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.

Egypt PM edges closer to forming cabinet

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

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.