Egypt unrest: Brotherhood rejects Mansour poll decree
The BBC's Rana Jawad: "President Morsi supporters ... are unlikely to be happy with any of the proposals
BBC World News - 9 July 2013 Last updated at 07:10 ET
Senior officials in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood have rejected a timetable for new elections laid out by interim president Adly Mansour.
Leading Brotherhood figure Essam al-Erian says the plan for constitutional changes and a vote next year "brings the country back to square one".
President Mohammed Morsi was ousted by the army last week after mass protests.
The decree came hours after at least 51 people were killed at a Cairo barracks where his supporters say he is held.
The Muslim Brotherhood - Egypt's main Islamist movement, which Mr Morsi belongs to - says its members were fired on at a sit-in for the ousted leader. The army says it responded to an armed provocation.
Mr Morsi was Egypt's first freely elected president. His removal last Wednesday followed protests by tens of thousands of people who accused him of becoming increasingly authoritarian, pursuing an Islamist agenda, and failing to tackle Egypt's economic woes.
The Brotherhood has denounced the military's action as a coup.
'Invalid'
Mr Mansour's decree, issued late on Monday, laid out plans to set up a panel to amend the suspended Islamist-drafted constitution within 15 days.
The changes would then be put to a referendum - to be organised within four months - which would pave the way for parliamentary elections, possibly in early 2014.
Once the new parliament convenes, elections would be called to appoint a new president.
Mr Erian, deputy chairman of the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said the declaration was "a constitutional decree by a man appointed by putchists" which "brings the country back to square one".
Ahmad Abu-Barakah, a legal adviser to the FJP, said the decree was "invalid and illegitimate", the private Al-Misri al-Yawm news site reports.
The Brotherhood's spokesman Gehad el-Haddad told AFP news agency that further protests and sit-ins would be held across the country on Tuesday, as funerals are held for supporters killed in Monday's violence in Cairo.
Brotherhood supporters camping outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in north-east Cairo also expressed their anger.
"No-one voted for this president," Ashraf Awad told the Associated Press news agency. "He is illegitimate in being sworn in, so all decisions he makes, people will not recognise."
Another protester, Hamdi el-Said, said Mr Morsi remained his president. "I will defend my vote which I gave to him until I become a martyr like the people who were killed yesterday," he said.
The movement has described what happened outside the Presidential Guard barracks on Monday as a "massacre", and has called for "an uprising by the great people of Egypt against those trying to steal their revolution with tanks".
...
In response to the killings the grand sheikh of al-Azhar University, Ahmed al-Tayeb - seen as the highest authority in Sunni Islam - warned of civil war and said he was going into seclusion until the violence was over.
The hardline Salafist Nour party - which had supported Mr Morsi's removal - said it was withdrawing from talks to choose an interim prime minister, describing the shooting incident as a "massacre".
But on Tuesday, Nour indicated it might accept the latest figure to be proposed as a possible prime minister, economist Samir Radwan, having rejected two previous proposals.
"We asked for a technocrat economist ... a neutral guy," said Nour spokesman Nader Bakkar, adding that Mr Radwan met those conditions.
...
BBC News - Egypt unrest: Brotherhood rejects Mansour poll decree
========================================
In recent days, there has been much speculation over the extent to which Egypt is now at risk of civil war, and recent Army intervention(s) against the Brotherhood, in which dozens were killed, seem to be pouring gasoline on the fire.
After those deaths, it was reported that surviving senior Brotherhood leadership have declared an Intifada and now we see them rejecting the Interim Government's proposal to undertake fresh elections.
The Brotherhood itself only boasts an approximate 600,000 members in an 80,000,000+ population, although there is speculation that at least a few million Egyptians are Brotherhood sympathizers, even if they are not actually members of the Brotherhood.
The real question before the bar - before the court of history and world opinion - is whether the Brotherhood has sufficient influence and muscle to ignite an actual civil war.
Personally, my first shoot-from-the-hip impression is that the answer is "No" - the Brotherhood won't be able to ignite a civil war.
Much depends upon the loyalty of the Egyptian Army rank-and-file, and, if they have enough Secularists and Moderates in their ranks, the Interim Government should be safe.
If, however, the Egyptian Army rank-and-file is saturated with Brotherhood sympathizers, then that might change the ballgame.
Somehow, I doubt that the Army has many Brotherhood members and sympathizers in its midst; otherwise, the Coup itself would not have been possible.
Nevertheless, this is going to get even more interesting, and might very well prove to be a 'near-run thing', before the dust begins to settle.
And, of course, there is always the possibility that everything will unravel and that the Nightmare in Egypt will morph into something even more terrifying, if those in Egypt seeking a civil war have their way, after all.
Curiouser and curiouser...
The BBC's Rana Jawad: "President Morsi supporters ... are unlikely to be happy with any of the proposals
BBC World News - 9 July 2013 Last updated at 07:10 ET
Senior officials in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood have rejected a timetable for new elections laid out by interim president Adly Mansour.
Leading Brotherhood figure Essam al-Erian says the plan for constitutional changes and a vote next year "brings the country back to square one".
President Mohammed Morsi was ousted by the army last week after mass protests.
The decree came hours after at least 51 people were killed at a Cairo barracks where his supporters say he is held.
The Muslim Brotherhood - Egypt's main Islamist movement, which Mr Morsi belongs to - says its members were fired on at a sit-in for the ousted leader. The army says it responded to an armed provocation.
Mr Morsi was Egypt's first freely elected president. His removal last Wednesday followed protests by tens of thousands of people who accused him of becoming increasingly authoritarian, pursuing an Islamist agenda, and failing to tackle Egypt's economic woes.
The Brotherhood has denounced the military's action as a coup.
'Invalid'
Mr Mansour's decree, issued late on Monday, laid out plans to set up a panel to amend the suspended Islamist-drafted constitution within 15 days.
The changes would then be put to a referendum - to be organised within four months - which would pave the way for parliamentary elections, possibly in early 2014.
Once the new parliament convenes, elections would be called to appoint a new president.
Mr Erian, deputy chairman of the Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), said the declaration was "a constitutional decree by a man appointed by putchists" which "brings the country back to square one".
Ahmad Abu-Barakah, a legal adviser to the FJP, said the decree was "invalid and illegitimate", the private Al-Misri al-Yawm news site reports.
The Brotherhood's spokesman Gehad el-Haddad told AFP news agency that further protests and sit-ins would be held across the country on Tuesday, as funerals are held for supporters killed in Monday's violence in Cairo.
Brotherhood supporters camping outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in north-east Cairo also expressed their anger.
"No-one voted for this president," Ashraf Awad told the Associated Press news agency. "He is illegitimate in being sworn in, so all decisions he makes, people will not recognise."
Another protester, Hamdi el-Said, said Mr Morsi remained his president. "I will defend my vote which I gave to him until I become a martyr like the people who were killed yesterday," he said.
The movement has described what happened outside the Presidential Guard barracks on Monday as a "massacre", and has called for "an uprising by the great people of Egypt against those trying to steal their revolution with tanks".
...
In response to the killings the grand sheikh of al-Azhar University, Ahmed al-Tayeb - seen as the highest authority in Sunni Islam - warned of civil war and said he was going into seclusion until the violence was over.
The hardline Salafist Nour party - which had supported Mr Morsi's removal - said it was withdrawing from talks to choose an interim prime minister, describing the shooting incident as a "massacre".
But on Tuesday, Nour indicated it might accept the latest figure to be proposed as a possible prime minister, economist Samir Radwan, having rejected two previous proposals.
"We asked for a technocrat economist ... a neutral guy," said Nour spokesman Nader Bakkar, adding that Mr Radwan met those conditions.
...
BBC News - Egypt unrest: Brotherhood rejects Mansour poll decree
========================================
In recent days, there has been much speculation over the extent to which Egypt is now at risk of civil war, and recent Army intervention(s) against the Brotherhood, in which dozens were killed, seem to be pouring gasoline on the fire.
After those deaths, it was reported that surviving senior Brotherhood leadership have declared an Intifada and now we see them rejecting the Interim Government's proposal to undertake fresh elections.
The Brotherhood itself only boasts an approximate 600,000 members in an 80,000,000+ population, although there is speculation that at least a few million Egyptians are Brotherhood sympathizers, even if they are not actually members of the Brotherhood.
The real question before the bar - before the court of history and world opinion - is whether the Brotherhood has sufficient influence and muscle to ignite an actual civil war.
Personally, my first shoot-from-the-hip impression is that the answer is "No" - the Brotherhood won't be able to ignite a civil war.
Much depends upon the loyalty of the Egyptian Army rank-and-file, and, if they have enough Secularists and Moderates in their ranks, the Interim Government should be safe.
If, however, the Egyptian Army rank-and-file is saturated with Brotherhood sympathizers, then that might change the ballgame.
Somehow, I doubt that the Army has many Brotherhood members and sympathizers in its midst; otherwise, the Coup itself would not have been possible.
Nevertheless, this is going to get even more interesting, and might very well prove to be a 'near-run thing', before the dust begins to settle.
And, of course, there is always the possibility that everything will unravel and that the Nightmare in Egypt will morph into something even more terrifying, if those in Egypt seeking a civil war have their way, after all.
Curiouser and curiouser...
