EGYPT’S RULER, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi has vowed that the military will protect the country from “grave dangers” it faces and has urged Egyptians to be aware of conspiracies to undermine the armed forces.
In a bid to reassure Egyptians who believe the army intends to hang on to power, he reiterated its commitment to hand over to a civil authority chosen by the people. He argued that the armed forces had been compelled to take over to safeguard the country from domestic and external threats but said its main task is to defend its borders.
His use of the phrase “grave dangers”, however, will confirm the worst fears of revolutionaries often accused by the generals of serving foreign interests. This phrase reverts to the past when Egypt’s leaders sought to divert attention from the country’s domestic troubles by alleging intervention by “foreign hands”. His comments are seen as a warning to revolutionaries not to renew the mass demonstrations that toppled president Hosni Mubarak last February. Although at that time, the army was seen as being allied to the revolutionaries, fundamental differences soon surfaced. Consequently, revolutionaries now demand the military hand over power immediately to a civilian authority, accuse the generals of mounting a counter-revolution, and call for the release of 12,000 people detained since last year’s uprising and subjected to military trials and torture.
Revolutionaries are certain to be infuriated by the decision to negotiate a $3.2 billion (€2.5bn) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to ease the country’s burgeoning budget deficit. Egyptians who made the revolution deeply resent the ousted regime’s dependence on external funding that did not develop the country or improve the lot of the poor. Well aware of sensitivities over IMF finance, in particular, the generals refused a loan last June.
Egyptians who seek comprehensive change also insist that Mubarak and his entourage be held accountable for violence against protesters during the uprising as well as graft during his reign. However, his trial in closed rather than open court has dragged on since August and judges have just begun hearing the arguments of defence lawyers who proclaim his innocence. Proceedings against other senior figures in his regime have been repeatedly adjourned, creating the impression that justice is not being served.
Activists plan to stage countrywide rallies on January 25th to mark the first anniversary of the popular protest that launched the uprising. Facebook activists were surprised last year when they mobilised 50,000 Egyptians in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square and launched the country- wide uprising that felled Mubarak’s regime in 18 days, during which 846 people were killed. At least 150 protesters died in subsequent clashes with the army and security forces.
The military, which is planning marches and other ceremonies to mark the anniversary, could employ crowd-control means and live fire to disperse or contain rallies protesting the rule of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces headed by Marshal Tantawi.
Secular activists charge the military with conniving with the Muslim Brothers and puritanical Salafis, who won a solid majority of seats in the new parliament, of trying to abort the revolution which had been launched to sweep away the old order. Unfortunately the revolutionaries are deeply divided and without a well-ordered agenda. Ahead of the anniversary, they have been squabbling over the purpose of next week’s rallies while the two leading parliamentary parties have reached a deal for sharing out posts.
The Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice party, has named secretary general Saad el-Katatni as speaker and the Salafi Noor party has put forward two names for one of two deputy speakers. The liberal Wafd, the third largest party, is considering its position.
Freedom and Justice, which won 45 per cent of the vote, has said it also seeks the chairmanship of parliamentary committees on defence, national security and legislation, as well as representation on the commission slated to draft a new constitution.
If the party sticks to these demands, secular revolutionaries could return to Egypt’s streets and squares, exacerbating an existing rift with the fundamentalist parties that won Egypt’s first ever free election as well as risking violence from the army and police.
