, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which also left two policemen wounded.
The officials initially said the policemen were killed when the militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at the two minibuses. Such confusion over details in the immediate aftermath of attacks is common. Egyptian state television also reported that the men were killed execution-style.
The Sinai killings compound Egypt’s woes, a day after police fired tear gas to free a prison guard from rioting detainees, killing at least 36.
Officials said detainees in one of the trucks transporting prisoners rounded up during clashes the past couple of days in Cairo had rioted and managed to capture a police officer inside the truck. The detainees were in a prison truck convoy of some 600 prisoners heading to Abu Zaabal prison in northern Egypt.
Security forces fired tear gas into the truck in efforts to free the badly beaten officer, the officials said, adding that the people killed died from suffocation. Those officials also spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
However, the officials’ version of event contradicted reports about the incident carried by state media. The official website of state television reported that the deaths took place after security forces clashed with militants near the prison and detainees came under fire while trying to escape. The official MENA state news agency also said the trucks came under attack from gunmen.
State media also said the people killed and the gunmen belonged to the Brotherhood. The officials who spoke to AP said some of the detainees belonged to the Brotherhood, while others didn’t. The differences in the accounts could not be immediately reconciled.
On Monday, the government ordered an inquiry into the deaths, which it blamed on armed men allegedly trying to help the 600 Brotherhood detainees escape. It gave no details.
The Brotherhood said in a statement that it blamed the military chief, el-Sissi, and Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim who is in charge of the police, for the attack Sunday. The group also called for an international inquiry into the deaths. Amnesty International demanded a “full, impartial and effective” probe into the killings, the London-based group said in a statement.
The judiciary officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said a court on Monday ordered Mubarak’s release in a corruption case that alleged he and his two sons embezzled funds for presidential palaces. His sons will remain in custody because they face other cases against them.
Monday’s order, along with the fact that Mubarak had previously been ordered released in two other cases against him — the killing of the protesters and a case related to illegal earnings — opened the possibility of freedom for the former president.
Mubarak is also facing trial for alleged acceptance of presents from state newspapers but has already repaid their value. His defense team has submitted a petition for his release in connection with the presents and a ruling is expected later this week.
Along with the state of emergency imposed after Wednesday’s crackdown on the pro-Morsi sit-ins in Cairo and ensuing street clashes across the country, the military-backed interim government has also begun taking harsher measures to cripple the Brotherhood.
Security forces arrested hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members early Sunday in raids on their homes in different cities, aimed at disrupting planned rallies to support Morsi. The Cabinet also held an emergency meeting to consider banning the group.
A possible ban — which authorities say would be implemented over the group’s use of violence — would be a repeat of the decades-long struggle between the state and the Brotherhood. It also would drain the group’s financial resources and allow for mass arrests of its members. That likely would diminish the chances of a negotiated solution to the crisis and push the group again underground.
The Brotherhood has shown no signs of backing down though.
Under the banner of an anti-coup alliance, the group held protests Sunday, though many appeared smaller in scale than others held in recent days. In the coastal city of Alexandria, protesters clashed with residents. In the southern city of Assiut, security forces fired tear gas to disperse hundreds rallying in front of a mosque.
“They think they can end the movement,” said Muslim Brotherhood senior member Saad Emara. “The more killings, the more people join us.”
However, the government blames Islamists for series of attacks on churches and police stations, increasing public anger against the group.
In his first public appearance since last Wednesday, el-Sissi spoke at length in an hour-long speech Sunday about the motives behind ousting Morsi. The general said the Islamist president exploited democracy to monopolize power. He again said the military’s action “protected Egyptians from civil war,” despite the ongoing violence on the streets.
“We will not stand by silently watching the destruction of the country and the people or the torching the nation and terrorizing the citizens,” el-Sissi said in a speech aired on state television. “I am not threatening anyone … If the goal is to destroy the country and the people, no!”
Morsi is also currently in custody, held incommunicado at an undisclosed location since his July 3 ouster.
____
Associated Press writer Ashraf Sweilam contributed to this report from el-Arish, Egypt.
1 of 22. Police and pro-Egyptian government supporters struggle outside al-Fath mosque in Cairo August 17, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Muhammad Hamed
CAIRO |
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood risks political elimination, with the new army-backed government threatening to ban the Islamist organization after launching a fierce crackdown on its supporters that has killed hundreds.
Struggling to stamp its authority on Egypt following the ousting last month of President Mohamed Mursi, the country’s new rulers have upped the rhetoric, saying the Arab world’s most populous nation is at war with terrorism.
More than 700 people have died, most of them backers of Mursi, in four days of violence. That has earned Egypt stiff condemnation from Western nations, uncomfortable with Islamist rule but also with the overthrow of an elected government.
The crackdown has, however, drawn messages of support from key Arab allies like Saudi Arabia, which have long feared the spread of Brotherhood ideology to the Gulf monarchies.
Blaming a defiant Brotherhood for the bloodshed, Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi proposed dissolving the group in a move that would force it underground and could usher in mass arrests of its members countrywide.
The government said it was studying the possibility.
“There will be no reconciliation with those whose hands have been stained with blood and who turned weapons against the state and its institutions,” Beblawi told reporters.
A statement from the United Nations said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned attacks on churches, hospitals and other public facilities and called for both sides to resolve the violence.
“The secretary-general believes that preventing further loss of life should be the Egyptians’ highest priority at this dangerous moment,” the statement said. “With such sharp polarization in Egyptian society, both the authorities and the political leaders share the responsibility for ending the current violence.”
Violence flared briefly on Saturday as backers of Mursi exchanged fire with security forces in a central Cairo mosque, where scores of Muslim Brotherhood protesters had sought refuge from clashes the day before that killed 95 in the capital.
Police finally cleared the building and made a string of arrests, with crowds on the street cheering them on and harassing foreign reporters trying to cover the scene.
“We as Egyptians feel deep bitterness towards coverage of the events in Egypt,” presidential political adviser Mostafa Hegazy said, accusing Western media of ignoring attacks on police and the destruction of churches blamed on Islamists.
FADING POPULARITY
Founded in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood has deep roots in the provinces and won all five elections that followed the overthrow in 2011 of the autocratic Hosni Mubarak, appearing to cement themselves in the heart of Egyptian power for years to come.
But accusations that they were incompetent rulers intent only on monopolizing government tarnished their reputation.
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets in June to denounce Mursi and the army says it removed him from office on July 3 to avoid a civil war.
Since then, the state media has turned ferociously against the group and there appeared to be little sympathy for the Brotherhood faithful amongst many ordinary Egyptians.
“Democracy did not work for Egypt, I am afraid,” said Hussein Ahmed, a 30-year-old banker in Cairo, who had protested against Mubarak in the 2011 uprising.
“Yes, the Brotherhood were elected, but they never cared about rights or freedoms of anyone but their own group. Why should we feel sorry for them now?”
Brotherhood leaders accuse the military of deliberately sabotaging their time in office and plotting their demise.
After two pro-Mursi protest camps were crushed by police on Wednesday, the Brotherhood launched a “Day of Rage” on Friday, and clashes left at least 173 dead. They have urged their supporters to take to the streets daily in the week ahead.
There were no reports of major rallies on Saturday.
The Interior Ministry said police had arrested more than 1,000 Muslim Brotherhood “elements” following Friday’s riots. The group said daughters and sons of the leadership had been targeted in an effort to gain leverage over the organization.
The state news agency said 250 Brotherhood followers faced possible charges of murder, attempted murder and terrorism.
The government has ordered a dawn-to-dusk curfew that looks set to last until the middle of September, leaving the normally crowded streets of major cities eerily deserted at sundown.
Looking to regain some semblance of normality, banks were due to re-open on Sunday for the first time since Wednesday’s carnage, and the stock exchange will also resume business, with trading cut to three hours from four because of the instability.
(Additional reporting by Tom Perry, Michael Georgy, Tom Finn, Mohamed Abdellah, Ahmed Tolba and Omar Fahmy; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Andrew Roche and Bill Trott)
Egyptian security forces clear a sit-in by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013. Egyptian security forces, backed by armored cars and bulldozers, moved on Wednesday to clear two sit-in camps by supporters of the country’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi, showering protesters with tear gas as the sound of gunfire rang out at both sites. (AP Photo/Ahmed Gomaa)
Egyptian security forces clear a sit-in by supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in the eastern Nasr City district of Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013. Egyptian security forces, backed by armored cars and bulldozers, moved on Wednesday to clear two sit-in camps by supporters of the country’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi, showering protesters with tear gas as the sound of gunfire rang out at both sites. (AP Photo/Ahmed Gomaa)
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CAIRO (AP) — Egypt entered a new phase of uncertainty Wednesday after security forces drove out supporters of President Mohammed Morsi from two sprawling encampments where they had been camped out for six weeks demanding the Islamist leader’s reinstatement. The move, which left dozens of protesters dead and saw the arrest of several leaders of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, has left the fundamentalist movement dangerously isolated. It also prompted Vice President Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro-reform leader in the interim government, to resign in protest over the violent crackdown as the military-backed leadership imposed a monthlong state of emergency and nighttime curfew.
WHY NOW?
The interim administration that took over after Morsi was toppled on July 3 has been warning for days that it planned to crackdown on the tent cities, which clogged intersections on opposite sides of the Egyptian capital. The government accused the protesters of frightening residents in the neighborhoods, sparking violence and disrupting traffic. Military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who ousted Morsi, called for mass rallies last month to show support action against the protesters. Millions turned up on July 26 to declare their support. The government later said diplomatic efforts had failed and the decision to clear the sit-ins was “irreversible.” Morsi’s supporters fortified their positions and even more people flooded the camps after plans for a crackdown on Monday morning were leaked to the media. Police announced they were postponing the decision but did not give a new date.
WHAT LED TO THIS?
Morsi was Egypt’s first democratically elected leader after winning the first post-Hosni Mubarak presidential election with just under 52 percent of the vote. His rise to the helm of power was a sharp reversal for the Muslim Brotherhood, repressed for decades under Mubarak’s rule, and it was part of a general rise to power of Islamists following the Arab Spring wave of revolutions that led to the ouster of Mubarak and autocratic leaders in Tunisia and Libya. But Morsi faced a backlash as liberal and secular activists accused him and the Muslim Brotherhood of trying to monopolize power and failing to implement much-needed social and economic reforms. Morsi and his backers argued they were doomed to fail because of constant protests and efforts to undermine his government. His government also drew criticism over a series of charges and complaints against activists, journalists and TV personalities, including well-known satirist Bassem Youssef, for insulting Morsi and even sometimes for insulting Islam. An activist group called Tamarod, or Rebel in Arabic, drew millions to the streets to call for Morsi’s ouster on June 30, the anniversary of his inauguration. The powerful military responded by taking Morsi into custody on July 3 and forming an interim civilian leadership.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN STICKING POINTS BLOCKING NEGOTIATIONS?
The Muslim Brotherhood, which rose to power and won a series of elections after Mubarak’s ouster, backs Morsi and had vowed to maintain the protest camps until he was reinstated. The Islamists have rejected the military-backed political process, which calls for amending the constitution adopted last year and holding parliamentary and presidential elections early next year. International diplomatic efforts to promote reconciliation, including phone calls and visits by senior U.S. and European diplomats, have failed.
The interim administration and liberal and secular activists who led the drive to oust Morsi say the move against Egypt’s first democratically elected president was justified because he was abusing his power and the country needed a second chance at democracy. Authorities also have cracked down on Muslim Brotherhood leaders, detaining several key figures and accusing them of inciting violence.
WHAT IS THE U.S. POSITION?
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joined other Western and mainly Muslim countries in condemning the violence. He said it had dealt a “serious blow” to political reconciliation efforts and urged Egypt’s interim leaders to take a step back and calm the situation. But Obama administration officials signaled no change in their policy toward Egypt. Washington has avoided declaring Morsi’s ouster a coup, a move that would force the administration to suspend $ 1.3 billion in annual military aid to the nation. White House and State Department officials said the U.S. role was largely to encourage the interim government to fulfill its promises to enact political reform.
HAS THE VIOLENCE GENERATED ANY SYMPATHY FOR MORSI’S SUPPORTERS?
Most Egyptians are Muslim, but there is widespread antipathy toward the Muslim Brotherhood among moderates who feared Morsi and his allies were trying to impose a stricter version of Islamic law in the country. Still many object to the brutal crackdown and argue stability cannot be restored without participation of Islamists in the political process. ElBaradei’s resignation was the first sign of a crack in the government’s position. The former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency was named only last month as interim President Adly Mansour’s deputy for foreign relations. In his resignation letter, he wrote that he is not prepared to be held responsible for a “single drop of blood,” and lamented that Egypt is more polarized than when he took office, according to a copy that was emailed to The Associated Press.
WHAT’S NEXT?
It’s hard to tell. Several more Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including the powerful Mohammed el-Beltagy and Essam el-Erian, were arrested after security forces swept away the two protest camps and the movement may struggle to regroup as pro-Morsi protesters from the camp were scattered. The government has declared a state of emergency and imposed a nighttime curfew in a bid to stem the violence, but sporadic clashes continued through the evening. Anger over Morsi’s ouster already has led to an increase in Islamic militant violence in the northern half of the Sinai Peninsula that borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, and growing anger over the crackdown and deaths of scores of civilians could be exploited by extremists to stoke low-level violence there and elsewhere in the country.
1 of 11. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and supporters of ousted Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi flee from tear gas and rubber bullets fired by riot police during clashes, on a bridge leading to Rabba el Adwia Square where they are camping, in Cairo August 14, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
CAIRO |
CAIRO (Reuters) – Security forces struggled to clamp a lid on Egypt on Thursday after hundreds of people were killed when authorities forcibly broke up camps of supporters protesting the ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, in the worst nationwide bloodshed in decades.
Islamists clashed with police and troops who used bulldozers, teargas and live fire on Wednesday to clear out two Cairo sit-ins that had become a hub of Muslim Brotherhood resistance to the military after it deposed Mursi on July 3.
The clashes spread quickly, and a health ministry official said about 300 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured in fighting in Cairo, Alexandria and numerous towns and cities around the mostly Muslim nation of 84 million.
The crackdown defied Western appeals for restraint and a peaceful, negotiated settlement to Egypt’s political stand-off, prompting international statements of dismay and condemnation.
The Muslim Brotherhood said the true death toll was far higher, with a spokesman saying 2,000 people had been killed in a “massacre.” It was impossible to verify the figures independently given the extent of the violence.
The military-installed government declared a month-long state of emergency and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Cairo and 10 other provinces, restoring to the army powers of arrest and indefinite detention it held for decades until the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in a 2011 popular uprising.
The army insists it does not seek power and acted in response to mass demonstrations calling for Mursi’s removal.
Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who lent liberal political support to the ousting of Egypt’s first freely elected president, resigned in dismay at the use force instead of a negotiated end to the six-week stand-off.
“It has become difficult for me to continue bearing responsibility for decisions that I do not agree with and whose consequences I fear. I cannot bear the responsibility for one drop of blood,” ElBaradei said.
Other liberals and technocrats in the interim government did not follow suit. Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi spoke in a televised address of a “difficult day for Egypt” but said the government had no choice but to order the crackdown to prevent anarchy spreading.
“We found that matters had reached a point that no self-respecting state could accept,” he said.
CHURCHES TARGETED
Islamists staged revenge attacks on Christian targets in several areas, torching churches, homes and business after Coptic Pope Tawadros gave his blessing to the military takeover that ousted Mursi, security sources and state media said.
Churches were attacked in the Nile Valley towns of Minya, Sohag and Assiut, where Christians escaped across the roof into a neighboring building after a mob surrounded and hurled bricks at their place of worship, state news agency MENA said.
The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and fellow Muslim power Turkey condemned the violence and called for the lifting of the state of emergency and an inclusive political solution to Egypt’s crisis.
An EU envoy involved in mediation efforts that collapsed last week said the authorities had spurned a plan for staged confidence-building measures that could have led to a political solution.
The Brotherhood publicly rejected any plan that did not involve Mursi’s restoration to office. An Egyptian military source said the army did not believe the Islamists would eventually agree to a deal and felt they were only stringing the diplomats along to gain time.
In Cairo, police and soldiers aided by self-styled “popular committees” of civilian vigilantes armed with clubs and machetes enforced the curfew, searching cars and checking identity cards of people passing through makeshift checkpoints made of tires and concrete blocks.
Despite the lockdown, hundreds of Mursi supporters tried to gather at El Iman mosque in the Cairo neighborhood of Nasr City in an attempt to start a new sit-in to replace the main camp dispersed at nearby Rabaa al-Adawiya square, MENA reported.
They chanted “down, down, military rule” and “police are thugs,” a Reuters witness said.
The protesters converted part of the mosque into a field hospital to tend to the wounded from the other sit-in, it said.
“They killed us, those coup makers and their thugs. Help us people, help us!” shouted Magda Ali, a woman marcher who was forced to leave the Rabaa camp.
Egyptian state television broadcast aerial footage of the burning remains of sprawling tent cities, as well as images of handmade guns it said were found at the sites. It also showed some video of alleged armed protesters shooting at police.
Reuters witnesses saw no protesters armed with more than bricks, stones and sticks as black-clad central security police in riot gear poured out of vans firing teargas and snipers fired from rooftops.
“DEPLORABLE”
Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim told a news conference 43 members of the police force were killed in the clashes.
He vowed to restore Mubarak-era security after announcing, in a statement last month that chilled human rights campaigners, the return of notorious political police departments that had been scrapped after the 2011 revolution.
Wednesday’s death toll took the number of people killed in political violence since Mursi’s fall to about 600, mostly Islamist supporters of the ousted president.
Violence rippled out from Cairo, with Mursi supporters and security forces clashing in the cities of Alexandria, Minya, Assiut, Fayoum and Suez and in Buhayra and Beni Suef provinces.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called the bloodshed in Egypt “deplorable” – a word U.S. diplomats rarely use – and urged all sides to seek a political solution.
A U.S. official told Reuters that Washington was considering cancelling a major joint military exercise with Egypt, due this year, after the latest violence, in what would be a direct snub to the Egyptian armed forces.
The “Bright Star” exercise has been a cornerstone of U.S.-Egyptian military relations and began in 1981 after the Camp David peace accords between Egypt and Israel. The United States has already halted delivery of four F-16 fighter jets in a signal of its displeasure.
Islamist militants with no direct link to the Brotherhood have staged almost daily attacks on security forces in the lawless Sinai Peninsula bordering Israel since Mursi’s fall.
In the latest violence, gunmen shot dead two policemen outside their station in El Arish in northern Sinai on Wednesday evening, MENA reported.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz, Michael Georgy and Tom Perry in Cairo, and Arshad Mohammed and Lesley Wroughton in Washington; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Philip Barbara)
A supporter of the ousted Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi holds up a Quran during a protest in Nasr City, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday July 9, 2013. After days of deadlock, Egypt’s military-backed interim president named a veteran economist as prime minister on Tuesday and appointed pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei as a vice president, while the army showed its strong hand in shepherding the process, warning political factions against “maneuvering†that impedes the transition. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
A supporter of the ousted Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi holds up a Quran during a protest in Nasr City, a suburb of Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday July 9, 2013. After days of deadlock, Egypt’s military-backed interim president named a veteran economist as prime minister on Tuesday and appointed pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei as a vice president, while the army showed its strong hand in shepherding the process, warning political factions against “maneuvering†that impedes the transition. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
In this image released by the Egyptian Presidency, Hazem el-Beblawi meets with interim President Adly Mansour, unseen, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 9, 2013. The spokesman of Egypt’s interim president says a prominent economist, Hazem el-Beblawi, has been named prime minister and pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei as a vice-president. Ahmed el-Musalamani made the announcements Tuesday after days of political stalemate over the prime minister post. El-Beblawi, who is in his 70s, served as finance minister in one of the first cabinets formed after the 2011 uprising forced Hosni Mubarak from power and the military stepped in to rule. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)
Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi prepare symbolic coffins, representing some 51 people killed Monday, in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 9, 2013. After days of deadlock, Egypt’s military-backed interim president named a veteran economist as prime minister on Tuesday and appointed pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei as a vice president, while the army showed its strong hand in shepherding the process, warning political factions against “maneuvering†that impedes the transition. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi protest in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 9, 2013. Egypt’s army chief says the military will not accept political “maneuvering,” in thinly veiled warning to the only Islamist party, Al-Nour, that sided with the army’s removal of President Mohammed Morsi but has since had frictions with other factions over forming a new leadership.(AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi protest at the Republican Guard building in Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, July 9, 2013. Egyptian security forces killed dozens of supporters of Egypt’s ousted president in one of the deadliest single episodes of violence in more than two and a half years of turmoil. The toppled leader’s Muslim Brotherhood called for an uprising, accusing troops of gunning down protesters, while the military blamed armed Islamists for provoking its forces. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s new leaders have won $ 8 billion in promises of aid from wealthy Gulf Arab allies in moves aimed at stabilizing a political transition less than a week after the army deposed the country’s Islamist president.
Also on Tuesday, the interim president named a new prime minister and Egyptian armed forces warned political factions that “maneuvering” must not hold up the military’s ambitious fast-track timetable for new elections next year.
The sharp message underlined how strongly the military is shepherding the process, even as liberal reform movements that backed its removal of Mohammed Morsi complained that now they are not being consulted in decision-making.
The Muslim Brotherhood denounced the transition plan, vowing to continue its street protests until the ousted Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, is returned to power.
Tuesday’s appointment of economist Hazem el-Beblawi as prime minister, along with the setting of the accelerated timetable, underlined the army’s determination to push ahead in the face of Islamist opposition and outrage over the killing of more than 50 Morsi supporters on Monday.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates provided a welcome boost for the new leadership. The two countries, both opponents of Morsi’s Brotherhood, celebrated his ouster by showering the cash-strapped Egyptian government with promises of $ 8 billion in grants, loans and badly needed gas and oil.
In doing so, they are effectively stepping in for Morsi’s Gulf patron, Qatar, a close ally of the Brotherhood that gave his government several billion in aid. During Morsi’s year in office, he and his officials toured multiple countries seeking cash to prop up rapidly draining foreign currency reserves and plug mounting deficits — at times getting a cold shoulder.
The developments underlined the pressures on the new leaders even with the country still in turmoil after what Morsi’s supporters have called a coup against democracy.
The military faces calls, from the U.S. and Western allies in particular, to show that civilians are in charge and Egypt is on a path toward a democratically-based leadership. The nascent government will soon face demands that it tackle economic woes that mounted under Morsi, including fuel shortages, electricity cutoffs and inflation.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Washington is “cautiously encouraged” by the announcement of a plan to return to democratically elected government.
Still, several groups in the loose coalition participating in the political process were angered over the transition plan issued Monday by interim President Adly Mansour. His declaration set out a seven-month timetable for elections but also a truncated, temporary constitution laying out the division of powers in the meantime.
The top liberal political grouping, the National Salvation Front, rejected the plan late Tuesday. It said it was not consulted — “in violation of previous promises” — and that the declaration “lacks significant clauses while others need change or removal.” It did not elaborate but said it had presented Mansour with changes it seeks.
The secular, revolutionary youth movement Tamarod, which organized last week’s massive protests against Morsi, also criticized the plan, in part because it gives too much power to Mansour, including the power to issue laws. A post-Morsi plan put forward by Tamarod called for a largely ceremonial interim president with most power in the hands of the prime minister.
Egypt remains deeply polarized with heightened fears of violence, especially after Monday’s shootings. The Brotherhood and Islamist allies say they are under siege by a military crackdown that has jailed five of their leaders and shut down their media outlets. Tens of thousands of Islamists massed on Tuesday for another day outside a Cairo mosque. The crowds waved pictures of Morsi and brought in flag-draped empty coffins representing the slain protesters.
Still, there was no huge nationwide turnout that the Brotherhood leaders had called for after the killings. Also, for the first time since even before the June 30 protests began, Cairo’s Tahrir Square — where Morsi’s opponents were centered — was largely without crowds.
It’s unclear if the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which starts Wednesday, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, will significantly calm the street. The fast cuts down on activity during the day, but the demonstrations have been largely nocturnal affairs. The Islamist camp will likely use it to rally its base.
Mansour called for a reconciliation process called “One People” to begin in Ramadan, traditionally a period for Muslims to promote unity. It called for parties and movements to hold meetings. But there was no sign the Brotherhood and its allies would attend, much like Morsi’s opponents rejected his calls for dialogue, which were dismissed as empty gestures.
The interim president’s spokesman, Ahmed el-Musalamani, said posts in the new Cabinet would be offered to the Islamist camp — including to the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party and the Salafi Al-Nour Party. He spoke to Egypt’s privately owned CBC TV channel in remarks also carried by the state news agency. El-Beblawi is to start forming a Cabinet on Wednesday.
The statement by armed forces chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi against political maneuvering underlined how the military — while it says it is staying out of politics — remains a powerful presence in a transition ostensibly being led by Mansour and a collection of political factions.
“The future of the nation is too important and sacred for maneuvers or hindrance, whatever the justifications,” el-Sissi said in the statement, read on state TV. “The people and, behind it, the armed forces don’t want anyone to stray from the right path or deviate from the boundaries of safety and security, driven by selfishness or … zealousness.”
A spokesman for Mansour announced the appointment of el-Beblawi as prime minister and of pro-democracy leader Mohamed ElBaradei, a leader of the National Salvation Front, as vice president.
The naming of a prime minister was held up for days because the sole Islamist faction in the coalition, the ultraconservative Al-Nour Party, blocked candidates from secular, liberal and leftist groups. Those factions have been determined to have one of their own in the post.
Last week, Al-Nour blocked ElBaradei from becoming prime minister, then objected to one of his close allies put forward as a compromise. The moves infuriated the secular and liberal factions. ElBaradei, the former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and a Nobel Peace laureate, is considered one of the strongest pro-reform figures, but many Islamists vehemently oppose him as too secular.
El-Beblawi is from the liberal-secular camp — albeit a less-controversial, well-known or prominent figure than ElBaradei.
El-Sissi’s statement appeared to be a veiled warning to Al-Nour. But it suggests the military is ready to apply pressure on politicians when multiple disputes are almost certain to emerge.
He called for dialogue between the new leadership and their Islamist opponents. “Everyone in Egypt must sit together on the table for dialogue to solve current political differences, stop violence and bloodshed in the street,” he told the AP.
Under the new timetable, two appointed panels would draw up and approve amendments to the constitution, which would be put to a referendum within 4½ months. Elections for a new parliament would be held within two months of that. Once the parliament convenes, it would have a week to set a date for presidential elections.
Following Monday’s bloodshed, the military accused armed Islamists of starting the violence by attacking the headquarters of the Republican Guard. Morsi supporters say no such attack took place and that troops opened fire on their nearby sit-in after dawn prayers. Along with 51 protesters, an army officer and two policemen were killed.
An Egyptian security official said 650 people were arrested for allegedly trying to storm the headquarters. The official said there were Syrian and Palestinian nationals among those arrested. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
