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| Scenes from Cairo's bloody Monday |
Egypt's interim
administration has formed a judicial committee to investigate a deadly clash in
Cairo at dawn between the army and Muslim Brotherhood supporters in which
dozens were killed.
A statement by the transitional
administration said the deaths were the result of an attempt by protesters to
storm the Republican Guard headquarters where
President Mohammed Morsi was being held after his dismissal last week.
At least 50 people were
killed in the clashes, which Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators blamed on the
military.
There
are two opposing versions of the incident.
The
military claims there was an attempt to storm the compound by "armed
terrorists" at dawn, forcing the guards to return fire to repel the
attack. The Muslim Brotherhood says a detachment of soldiers advanced from
behind on hundreds of people performing dawn prayers outside the compound.
Liberal politician Mohamed
ElBaradei said Egypt was in "dire need" of reconciliation and
condemned all violence.
Former presidential
candidate Hamdeen Sabahi, leader of the Popular Current party, told Reuters the transitional administration
created when the army toppled Morsi in response to mass protests against him
and the Muslim Brotherhood could not afford to wait.
The appointment of a prime
minister has been held up for two days because the ultra-conservative Islamist
Noor Party rejected both secular candidates for the post nominated by
army-backed interim head of state Adly Mansour.
Sabahi said it was
important to have Islamist participation in the transition but he believed that
Noor might revise its position and either join the government or join in the
rewriting of the constitution once a new administration was formed.
Asked about Monday's clash
outside Republican Guard barracks, Sabahi said the only beneficiaries of such
bloodshed were the Muslim Brotherhood and others who sought to polarize the
situation and drive Egypt to civil war.
In anticipation of this
early morning’s clashes, leading Egyptian media figure Emad Adeeb wrote for ElWatanNews this
piece on “the logic of madness and blood” now gripping Egypt:
Each of the two Egypts is accepting no less than
everything.
Muslim Brotherhood supporters feel their legitimacy
was robbed. They won’t leave the streets and public squares before Dr. Mohamed
Morsi is reinstated.
Masses opposed to the Brotherhood regime believe Dr.
Morsi flouted the principles of his popular democratic mandate and reneged on
his campaign promises. As a result, he lost his legitimacy and had to be
removed.
Neither side can tolerate the other and it is
difficult to imagine them sharing governance of the country.
I am certain normalcy won’t be restored and bloodshed
won’t stop in beloved Egypt except when each of the two sides gets totally
convinced it cannot manage the country’s affairs alone.
During Morsi’s rule, the Brotherhood did not believe
the opposition existed and the opposition refused to cooperate with his
administration.
Since June 30 and the emergency of a new regime, the
Muslim Brotherhood refuses to play the role of a political opposition, while
the liberal forces remain distrustful of what they perceive as the Brothers’ “malicious
deeds and intentions.”
The central figures of (Mubarak’s) National Democratic
Party were booted out after the January 25, 2011 revolution. The central
figures of the National Salvation Front were sidelined by the Morsi
administration. We’re now at the stage of sidelining the Muslim Brothers.
That’s a vicious circle that can lead us nowhere
except to madness, death and ruin.
What makes the situation catastrophic is the decision
by the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters to resort to violence and street
fighting as a counter weapon against the revolution, the army and the new
regime.
A party to the current conflict that believes it can
politically or physically finish off its opponent is misguided.
This sick mentality leaves no chance for a transition
from utter disconnection to national cohesion.
Remember the army’s public and secret ultimatum to
Dr. Morsi was meant as a goad to a political partnership between his
administration and the opposition. But exclusivism pervaded the Brotherhood’s
approach and the former president’s conduct.
The Muslim Brotherhood, heartened by the Americans,
committed the memorable blunder of believing that taking to the streets to recoup
the former regime is the only way to win this power struggle.
No one will be able to shut out the Muslim
Brotherhood. And the Brotherhood has no chance of putting back the clock.
We will continue to destroy each other and the state
of political folly and lawlessness will refuse to go away.
