New cabinet of the Egypt, took oath after deadly clashes

by Simon MARTELLI, Tom Little

Cairo, July 16, 2013 (AFP)

First provisional Government Egypt since toppled military President Mohamed Morsi two weeks ago lent oath Tuesday, after deadly clashes between security forces and supporters of the Islamist stripped.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the influential movement where Morsi is native, immediately rejected the 35 members of the Government.

"We do not recognize its legitimacy or its authority," spokesman Gehad El-Haddad to AFP.

None of the newly appointed Ministers is affiliated with no Islamist party or movement, such as fraternity and the ultraconservative Al - Nur advantage both appeals failed to participate.

The Government is headed by liberal Economist Hazem al-Beblawi. Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the general behind the popularly supported coup that overthrew Morsi, becomes first Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of defence.

The investiture ceremony took place after a night of clashes in downtown Cairo and in adjacent Giza, in which officials said seven people were killed and 261 injured. Hundreds of demonstrators were also arrested.

Earlier, sent American Bill Burns - the highest US visit since the July 3 coup, official appealed for an end to violence rocking the most populous in the Arab world.

Within hours however, the Egyptian capital has been rocked by political violence for the first time since the beginning of last week, dozens of supporters of Morsi photographed ball before an elite army barracks.

Two people died in clashes around the core area of Rameses near Tahrir square, while five others were killed in Giza, emergency services at AFP.

401 Demonstrators were arrested in the only region of Ramses, and at least 17 security officers were wounded, said a source of security cited by State media.

Thousands of Islamists had poured into the streets Monday night after the meal of iftar, with which Muslims break their fast day during the holy month of Ramadan, to demand the reinstatement of Morsi.

Their leader is being held since his overthrow.

Some of them blocked the bridge on 6 October on the Nile, in the centre of Cairo, throwing stones at the security forces, who responded to shots of tear gas. Clashes continued in Cairo until the wee hours of Tuesday.

The United States has condemned the violence. He made the "difficult" transition, but he insisted that Washington was not taking sides, said Patrick Ventrell, spokesman for the State Department.

Washington has refrained from that Morsi was victim of a coup, which would legally oblige a freeze of some 1.5 billion $ in economic and military U.S. aid to Cairo.

The Office of the Chief of the foreign policy of the EU Catherine Ashton said she would travel to Cairo Wednesday to urge its leaders to ensure a rapid return to democracy.

"I'm going to Egypt to reinforce our message that there must be a fully inclusive political process, taking in all the groups who support democracy," said Ashton.

The deaths are the latest in a wave of unrest since the coup, bringing to more than 100 the number of people killed, according to an AFP count.

The interim Government unveiled Tuesday included three women Ministers and three Coptic Christians.

Analyst Samer Shehata said budget deficit of Egypt, reform the Ministry of the Interior, establishment of the rule of law and restore security in the Sinai Peninsula were among the pressing issues for the new Government.

"How to deal with demonstrators in the street at this time is another very serious issue," he added.

Rating standard & Poors said on Tuesday he would keep his rating for Egypt after the Gulf States have pledged billions of dollars to support the Government resulted.

Ten weeks after cut the sovereign rating from Cairo to junk-level CCC +, S & P said it would hold the coast there, with a "stable" Outlook, despite the military coup on 3 July.

During its only year of turbulent reign, Morsi was charged to concentrate power in the hands of the brotherhood, sending the economy in free fall and do not protect minorities.

But supporters of the Islamist leader said that his reversal was an affront to democracy.

The new leaders of the Egypt expressed "strong resentment" Tuesday to the comments of the Islamist Turkey Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan backup Morsi only legitimate President of the country.

The diplomatic spat came as authorities tightened the screws on the donors of Morsi, freezing of assets of 14 Islamists top of page, including nine heads of brotherhood.

Kerry said "too soon" to judge the path of the Egypt after Morsi

AMMAN, July 17, 2013 (AFP)

United States Secretary of State John Kerry Wednesday said it was too early to judge yet the future evolution of the Egypt after the ousting of Mohamed Morsi.

"Very clearly the order must be restored, stability must be restored, the rights must be protected... and the country needs to be able to return to normal business," Kerry during a press conference in Amman.

"We are concerned about the political arrests and we are concerned about people being able to participate," Kerry said.

He added that it was much "too early to pronounce or to judge where it will go."

Monday the Assistant Secretary William Burns was in Cairo, most senior American to visit Egypt since the coup d ' état on 3 July which removed Morsi.

Burns urged Egypt divided factions to engage in dialogue and end to violence, according to comments he made in Cairo broadcast on Arab television channels.

Violence that shook Egypt since the eviction of Morsi has made the "difficult" transition, spokesman of the Department of State Patrick Ventrell said later, but he insisted that Washington was not taking sides.

Washington has refrained from that Morsi was victim of a coup, which would legally oblige a freeze of some 1.5 billion $ in economic and military U.S. aid to Cairo.

Gunmen clash with Egypt army near Israel: security

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CAIRO, Qahirah, July 14, 2013 (AFP)

Gunmen clashed with the Egyptian army on Sunday near the Israeli border, security sources said, in the latest violence to erupt in the Sinai peninsula since the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi

The fighting broke out in the area of Al-Wifaq, in northern Sinai, after militants tried unsuccessfully to blow up a police vehicle with explosives.

Clashes between the gunmen and the army were ongoing, the sources said, with Bedouin elders trying to negotiate a ceasefire.

There no immediate reports of casualties.The restive Sinai peninsula, home to Egypt’s luxury Red Sea resorts, has been hit by a surge of violence since Morsi’s ouster on July 3, with militants killing a police officer early on Friday.

A Coptic Christian man found decapitated a day earlier, while two people died in an attack on a checkpoint in the peninsula on Wednesday.

Egypt freezes the assets of top 14 Islamists

Cairo, July 14, 2013 (AFP)

Attorney general of the Egypt Sunday ordered the freezing of assets belonging to the 14 Islamists senior official in Cairo since the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi top of page, as the United States sent its first.

Under Secretary of State Bill Burns will visit Egypt from Sunday to Tuesday, the US State Department, adding that it is "underline American support for the Egyptian people."

His trip comes in the middle of the growing pressure on the Muslim Brotherhood by Morsi, who is in disarray with key figures is placed in detention, the performance or to keep a low profile.

It also comes in the middle of international calls for the release of the first freely elected president of Egypt, Morsi, who was overthrown by a popularly supported coup on 3 July.

The brotherhood has refused to join the new Government led by Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi goalkeeper who made progress in negotiations on the formation of his cabinet.

The ultraconservative Islamist party confirmed Al - Nur would not be part of the interim Government, with spokesman Nader Bakkar telling AFP: "we only attend an elected Government.

On Sunday, Beblawi has appointed a former Ambassador in Washington, Nabil Fahmy, as Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Economist of the World Bank veteran Ahmed Galal as Minister of finance.

Prominent liberal leader Mohamed ElBaradei, 71, was sworn as vice President a.i. for foreign policy.

Beblawi said that the priorities of his cabinet would be to restore security, ensure the flow of goods and services and prepare for legislative and presidential elections.

The assets freeze is part of an investigation ordered by the prosecutor general Hisham Barakat which affects nine leaders of Muslim brothers, including general Mohamed Badie guide and five other groups, including veterans faction Gamaa Islamiya Islamists, said judicial sources group.

Respect of four deadly incidents since the overthrow of Morsi, including clashes in Cairo last Monday, in which dozens have died.

The order comes a day after prosecutors have received criminal complaints against Morsi, Badie and other senior Islamists, to initiate a formal investigation procedure.

Complaints include espionage, incitement to violence and the economy.

Morsi was not seen in public since his ouster.  In his first public comments since the ouster of the Islamist leader, military Chief general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has defended the move, saying that the army has taken the thedecision after Morsi rejecting the holding of a referendum on his presidency.

"The armed forces, with all its personnel and its officers, and decided without reserve to be at the service of his people and empower their free will," said in a statement.

The interim leaders say that Morsi is held in a "safe place, for its own security," despite calls for his release by the Germany and the United States, which condemned a wave of arbitrary arrests of members of the brotherhood.

The Attorney said Sunday that 206 out of a total of 652 people arrested during deadly clashes this week had been released on bail.

Eviction Morsi has plunged Egypt into violence.  Fighting broke out Sunday between gunmen and the army near Israel in the Sinai Peninsula, which has seen a number of deadly attacks last week, said security sources.

The worst violence since the military coup took place outside Cairo from the elite Republican Guard at Headquarters last Monday, where 53 people, mainly supporters of Morsi, were killed, as explained the brotherhood, as a "massacre" by the security forces.

During his visit in Cairo, Burns would push for "an end to all forms of violence and the transition towards an inclusive civilian democratically elected Government" in meetings with various parties, the State Department said.

Washington has struggled to define if Morsi was victim of a coup, which would legally oblige a freeze on some 1.5 billion $ in vital economic and military U.S. aid to Cairo.

Acting President Adli Mansour established a timetable for the elections early next year, according to a roadmap drawn up by the military, while the new cabinet of Beblawi could be unveiled by Tuesday or Wednesday.

During its only year of turbulent reign, Morsi was charged to concentrate power in the hands of the brotherhood, sending the economy in free fall and do not protect minorities.

But his supporters that his ouster was an affront to democracy, and the brotherhood plan mass protests over Monday, including the headquarters of the Republican Guard.

Rival events are also planned Monday on Tahrir square and in the Ittihadiya Presidential Palace by the main coalition that had called for the resignation of Morsi.

EU’s Ashton ‘deeply concerned’ about Egypt unrest

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BRUSSELS, July 14, 2013 (AFP)

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Sunday said the 28-member bloc was following developments in Egypt with “deep concern”, deploring recent violence and calling for prompt elections.

Egypt’s first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, was overthrown in a military coup on July 3 after millions took to the streets calling on him to step down.

Since then, Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement has led demonstrations against the ouster, urging an “uprising” after accusing troops and police of “massacring” its supporters during dawn prayers on Monday when 51 people were killed.

Morsi has not been seen in public since he was toppled, but Egypt’s interim leaders say he is being held in a “safe place, for his own safety,” despite calls by the United States and Germany for his release.

“The EU is following the recent developments in Egypt with deep concern,” Ashton said in a statement, adding that “the military must accept and respect the constitutional authority of the civilian power”.

She also stressed “the importance of holding democratic elections in the shortest possible time” and called for dialogue between all political groups committed to democracy.

“The EU urges the interim authorities to make every effort so that politically motivated arrests and other forms of harassments do not take place,” she said, adding that “all political detainees must be released, and criminal cases reviewed swiftly in a transparent manner.”

Egypt PM edges closer to forming cabinet

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by Jailan ZAYAN, Samer AL ATARASH

CAIRO, July 13, 2013 (AFP)

Egypt’s new prime minister edged closer to forming a cabinet on Saturday as supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Mursi vowed to keep fighting for his reinstatement with further protests.

Hazem al-Beblawi, who was appointed on Tuesday, said he would hold talks with the candidates for ministerial posts on Saturday and Sunday, in comments carried by the state-owned Akhbar al-Youm.

The new cabinet’s top priorities will be to restore security, ensure the flow of goods and services and prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections, Beblawi said.

Beblawi is working according to a roadmap drafted by the military which overthrew Mursi on July 3 after millions took to the streets calling on him to step down.

Mursi, the country’s first freely elected president, was accused of concentrating power in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood, sending the economy into freefall and failing to protect minorities.

But his supporters argue that his removal from power was a flagrant violation of democratic principles and tens of thousands have taken to the streets to demand his reinstatement.

“There will be another mass protest on Monday,” a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman said on Saturday, a day after tens of thousands of Mursi’s supporters rallied in Cairo.

“It will be peaceful,” the spokesman, Tareq al-Mursi, told AFP.

On Friday, Washington and Berlin called on the military to release Mursi, who was detained just hours after the coup and is being held “in a safe place, for his safety,” according to the interim leadership.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the United States agreed with Germany’s earlier appeal for Mursi to be released and was “publicly” making the same request.

Psaki said Washington wanted “an end to restrictions on Mr Mursi’s whereabouts”, while Germany suggested a trusted institution such as the International Committee of the Red Cross should be granted access to him.

On Friday, rival demonstrators rallied in the capital, but while there had been fears of fresh violence, the evening passed off peacefully.

Tens of thousands of Islamist protesters gathered outside the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in Cairo’s Nasr City to pray and break their fast together on the first weekend of the holy month of Ramadan.

In Cairo’s Tahrir Square and outside the Ittihadiya presidential palace hundreds of Mursi opponents sat down for their own iftar meals.

Mursi supporters have been camping outside the mosque, where many leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood have been holed up, some wanted by authorities.

“We will continue to resist,” key Islamist leader Safwat Hegazi told Friday’s crowd.

“We will stay one or two months, or even one or two years. We won’t leave here until our president, Mohamed Mursi, comes back,” said the firebrand preacher, who is wanted by police for questioning on suspicion of incitement to violence.

Mohamed Yousry, a teenager at the rally, said: “I’ll leave as a dead body.”

Thousands also massed in support of Mursi outside the University of Cairo, watched over by a heavy security presence.

US President Barack Obama discussed the crisis in a phone call with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Friday, a White House statement said.

Obama expressed “serious concern” about the violence since Mursi’s overthrow and underscored the need to return to a democratically elected civilian government.

King Abdullah was the first foreign head of state to congratulate Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour, hours after he was named to replace Mursi.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab governments have also pledged $12 billion in assistance to shore up the faltering economy.

The interim authorities have been pressing ahead with forming a civilian administration but the Muslim Brotherhood has refused offers to join it.

In the worst single incident of the recent violence, clashes at an army building in Cairo on Monday killed 53 people, mostly Mursi supporters.

The Brotherhood accuses the army of “massacring” its activists. The army says soldiers were attacked by “terrorists” and armed protesters.

Police are hunting Brotherhood chief Mohammed Badie and other senior leaders suspected of inciting violence, after arrest warrants were issued on Wednesday.

The military-appointed caretaker president has set a timetable for elections by early next year but Mursi opponents and supporters alike have criticized the interim charter he issued on Monday to replace the Islamist-drafted constitution.

Main Egypt opposition coalition rejects interim charter

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CAIRO, July 09, 2013 (AFP)

Egypt’s National Salvation Front, the main coalition that backed former president Mohamed Morsi’s overthrow, on Tuesday denounced a decree which invests the new interim president with extensive powers and sets a new election schedule.

“The National Salvation Front announces its rejection of the constitutional decree,” it said in a statement.

The coalition, which was led by Mohamed ElBaradei until his appointment as vice president in the new government, complained of a lack of consultation before the charter was adopted.

“We call for it to be amended and will propose our own amendments to the president,” the group added.

Earlier, the grassroots Tamarod campaign which organised the mass protests that led to Morsi’s overthrow, also complained it had not been consulted on the transition plan.

Tamarod spokesman Mahmud Badr said the movement would itself make proposals for changes to the blueprint, which as well as outlining the new president’s powers lays out a timetable for the transition period that is to last around six months until presidential elections are held.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which has refused to accept the military coup that deposed the Islamist president, rejected the plan outright.

“A constitutional decree by a man appointed by putschists… brings the country back to square one,” senior Brotherhood official Essam al-Erian said in a Facebook posting.

Egypt interim PM a liberal former finance minister

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CAIRO, July 09, 2013 (AFP)

Hazem al-Beblawi, named head of Egypt’s interim government on Monday, is a liberal economist who served as finance minister during the transitional military rule that followed the 2011 ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

His appointment by caretaker leader Adly Mansour comes almost a week after the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

It also comes at a time of heightened tensions between the army and Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which accused troops and police of “massacring” dozens of its supporters during a protest against the coup in Cairo on Monday.

Beblawi, 76, studied in Cairo and Paris, where he obtained a doctorate in economics.

During his long career, he worked in public and private institutions, both at home and abroad, including as head of Egypt’s Export Development Bank between 1983 and 1995.

He has also taught at several universities around the world and has written numerous books and articles on finance in Arabic, French and English.

In 1995, he joined the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia, before serving as adviser to the Arab Monetary Fund in Abu Dhabi until Mubarak’s overthrow.

Just months after the revolution, he was appointed deputy prime minister and then finance minister in the transitional government of Essam Sharaf, who was installed by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in March that year.

He left office when Sharaf’s government quit in November 2011 amid wrangling with the military over the powers granted to the future elected government.

Beblawi had already offered his own resignation that October in protest at the killing of Coptic Christians during clashes with the security forces. But it was rejected by the military.

Saudi pledges $5 billion in aid to Egypt

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RIYADH, July 09, 2013 (AFP)

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it would give Egypt $5 billion (3.9 billion euro) in assistance for its economy, six days after the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

The aid, which was decided by King Abdullah, will be made up of a $2 billion interest-free deposit in Egypt’s central bank, a $1 billion donation and the equivalent of $2 billion in oil and gas products.

This brings the total aid promised to Egypt by Saudi Arabia and the United

Arab Emirates on Tuesday to $8 billion.

Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf said that the aid from Riyadh  was  intended to “support the Egyptian economy faced with the challenges which the

country is going through”.

Since the ouster of veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak in early 2011, the country has been faced with economic strife and political instability.

Saudi Arabia welcomed Morsi’s ouster last week, and King Abdullah was the first foreign head of state to congratulate Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour hours after his appointment.

The UAE, another oil-rich Gulf monarchy, said on Tuesday that it would give $3 billion in aid to Egypt, made up of a $1 billion donation and an interest-free $2 billion deposit in the central bank.

While Morsi in power, another Gulf state, Qatar, which is seen as close to his Muslim Brotherhood, announced it was providing Egypt with $8 billion in assistance.

That consisted of $4 billion in deposits in the central bank, $3 billion in bonds and $1 billion in straight aid.

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Interim charter row reflects rocky road ahead for Egypt

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CAIRO, July 09, 2013 (AFP)

Egypt’s interim charter hit a wave of opposition shortly after it was announced late on Monday, from liberals as well as supporters of Islamist former president Mohamed Morsi, illustrating the treacherous political landscape following his ouster.

The blueprint unveiled by army-appointed caretaker President Adly Mansour has been welcomed by some as a decisive step towards restoring civilian rule in Egypt, amid heightened tensions between the army and Islamists in an increasingly bloody transition.

The charter outlines the president’s powers, while laying out a timetable to revise the suspended constitution and hold fresh parliamentary and presidential elections, possibly by early next year.

But secular parties were swift to criticise the new charter, notably for upholding a stricter definition of Islamic Sharia as the main source of legislation, in what was widely seen as a concession to the Salafist al-Nur party.

The provision narrowing Islamic law to the principles of Sunni thought first appeared in the controversial constitution that Morsi forced through last year and which was suspended following last week’s coup.

The liberal Free Egyptians Party called Monday’s constitutional decree “highly disappointing.”

Party spokesman Shaheeb Wageeh said the Sharia clause was included to “appease a political party that has been trying to impose its vision on society,” referring to Al-Nur.

Others raised concerns about the election timetable, seen as particularly ambitious given the ongoing protests and security problems, and the unchecked privileges of the military, who intervened last week to depose Egypt’s first democratically elected leader.

Gamal Eid, an Egyptian lawyer who works for a human rights NGO, said the text gave the army too much discretion over prosecuting soldiers and civilians in military tribunals, a concern echoed by Heba Morayef from Human Rights Watch.

“This decree has broadened out the military justice system… At present the military has absolute jurisdiction when it comes to trying its own people,” she told AFP.

Army accountability has been thrown sharply into focus since Monday morning when at least 51 people, mostly Morsi loyalists, were killed outside the Cairo military headquarters, stoking the Islamists’ anger toward the army.

The Muslim Brotherhood claimed police and troops “massacred” their supporters as they performed dawn prayers, while the army said it came under attack by “terrorists.”

After the incident, the Brotherhood rejected the interim charter outright, with senior official Essam al-Erian saying “a constitutional decree by a man appointed by putschists… brings the country back to square one.”

Separately, the grassroots Tamarod campaign which organised the mass protests that led to Morsi’s overthrow complained it had not been consulted on the transition plan.

Tamarod spokesman Mahmud Badr said his movement would make proposals for changes to the blueprint, which it would present to Mansour later on Tuesday.

Some observers remained optimistic, however, that the charter marked a key step in Egypt’s democratic transition.

Political analyst Emad Gad said the new decree would help restore stability by boosting what he called the “new cooperation” between anti-Islamist protesters and the military.

“The civic power demonstrators of the June 30 revolution are trying to support the interim president. So when they see the transitional period progressing, I believe they will decide to leave the streets and support the country’s new institutions.”

Turkey strongly condemns Egypt killings

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ANKARA, July 08, 2013 (AFP)

Turkey’s foreign minister on Monday denounced the killing of 35 activists in Egypt who demonstrated against last week’s military coup that unseated president Mohamed Morsi.

“I strongly condemn the massacre during the morning prayers on behalf of the fundamental values of humanity that we have defended,” Ahmet Davutoglu wrote in a message on Twitter.

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood said on Monday that 35 supporters were killed at dawn when security forces opened fire on them as they prayed.

The Islamist group’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, called for “an uprising by the great people of Egypt against those trying to steal their revolution with tanks.”

Davutoglu called for a process of normalisation in Egypt that respects the will of the Egyptian people.

“Egypt is the hope for the rising calls for democracy in the Middle East and Turkey will always be in solidarity with the Egyptian people,” he added.

On Friday, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the military intervention as anti-democratic and chastised the West for failing to brand Morsi’s ouster a coup.

Qatar ‘condemns’ Egypt killings

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DOHA, July 08, 2013 (AFP)

Gas-rich Qatar, a key backer of the Muslim Brotherhood to which Egypt’s Mohamed Morsi belongs, condemned the killing of 42 loyalists of the ousted president on Monday, and called on all Egyptians to abandon violence.

The Muslim Brotherhood, which has led demonstrations against last Wednesday’s overthrow of Morsi, said its supporters were “massacred” when police and troops fired on them during dawn prayers outside an elite army headquarters in Cairo.

“Qatar strongly condemns such unfortunate acts that take away innocent lives,” a foreign ministry spokesman said in a statement published by the official QNA news agency.

The emirate urged “self-restraint” and “national unity” as it called for “dialogue to preserve security, safety, and stability” in Egypt.

The spokesman, who was not named, also urged Egyptian authorities to “protect peaceful protesters and their right to express their opinions and positions”.

Qatar had cautiously congratulated Adly Mansour when the Egyptian army appointed him as the interim president replacing Morsi.

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who abdicated as the ruler of Qatar last month in favour of his son Sheikh Tamim, was staunch supporter of Arab Islamist movements and provided key political and financial support to Morsi’s government after the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.

On Monday, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman called for “abandoning violence in all its states and finding a political exit in Egypt that would guarantee political and civil rights of all and protect the achievements of the January 25, (2011) revolution”.

Influential Sunni cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born Qatari and seen as a spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood, slammed the “massacres committed against peaceful protesters” and urged the army to “protect all demonstrators”.

He renewed an earlier call to “respect the will of the Egyptian people” and “restore” Morsi as president.

On Saturday, Qaradawi issued a religious decree, or fatwa, urging Egyptians to support Morsi.

Qaradawi, 86, is a regular commentator on Doha-based Al-Jazeera satellite television and has millions of supporters.

Iran says Egypt army intervention ‘unacceptable’

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TEHRAN, July 08, 2013 (AFP)

Iran deems “unacceptable” the Egyptian army’s toppling of the country’s first freely elected president Mohamed Morsi, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

“The intervention of armed forces in political affairs is unacceptable and disturbing,” ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi told the Mehr news agency, when asked about the developments in Egypt.

“It cannot be denied that foreign hands are at work here,” Araqchi said, adding: “The polarisation of Egyptian society is dangerous.”

He did not specify which foreign hands he believed were behind the coup but said: “The West and the Zionist (Israeli) regime do not want a strong Egypt.”

His remarks came after gunfire killed 42 Islamist protesters demonstrating outside an elite Cairo army base against last week’s coup.

Iran had tried to improve its long strained relations with Egypt after Morsi, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, took power in June last year.

Last August, Morsi became the first Egyptian leader to travel to Tehran since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

ElBaradei condemns Egypt killings, urges independent probe

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42 dead in attack on ousted Egypt leader’s backers: medic

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EU’s billions in aid to Egypt ‘under constant review’

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BRUSSELS, July 08, 2013 (AFP)

The European Union on Monday condemned the killing of 42 supporters of Egypt’s ousted president and said it was keeping its billions of euros in aid pledged to the country “under constant review”.

“We are doing all that we can through talking to everyone on the ground to make sure everyone understands the need for peace to be maintained,” Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said at a routine press briefing.

The EU has “no plan to change our aid regime”, he added in response to queries about why the EU had not condemned last week’s military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

But he added: “We are keeping our aid to Egypt under constant review and depending on the situation on the ground we can change.”

Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement on Monday said its members were demonstrating against the coup when police and troops fired on them outside an elite army headquarters in Cairo, while the military blamed “terrorists” for the deadly shootings.

Asked whether Brussels condemned the bloodshed, Mann said: “We condemn and we regret the violence.”

“The most important thing is to return to the democratic process as soon as possible.”

The EU was ready to send a political mission to Cairo “when the time is right.”

Ashton’s spokesman underlined that the EU had sent no budgetary aid to the Egyptian authorities until now “because of the lack of reform”, since the bloc’s stated policy is to condition financial assistance to progress on rule of law, democratic process and human rights.

At EU-Egypt talks in November following the election of Morsi, the bloc pledged nearly five billion euros ($6.4 billion) in loans and grants for 2012-2013 plus potential loans through the European Investment Bank of up to one billion euros a year.

Last year, the European Court of Auditors said a billion euros of EU aid channelled to Egypt before and after the January 2011 uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s reign failed to improve human rights and governance, or reduce corruption.

EU support for improved governance in Egypt overall was “well-intentioned but ineffective,” said a highly critical report by the ECA.

Egypt Shiite killed by mob near Cairo: police

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Egypt Islamists call ‘million-man march’ for June 21

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CAIRO, June 12, 2013 (AFP)

Egyptian Islamist parties, including the president’s, on Wednesday called for a “million-man march” on June 21 to counter a planned protest at the end of the month outside the presidential palace.

“Islamist parties have decided to organise a ‘million-man march’ in front of Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque (in a Cairo suburb) on Friday, June 21, under the slogan: ‘Protect the revolution. Yes to peace, no to violence’,” said President Mohamed Morsi’s Freedom and Justice Party, political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, on its website.

An opposition-backed campaign dubbed Tamarrod, Arabic for rebellion, has called for an anti-Morsi demonstration outside the palace on June 30, the first anniversary of his election.

It says it has gathered millions of signatures to a petition demanding that Morsi step down to pave the way for an early presidential election.

In a newspaper interview published last week, Morsi himself dismissed the call for an early election as “absurd and illegitimate”, and in violation of the constitution.

His opponents accuse him of governing in the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood, on whose ticket he stood for president, and of reneging on his promise to rule in the interests of all Egyptians.

Morsi’s first year in office has been marred by sometimes deadly clashes between his supporters and opponents that have stoked political tensions.

AU urges Egypt and Ethiopia to hold talks on Nile row

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

by Jenny VAUGHAN

ADDIS ABABA, June 12, 2013 (AFP)

The African Union urged Egypt and Ethiopia Wednesday to come together for talks to solve a bitter dispute over the sharing of Nile river waters triggered by an Ethiopian dam project.

AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s appeal came after Egypt angrily warned that “all options are open” over Ethiopia’s diversion of a section of the Blue Nile for the dam.

“There should be discussions around these issues… aimed at having a win-win situation,” she said. “Both countries need the water.”

Ethiopia has pledged to press ahead with construction of the $4.2 billion (3.2 billion euro) Grand Renaissance Dam, set to become Africa’s biggest hydroelectric dam when completed, despite Egypt’s fury.

“If a single drop of the Nile is lost, our blood will be the alternative,” Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi warned on Monday .

“We are not warmongers, but we will never allow anyone to threaten our security.”

Egypt, which fears the project may diminish its water supply, says its “historic rights” to the Nile are guaranteed by two treaties from 1929 and 1959 which allow it 87 percent of the Nile’s flow and give it veto power over upstream projects.

But a new deal was signed in 2010 by other Nile Basin countries, including Ethiopia, allowing them to work on river projects without Cairo’s prior agreement.

Talks between the two countries should focus on finding on a solution “in a new context, not in the context of the colonial powers,” Dlamini-Zuma said without elaborating. Ethiopia dismissed Egypt’s threats as “empty and violent rhetoric.”

“Intimidating Ethiopia by putting on the table all the options, including war, is for us a non-starter, we won’t be subdued with this,” foreign ministry spokesman Dina Mufti told reporters on Wednesday.

Ethiopia last month began diverting the Blue Nile a short distance from its natural course for the construction of the dam, but has assured its neighbours downstream that water levels would not be affected.

A study by international experts on the dam’s impact on the river has been submitted to Egypt and Sudan, which also relies on Nile resources and supports Ethiopia’s hydro-electric project.

Egypt has dismissed the study’s findings, which minimise the dam’s impact, and has called for further assessments.

The first phase of the Grand Renaissance Dam is expected to be complete in 2016 and will generate 700 megawatts of electricity. When the entire project is complete it will have a capacity of 6,000 megawatts.

The Egyptian foreign minister is expected to visit Ethiopia in the coming days, although no date has been confirmed.

“That visit is welcome… we will see what will happen. We will cross that bridge when we come to it,” Dina said, adding that Ethiopia has no plans to seek mediation from the AU.
“We hope we will overcome this impasse by ourselves,” he said.

Ethiopia plans to export electricity from the dam to neighbouring Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya and is funding the massive project on its own.

The Blue Nile joins the White Nile in the Sudanese capital Khartoum to form the Nile, which then flows through Egypt.