Mursi Trust in Military Man’s Loyalty Backfires as Egypt Teeters
By Alaa Shahine - Jul 2, 2013
Less than a year after trying to stamp his authority on the military, Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi now finds himself its hostage.
Defense Minister Abdelfatah al-Seesi, who was promoted to the post by Mursi in August, told the Islamist leader he would impose a military solution should politicians fail to ease their impasse by tomorrow. The ultimatum came after Egyptians took to the streets demanding the ouster of Mursi, 61, and his Muslim Brotherhood backers. Helicopters buzzed overhead in Cairo today and armored vehicles took up positions.
The intervention renews the six-decade-long power struggle between the armed forces and Islamists, suppressed under military-led regimes since the 1952 overthrow of the monarchy until the 2011 uprising. It now risks undermining the first democratically elected Egyptian head of state amid a deepening economic crisis that has left the country of 85 million people grappling with shortages in fuel, power and dollars.
“The military has always been hostile not only to Mursi but to Islamists in general and they were always rivals for power in Egypt,” said Yasser el-Shimy, an analyst in Cairo at the International Crisis Group, which compiles reports on countries in conflict. “Mursi expected that people once they come into a leadership position would be loyal. Obviously that strategy has shown its failure.”
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Al-Seesi, 58, a general who completed courses in the U.S. and U.K. and served as military attaché in Saudi Arabia, replaced Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi. Former leader Hosni Mubarak’s defense chief for two decades, Tantawi ran the country after the ouster of the president, himself once the commander of the air force.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-02/mursi-trust-in-military-man-s-loyalty-backfires-as-egypt-teeters.html