Power struggle breaks out in Egypt as President Morsi calls for reconciliation, but won't step down

Published July 03, 2013FoxNews.com




    • Egyptian military deadline nears as protests rage

    • Will Morsi let go of power?

    • Time is ticking away for Egypt's Morsi

      An all-out power struggle has broken out in Egypt, with President Mohammed Morsi's national security adviser reportedly saying a military coup is now underway, while the military has vowed to defend its people "against any terrorist, radical or fool.”
      Minutes before the military’s deadline for Morsi to resolve the nation’s political crisis passed Wednesday afternoon, the embattled leader called for "national reconciliation," but said he would not step down.
      Top military officials were in talks with leaders of an opposition that has swollen in recent days, as millions have packed Cairo’s Tehrir Square to call for the ouster of Morsi, the former Muslim Brotherhood member who critics say has set the nation on a path toward Islamic rule.
      "The presidency renews its own roadmap and invites all national forces for dialogue," Morsi said in a statement on his Facebook page, adding that his vision is to hold a coalition government that will run upcoming parliamentary elections. Morsi also said he was looking to "form an independent committee for constitutional amendments to be presented to the coming parliament."
      He described electoral legitimacy the only safeguard against violence and instability.
      Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the leader of Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, is currently meeting with religious, opposition and youth leaders, the military said on its Facebook page Wednesday, and he will release a statement on Morsi's fate after the meeting is over.
      Khaled Daoud, spokesman of the main opposition National Salvation Front, which pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei leads, said that ElBaradei, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azhar mosque, and Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, were part of the meeting. Political sources told Reuters that two members of a rebel youth group that is leading the anti-Morsi protests and members of the hardline Muslim fundamentalist al-Nour Party also are attending the meeting.
      A Defense Ministry official said el-Sissi held an emergency meeting earlier in the day with his top commanders, hours before the deadline expired. The official, who gave no further details, spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, the Associated Press reports.
      The army also asked the Freedom and Justice Party -- the political branch of the Muslim Brotherhood -- to meet with el-Sissi, but the invite was rejected.
      "We have a president and that is it," Waleed al-Haddad, a senior leader of the party, told Reuters.
      Before the deadline expired at 5 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET), employees at Egypt's state TV station said military officers were present in the newsroom monitoring its output, but not interfering with their work.
      The military also beefed up the presence of troops inside the building, the employees told the Associated Press, though they were not visible outside. Even before the crisis, a small army contingent usually guards the state TV headquarters.
      Earlier Wednesday, Egypt’s military vowed to defend the country’s people.
      "We swear to God that we will sacrifice even our blood for Egypt and its people, to defend them against any terrorist, radical or fool,” read a post on the official Facebook page of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
      A military source told Reuters that the statement — issued after Morsi appeared on state TV late Tuesday to once again reject an ultimatum from Sissi that he share power with opponents or face military action — reiterated that the armed forces would not abandon their demands.
      In his emotional 46-minute speech late Tuesday, Morsi vowed not to step down and pledged to defend his legitimacy with his life in the face of three days of massive street demonstrations calling for his ouster. The Islamist leader accused loyalists of his ousted autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak of exploiting the wave of protests to topple his regime and thwart democracy.
      "There is no substitute for legitimacy," said Morsi, at times angrily raising his voice, thrusting his fist in the air and pounding the podium. He warned that electoral and constitutional legitimacy "is the only guarantee against violence."
      The statements showed that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood are prepared to run the risk of challenging the army. It also entrenches the lines of confrontation between his Islamist supporters and Egyptians angry over what they see as his efforts to impose control through the Brotherhood and his failures to deal with the country's multiple problems.
      The showdown follows a night of deadly clashes in Cairo and elsewhere in the country that left at least 23 people dead, most in a single incident near the main Cairo University campus. The latest deaths take to 39 the number of people killed since Sunday in violence between opponents and supporters of Morsi, who took office in June last year as Egypt's first freely elected leader.
      The bloodshed, coupled with Morsi's defiant speech, contributed the sense that both sides are ready to fight to the end.
      Millions have taken to the streets since Sunday to call on Morsi to step down, and tens of thousands of protesters filled Cairo’s Tahrir Square Wednesday.
      Mahmoud Badr, spokesman for the youth movement behind the latest wave of protests, called on anti-Morsi protesters to demonstrate Wednesday outside three presidential palaces as well as the Cairo headquarters of the Republican Guard, an army branch tasked with protecting the president, his family and presidential palaces. Morsi is thought to have been working at the Republican Guard headquarters since the start of the protests.
      Badr also called on the army to place Morsi under arrest for his alleged incitement to civil war.
      "Today is the day of decisiveness," Badr said at a news conference.
      On Tuesday, millions of jubilant, chanting Morsi opponents again filled Tahrir Square, as well as avenues adjacent to two presidential palaces in the capital, and main squares in cities nationwide. After Morsi's speech, they erupted in indignation, banging metal fences to raise a din, some raising their shoes in the air in a show of contempt. "Leave, leave," they chanted.
      The president's supporters also moved out in increased marches in Cairo and other cities, and stepped up warnings that it will take bloodshed to dislodge him. While Morsi has stuck to a stance that he is defending democracy in Egypt, many of his Islamist backers have presented the fight as one to protect Islam.
      On Monday, the military gave Morsi an ultimatum to meet the protesters' demands within 48 hours. If not, the generals' plan would suspend the Islamist-backed constitution, dissolve the Islamist-dominated legislature and set up an interim administration headed by the country's chief justice, the state news agency reported.
      The leaking of the military's so-called political "road map" appeared aimed at adding pressure on Morsi by showing the public and the international community that the military has a plan that does not involve a coup.
      Fearing that Washington's most important Arab ally would descend into chaos, U.S. officials said they are urging Morsi to take immediate steps to address opposition grievances, telling the protesters to remain peaceful and reminding the army that a coup could have consequences for the massive American military aid package it receives. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

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