Egypt in the grip of “madness and bloodshed”

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.

Egypt: Supreme Guide and Army General shadows

Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (top) and the Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie 

“The Muslims defeated the Islamists” in Egypt.

To my mind, these five words by Walid Abi-Mershed in his column today for Saudi Asharq Alawsat explain the army’s removal of Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first Islamist president, after millions of people protested over his leadership.

A scintillating account of the rise and fall of Morsi one year after assuming office comes in this think piece titled “Shadows of the Supreme Guide and Army General” and penned in Arabic by Ghassan Charbel, editor-in-chief of pan-Arab al-Hayat:

Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei went to al-Ittihadiya Palace to meet with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on the latter’s invitation.

The meeting was one-on-one, except that the visitor sensed the presence of others.

He saw behind the president the silhouettes of Mohamed Badie, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and his second-in-command Khairat el-Shater.

Such shadows raise suspicions. The visitor worried about the president resorting to the supreme guide, not the constitution.

That’s why ElBaradei told this (al-Hayat) newspaper, “I met with the president, we had a conversation and I gave up on him.”

Hamdeen Sabahi went to al-Ittihadiya Palace.  The shadows’ insistence on attending the meeting reminded him of his conversation with presidential candidate Morsi during the countdown to the runoffs.

Hamdeen had won some five million votes in the first round and opted out of the presidential race.

Morsi was hoping to woo those voters to secure victory over Ahmed Shafiq in the runoff.

Hamdeen asked Morsi a difficult question: “If you won the presidency, would you be a president independent of the Muslim Brotherhood’s diktats?”

Morsi could not answer and chose instead to offer Hamdeen the post of vice president.

Hamdeen begged off.

Amr Moussa went to al-Ittihadiya Palace and met with Morsi and the two shadows.

Since he emerged from the meeting and monitored the president’s performance, he did not hide his disquiet about the future of Egypt, the native land of Taha Hussein and Naguib Mahfouz that has always been a beacon of hope for its people. Moussa got into such a sweat about Egypt’s spirit.

That was in the lead-up to June 30, which all three men consider to be a landmark day.

They believed early presidential elections were de rigueur to save the country from Morsi’s regime. Clearly, they meant to save it from the big shadow cast on the regime – the shadow of the supreme guide.

Standards and the code of ethics require professional journalists not to fall for the opposition. So we had to make our way to the headquarters of the Freedom and Justice Party, political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

I asked the party vice chairman Dr. Essam el-Erian if he ever-expected President Hosni Mubarak to fall and Egypt to choose a president from the Muslim Brotherhood.

I liked his answer: “I am confident this pipedream never crossed any Egyptian’s mind. Any Egyptian would be lying if he told you he expected the revolution to succeed or Hosni Mubarak to fall or Mohamed Morsi to become president. Had the era of miracles not been a thing of the past, I would have told you we are living in that era.”

Erian did not seem worried about June 30.

His self-assurance made him say he not only expected Morsi to complete his mandate but could also win a second term.

Erian sounded confident and relaxed and on completion of our conversation he invited my colleague Mohamed Salah and I to the office of party chairman Saad el-Katatni. The later was equally laid-back.

The “January 2011 revolution” took by surprise both the Brotherhood’s supreme guide and the armed forces’ top dog at the time, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. The two men reacted with aplomb.

Voters then eagerly opted to cast off the shadows of Mubarak and his generals. They ended up with Morsi’s regime and the supreme guide’s shadow.

Morsi failed to dispel the impression that “the supreme guide’s bureau is the president’s president.” His mistakes piled up and the media showed him no mercy.

Fear of “Brotherhood-ization” by millions of Egyptians turned “June 30” into a broad uprising against the president and the shadow lurking in the palace.

In January 2011, Tantawi felt the army had to connect with the public squares.

In June 2013, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi felt the army had to reconcile with them and sponsor them.

The result was a full-blown intifada and a quasi-coup.

The “Brothers” refused to come to terms with the outcome.

They refused to reflect on the reasons that drove millions to public squares to jeer them.

They refused to recognize the implications of the millions of signatures on the Tamarrud petition.

The “Brothers” preferred to aim at Gen. Sisi’s shadow to portray the Brotherhood as the victim and the scapegoat.

When the head of the High Constitutional Court Adly Mansour was sworn in as interim president, they elected to see Gen. Sisi’s silhouette behind him.

Yesterday’s sight of two Egypts facing off in the shadows of the supreme guide and army general was traumatic.

The “Brothers” ventured to take the supreme guide’s shadow into the palace.

Removal of an elected president in a quasi-revolution and quasi-coup is a gamble as well.

There is no solution other than to quickly exit this tunnel and sail into an Egypt in the shadows of a constitution compatible with its spirit and an elected president unbound in his palace by the silhouettes of a supreme guide and an army general. 

12 million handguns put Egypt in the lap of the gods

Renowned Egyptian media star and talk show host Imad Adeeb, writing today for the Saudi newspaper of record Asharq Alawsat, explains why Egypt is now in the lap of the gods:

What is happening in Egypt now is very bad. It is not the worst. But sadly, insiders believe it is the beginning of accelerated descent to anarchy in the country.

We yelled ourselves hoarse warning good people, rulers, elites, political parties and (Muslim) Brothers: “Beware the risks of confrontation!”

We yelled ourselves hoarse saying a high frequency of vocal violence among adversaries is a logical prelude to violence on the streets and public squares.

All that happened and is happening is everyone’s loss. There can be no winners in this battle, only losers.

President Mohamed Morsi lost his popularity among the coterie of revolutionaries who voted for him in the presidential runoff. He lost the confidence of “Couch Potato Party” members who were monitoring his performance in office and looking forward to a better life. He squandered the momentum and international support he generated by brokering the (Hamas-Israel) Gaza agreement.

The opposition has closed ranks, but it faces a constitutional fait accompli after (Morsi’s Nov. 22) constitutional declaration and the planned mid-December referendum on the draft constitution.

The blood of citizens was spilled in clashes at the doorsteps of al-Ittihadiah Presidential Palace in Cairo. It was also spilled in Alexandria, al-Mahalla and Buhaira. Groups also started torching the head offices of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.

Authoritative sources expect acts of violence and counter-violence on Cairo streets to escalate to unprecedented levels in the coming hours and days. They do not rule out political assassinations of prominent figures by unnamed sides, and the regime’s initiation of political arrests.

There is conclusive information that more than 12 million handguns were smuggled into Egypt across the borders with Sudan and post-Gaddafi’s Libya over the past two years.

Yesterday, charges of conspiracy against the regime were filed against Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, Hamdeen Sabahi and Ahmed el-Zind, head of the powerful Egypt Judges’ Club. Corruption claims were also filed against a number of public figures.

The situation is akin to internecine strife in which each side is resorting to litigation, strikes, demonstrations, media campaigns, political money, rifle cartridges and Molotov cocktails.

The idea of dialogue leading to compromise is the last thing on the sides’ minds.

Blood is being shed, the economy is collapsing, legitimacy is at risk, and the country and its people are sitting on the tip of a volcano of anger presaging anarchy.

Was the proposed constitution worth such a price?

Are current events in Egypt the harbingers of an authoritarian regime or of something uncharted?

Egypt Brothers' Mursi to face (?) in June runoff

Who will Mohamed Mursi (left) face in the June runoff?

With counting underway after two days of voting in Egypt’s first free and transparent presidential elections, Egyptian media superstar and talk show host Imad Adeeb is in no doubt: “None of the 13 candidates will win an outright majority.”

He expects a June 16-17 runoff between the top two candidates to pit the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi against one of four other frontrunners.

His likely challenger in the runoff will either be moderate Islamist Abdelmoneim Abulfotouh, or one of three liberals -- ex-premier Ahmed Shafiq, former Arab League chief Amr Moussa or leftist Hamdeen Sabahi.

The Muslim Brotherhood’s election campaign headquarters announced at a press conference the results they have so far show Mursi facing Shafiq in about three weeks’ time.

At this writing, results aggregated by Ahram Online in 15 different governorates show a total of 11,088,494 voters cast their ballots in these governorates as follows: 

Mursi                        2,696,652 (24.03 per cent)   

Sabahi                      2,581,190  (23.3 per cent)

Shafiq                      2,555,730 (23.03 per cent) 

Abulfotouh                2,012,019 (18.1 per cent) 

Moussa                    1,542,831 (11.2 per cent)

Official results are not due to be announced for days, but it looks likely voters will have a good idea of the top runner and his challenger by tomorrow, Saturday.

Adeeb, in his column for today’s edition of Saudi Asharq Alawsat, writes, “The question now is who will Mursi’s challenger be?

“So far, there are no clear indications. What we can say though is that the Coptic vote went to Shafiq. Women voters were divided between Mursi and Abulfotouh on the one hand and Shafiq and Moussa, on the other.

“It can also be said most businessmen voted for either Shafiq or Moussa. Merchants chose between Mursi and Shafiq. Youths were deeply split in choosing between Islamist and pro-revolution currents…

“As for the turnout, it will range between a minimum of 50 percent and a maximum of 60 percent.”

The Muslim Brotherhood’s Mursi, who is 61 and seems certain to be in the June 16-17 runoff, received a scholarship from the University of Southern California for academic excellence in engineering in the early 1980s and earned a Masters Degree and PhD in rocket science in 1982.

His profile on Ahram Online shows he served as a professor at California State University in North Ridge between 1982 and 1985.

On completing his overseas academic endeavors, Mursi headed the engineering department at Zagazig University in Egypt between 1985 and 2010.

He was the official spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood’s parliamentary bloc from 2000 to 2005.