Egypt’s Brotherhood Stirs Protest After Rejecting Cabinet

Supporters of Egypt’s deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi held demonstrations in Cairo and other cities early today after rejecting the new interim government and its offer of reconciliation talks.

Morsi’s backers called for the protests after deadly violence this week laid bare the deepening divisions marring the transition from his rule. The Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice party, from which Morsi hails, considers the new cabinet “illegitimate” and built “on the blood of martyrs,” Hamza Zawba, a spokesman, said by telephone.

The mainly secularist cabinet sworn in July 16 and led by Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi, an economist and former finance minister, faces the task of restoring order and reviving an economy caught in its worst slump since the overthrow of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Making the task more challenging is the opposition it faces from Morsi supporters, who say he was a victim of a July 3 “coup.”

The protests early today included a sit-in by thousands of Morsi backers in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City that began after his ouster. Yesterday, about 300 of his supporters scuffled with security forces, Hany Girgis, head of Cairo’s Qasr El-Nil police station, said by telephone. No casualties were reported.

President Adli Mansour’s political adviser, Mostafa Hegazy, told reporters in Cairo that the presidency will call on different sides, including the Brotherhood, for national reconciliation talks next week.

Growing Divide

Officials from the Brotherhood’s party and the ultraconservative Salafi Nour Party, the only Islamist group to back the military ouster of Morsi, have said they won’t participate in the discussions.

Violence and the Islamists’ rejection of reconciliation talks sent Egypt’s default risk climbing.

The divide between Islamists and secularists is growing deeper and increasingly violent. Hours before the cabinet was sworn in, seven people died and hundreds were injured at pro-Mursi rallies. Last week, at least 50 Morsi supporters were killed in fighting with army units.

Arrests of Brotherhood leaders and other Islamists, and government steps to freeze funds, have inflamed Morsi’s supporters.

The human-rights group Amnesty International said that Morsi supporters arrested by Egyptian authorities have reported they were beaten, subjected to electric shocks and hit with rifle butts.

‘Extreme Polarization’

“At this time of extreme polarization and division, it is more important than ever that the office of the public prosecutor demonstrates that it’s truly independent and not politicized,” Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty’s deputy director, Middle East and North Africa program, said yesterday on the London-based group’s website.

The military sought again to reassure Egyptians it wasn’t seeking a political role after deposing Morsi.

“We have affirmed before that the future of the Egyptian state will include all sides and exclude no one,” Ahmed Mohammed Ali, a military spokesman, told the Al Arabiya satellite-television channel yesterday.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s representative for international affairs and security, met yesterday with El-Beblawi and Vice President Mohamed El Baradei to discuss political developments in Egypt, the state-run Middle East News Agency said. She also held talks with Muslim Brotherhood officials and members of Tamarod, a youth group that supported the military’s overthrow of Morsi, it said.

‘Democratic Transition’

During a news briefing in Washington yesterday, Jay Carney, President Barack Obama’s press secretary, said that it’s “essential to Egypt’s successful democratic transition that the government take actions that demonstrate its fealty to the idea of reconciliation and inclusion.”

Besides calming the violence, the new government will have to focus on turning around the economy. Unemployment is at a record high and foreign reserves are less than half of December 2010 levels. Persian Gulf countries have pledged $12 billion in aid since Morsi’s ouster.

Egypt’s bid for a $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan remains pending two years after it was started. That’s in part because the Washington-based lender sought political consensus and a clear economic plan — two elements Morsi’s government could not provide.

Source:Bloomberg