Egypt’s President Mursi remains defiant as fears of civil war grow
July 01, AP – Cairo: Egyptian president, Mohammad Mursi, vowed there would be no second revolution in Egypt. He said that his early resignation would undermine the legitimacy of his successors creating a recipe for unending chaos.
“There is no room for any talk against this constitutional legitimacy. There can be demonstrations and people expressing their opinions. But what’s critical in all this is the adoption and application of the constitution. This is the critical point.”
The man at the centre of a national storm was uncannily certain of himself and his staying power. Asked if he was confident that the army would never have to step in to control a country that had become ungovernable, Mursi replied: “Very.”
But Mursi’s assured demeanour contrasted to the tense atmosphere that surrounded him on Saturday.
Mursi claimed Egyptian private media channels had exaggerated the strength of his opponents and blamed violence on officials loyal to former president Hosni Mubarak.
Mursi said the media had taken “small situations of violence and then magnified them as if the whole country is living in violence”. He dismissed the organic nature of the opposition to his rule, and maintained that the fighting had been co-ordinated by “the deep state and the remnants of the old regime” who had paid off hired thugs to attack his supporters in the Muslim Brotherhood.
“They have money, and they got this money from corruption. They used this corrupt money to pull back the regime, and pull back the old regime into power. They pay this corrupt money to thugs, and then violence takes place.”
The president refused to name which countries were meddling in Egypt’s affairs, but maintained that it was happening.
In a rare moment of contrition, Mursi admitted for the first time in the English-language media that he regretted using unilateral powers to force through Egypt’s controversial new constitution a move that the opposition saw as dictatorial. This was the pivotal moment of his first year, sowing the seeds for widespread dissent against his administration.
“It contributed to some kind of misconception in society,” Mursi said, distancing himself from one of the most divisive clauses in the new Islamist-slanted constitution, which allows for greater religious input into Egyptian legislation. “It’s not me who changed this article. I didn’t interfere in this constitutional committee’s work. Absolutely not.”
The president added that once MPs were finally elected to Egypt’s currently empty lower house of parliamentary, he would personally submit constitutional amendments for debate in the house’s very first session.
But Mursi’s contrition only went so far. Amid opposition claims that the failure to achieve consensus had led to Egypt’s current polarisation, Mursi blamed the refusal of secular politicians to participate in the political process for the impasse. He denied that his government was unduly loaded with Islamists. He went on to list numerous offers he claimed he had made to bring non-Islamists on board, while simultaneously defending the right of a popularly-elected president to promote his allies. “This is the concept of real democracy,” he said.
Mursi denied that he had ever offered leading secular politician Mohammad Al Baradei a job but named Mounir Fakhry and Gouda Abdul Khalif as two opposition ministers who left his cabinet against his wishes. “That’s the situation,” Mursi claimed. “We offer people [jobs] and they refuse.” Even now, Mursi said the offer for dialogue with opposition members remained open though the opposition say such meetings are a waste of time because Mursi only pays lip-service to their point of view.
Asked why he had repeatedly refused to criticise specific instances of police malpractice, the president claimed that his praise was meant in a more general sense. “When I say I am supporting the police or the army, I am talking about the army in general and the police in general. In general, those institutions are good institutions. Accordingly if there are certain violations, or crimes, or abuses by certain individuals well, the law takes its course.”
But Mursi has even been accused of kicking into the long grass allegations of security force brutality under previous regimes. After his election, he commissioned a fact-finding report into police and military wrongdoing during and after the 2011 uprising. But he has never published its findings, and when its damning contents were leaked to the Guardian in April, Mursi chose to praise the army and police, and promoted three generals.
“I’m supporting the institution,” he again claimed this weekend. “I’m not supporting the individuals. And of course, the number of people who committed the violations are very small in comparison to the institutions.”
Associated press journalist for human rights observers – Khizer Hayat reports from the region.
Category: Arab uprising
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