Egypt Seeks Islamist Arrests as Brotherhood Shuns Cabinet
Egypt’s interim Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi sought to mend partisan rifts as he pulled together a cabinet, while an arrest warrant for the Muslim Brotherhood’s top leader fueled tension between Islamists and the military.
Prosecutors sought Mohammed Badie, the head of the Brotherhood which fielded ousted President Mohamed Morsi, and nine others on grounds they encouraged Cairo violence on July 8 when dozens were killed by security forces. As the detention orders were announced, Hamza Zawba, a spokesman for the Brotherhood’s political arm, said it won’t engage in talks until Mursi is reinstated.
We’re not going to take part in an illegitimate process, or in talks held over the bodies of martyrs,” Zawba said by phone yesterday. “The whole post-June 30 political process is void,” he said, referring to the start of protests against Morsi that culminated in his removal by the military.
El-Beblawi, who was appointed July 9, is seeking to cobble together a team of ministers to revive a crumbling economy and address months of political polarization. His administration faces opposition from Morsi supporters who described the removal of the former leader as a coup against Egypt’s first democratically elected civilian president.
El-Beblawi said that while he’s reaching out to various parties, it would be difficult to secure the backing of all Egyptians for his choices, the state-run Al-Ahram reported today.
Khaled Dawoud, spokesman for the National Salvation Front, a bloc that opposed Morsi, said the Brotherhood needs to “recognize the new reality.”
Popular Demand’
“The Muslim Brotherhood will keep on isolating themselves further, not just by rejecting government posts but, most importantly, by inciting violence,” he said. “They have to admit that President Morsi went out of office not because of a military coup; he went out of office upon popular demand.”
The arrest warrants against Badie, deputy Brotherhood leader Mahmoud Ezzat and others named by the state-run news agency yesterday fueled complaints by the group that there is a crackdown against them.
The warrants are “politically motivated” and intended to dismantle the protest movement, Brotherhood spokesman Gehad El-Haddad wrote on his Twitter account. He decried what he said were the “same old police state tactics.”
Economy Woes
El-Beblawi, a former finance minister, has inherited an economy stuck in the worst slowdown in two decades, record unemployment and foreign reserves that are more than 50 percent below their December 2010 levels. Egypt got some relief from announcements of aid from other Arab countries: Kuwait extended a $4 billion aid package yesterday, adding to the $8 billion pledged by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Cabinet negotiations will last a “few days,” El-Beblawi said in an interview July 9. Nobel Laureate and leader of the anti-Morsi campaign Mohamed ElBaradei was named vice president for foreign relations.
The premier plans to offer ministerial posts to the Brotherhood’s political arm, from which Morsi hails, presidential adviser Ahmed El-Meslemani told satellite channel CBC in an interview earlier this week. Zawba, the party spokesman, said the group hasn’t officially received any offers.
Morsi’s critics say the former president betrayed the goals of the 2011 revolt that ousted former leader Hosni Mubarak, focusing on tightening the Islamists’ grip on power instead of working to improve the lot of many Egyptians.
‘Disproportionate Force’
What triggered the violence that left over 50 people — mostly Morsi supporters — dead in the capital this week is disputed. The military said it was responding to an armed attack on it, while the Muslim Brotherhood said the assault on Morsi’s supporters was unprovoked.
The early morning shoot-out outside the compound of the Republican Guard marked the deadliest single incident since the army deposed Morsi on July 3.
The deaths cast a pall on the political process at a time when Mansour had issued a 33-article constitutional declaration on July 8 that provided more of a timeline than specific target dates for planned ballots. It proposes a referendum on amendments to the suspended 2012 Islamist-backed constitution, to be followed later by parliamentary and presidential elections.
‘Absolute’ Power
The declaration soon ran into opposition, including from main players in the loose alliance against Morsi.
Bassam Al Zarqa, an official with the Salafist Nour Party, the only Islamist group to support the removal of Morsi, said it gave interim President Adly Mansour too much power.
The National Salvation Front said it wasn’t consulted and that it rejects some articles and wants others amended or added. Reservations include wanting a new constitution, not an amended one, front spokesman Dawoud said.
Islam Hammam, a member of the Tamarod movement, a youth group that helped organize the anti-Morsi protests, said the framework “lays the foundation for dictatorship.” He said it grants the president “absolute and unrestricted power.”
Source:Bloomberg
