Egypt’s president insists ‘I won’t be another dictator’

Daily News Article — Posted on November 26, 2012

Note: This article is from the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

Mohammed Morsi

(by Richard Spencer, Daily Telegraph) – Egypt’s president Mohammed Morsi has insisted he would not be another dictator as he tried to calm violent opposition to a decree that grants him absolute powers.

As police continued to fight battles with protesters around Tahrir Square in Cairo on Sunday, President Morsi issued a statement stressing that the power seizure was only “temporary” and calling for political dialogue.

He also agreed to meet Egypt’s judges on Monday to negotiate a solution to the crisis.

“The presidency reiterates the temporary nature of those measures, which are not intended to concentrate power,” the statement said. “The presidency stresses its firm commitment to engage all political forces in the inclusive democratic dialogue to reach a common ground.”

Mr. Morsi outraged opponents on Thursday, less than 24 hours after winning international praise for negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, by announcing that henceforth all his decisions would be beyond legal challenge.

He also unilaterally cancelled legal challenges to the committee drawing up a new constitution as well as to the upper house of parliament, both of which are dominated by his Muslim Brotherhood backers.

With no lower house of parliament until the new constitution is formed, this decree gave him stronger powers than those of his overthrown predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, [who ruled Egypt for 30 years, and was ousted after 18 days of demonstrations during the 2011–2012 Egyptian revolution.]

Protesters…continued a sit in in Tahrir Square on Sunday. Police attempted to drive them back from side roads leading to the interior ministry and American embassy with tear gas.

Leading opposition figures including Mohammed ElBaradei, the former head of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, Amr Moussa, the former head of the Arab League, and Abdelmoneim Aboul Fotouh, a moderate Islamist who challenged Mr Morsi for the presidency, announced the formation of a “National Salvation Front” to fight the decision.

At one stage, Egypt’s judges seemed ready to force a confrontation, by declaring a countrywide strike against the declaration. The highest constitutional court also threatened to defy the president by pressing ahead with a ruling on the constitutional committee next month. …

But by Sunday night, Egypt’s supreme judicial council, which oversees the courts, stepped back from the brink, at least for the time being, and called on Egypt’s judges to hold off from a strike.

It met first the justice minister, Ahmed Mekki, who had expressed opposition to Mr Morsi’s statement saying he had not been consulted. But he also urged an end to the strike threat.

The state news agency said it would follow this up by meeting Mr Morsi himself.

Opponents fear that there will be clashes on Tuesday when the Muslim Brotherhood organizes a counter-rally to support the president against the Tahrir Square protesters. Some even fear the military, which have taken a back seat since Mr Morsi became president in June, may use the confrontation as an excuse to step back in.

But Adel Soleiman, head of Cairo’s International Centre for Future and Strategic Studies and a retired general, said that he believed in the end Mr Morsi would get his way.

“He is the elected president and he is the only elected authority in the country,” he said. “I think the political role of the military is finished.”

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Background

MOHAMED MORSI:

Mohamed Morsi is the fifth and current President of Egypt, having assumed office June 30, 2012.
Educated in the United States, Morsi was a Member of Parliament in the People's Assembly of Egypt from 2000 to 2005 and a leading figure in the Muslim Brotherhood.
He became Chairman of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) when it was founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in the wake of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
He stood as the FJP's candidate for the May-June 2012 presidential election.
On June 24, 2012, the election commission announced that Morsi won Egypt's presidential runoff against Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak.
According to official results, Morsi took 51.7 percent of the vote while Shafik received 48.3.
As he had promised during his campaign, Morsi resigned from his position as the head of the FJP after his victory was announced.
He is the first civilian to hold the office, and the first chosen in a contested election with direct universal suffrage.
Morsi seeks to influence the drafting of a new constitution of Egypt. Morsi [says he] favors a constitution that protects civil rights, yet is enshrined in Islamic law. (from wikipedia)

EGYPT’S MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD:

A widespread Islamist organization founded in 1928, the Brotherhood seeks to Islamize societies from the ground up and compel governments in Muslim countries to adhere to sharia, or Islamic law.
At various times in its history, the group has used or supported violence and has been repeatedly banned in Egypt for attempting to overthrow Cairo’s secular government.
Since the 1970s, however, the Egyptian Brotherhood has disavowed violence and sought to participate in Egyptian politics. The U.S. State Department does not include the group on its list of terrorist organizations.
Still, the Egyptian government mistrusts the Brotherhood’s pledge of nonviolence and continues to ban the organization.
One reason the Brotherhood’s commitment to nonviolence is unclear: The original Egyptian organization has spawned branches in 70 countries. These organizations bear the Brotherhood name, but their connections to the founding group vary and some of them may provide financial, logistical, or other support to terrorist organizations.
Some terrorist groups-including Hamas, Jamaat al-Islamiyya, and al-Qaeda-have historic and ideological affiliations with the Egyptian Brotherhood.
In addition, some of the world’s most dangerous terrorists were once Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members, including Osama bin Laden’s top deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. The organization is like a “stepping stone,” says Evan Kohlmann, an international terrorism consultant. (from cfr.org/publication/9248/does_the_muslim_brotherhood_have_ties_to_terrorism.html)