Archive for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy

Vice President Mahmoud Mekky resigns

by admin
December 22nd, 2012

Vice President Mahmoud Mekky announced his resignation in a press statement on Saturday. 

In his statement, Mekky said, “I would like to point out to the Egyptian public opinion that since I assumed the position of vice president I have made my utmost effort to achieve the national interest in every area, and [did so] while meeting with political and revolutionary figures."

“I realized a while ago that the political nature of the work does not fit my career as a judge," he added.

Mekky's resignation is effective Saturday. Egypt's new draft constitution, which is currently being voted on in a popular referendum, does not mention the post of vice president.

Mekky had previously stated his intention "to soon resign" his post, while some recent news reports said he had twice submitted his resignation recently, only to have President Mohamed Morsy reject it.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy appointed Mahmoud Mekky as his deputy on 12 August. Mekky, the former Vice President of the Court of Cassation, is a leader member of the independent judges movement and was known for his opposition to the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak, contributing to the detection of many cases of election fraud during his regime.

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FM discusses political crisis, Gaza with Clinton

by admin
November 26th, 2012

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr on Monday to underscore US hopes that Egypt's political crisis can be resolved in a democratic manner, the State Department said.

Clinton reiterated US concerns about Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy's decision to assume sweeping powers and checked in on the progress of discussions between Morsy and senior judges on the way forward, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told a news briefing.

"The secretary underscored the importance of settling these disputes in a democratic manner, so we look forward to seeing the outcome of that (discussion)," Nuland said.

"We want to see the constitutional process move forward in a way that does not overly concentrate power in one set of hands," Nuland said.

She said Clinton also used the phone call to follow up on Gaza, where Egypt brokered a truce after a week of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.

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Traffic, security return to Tahrir Square

by admin
October 13th, 2012

 

Traffic in Tahrir Square is back to normal on Saturday after the previous day's clashes between opponents and supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy.

Members of the Muslim Brotherhood and secular-leaning groups held separate rallies in Tahrir Square Friday, later leading to clashes in which 110 people were injured, according to the Health Ministry. Two buses used by the Muslim Brotherhood to bring in supporters were also set alight.

This was the first time in which supporters and opponents of Morsy have clashed since he took office in June.

Eyewitnesses say that the flow of traffic is now normal at all of the square's entrances and exits.

State TV broadcast images showing scores of security forces entering the square

Workers have cleaned the square of all the stones, bottles and petrol bombs used in Friday’s clashes.

A handful of protesters, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm tried to set a tent in the roundabout in the middle of the square but security forces forced them to leave the square.

The protesters later went to stage a sit-in in front of the Cabinet building on Qasr al-Aini Street. 

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Clinton reassures Morsy on US assistance

by admin
September 25th, 2012

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reassured Egypt's new Islamist president on Monday that the United States would forge ahead with plans to expand economic assistance despite anti-American protests that cast new shadows over US engagement with the region.

Clinton met Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy in New York, where both are attending this week's UN General Assembly meeting, and reinforced the Obama administration's continued commitment to provide both military and economic aid for Cairo, a senior State Department official said.

"What he heard from the secretary is that she is committed to following through on what she has said we will do," the official said following the 45-minute meeting.

US officials said earlier this month they were close to a deal with Egypt's new government for US$1 billion in debt relief to help Cairo shore up its ailing economy in the aftermath of its pro-democracy revolution, which ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak.

The aid package had languished during Egypt's 18 months of political turmoil and progress appeared to reflect a cautious easing of US suspicions about Morsy, who was elected in June.

Egypt was among the countries swept by violent anti-American protests over an anti-Islam video made in California, and some US lawmakers have raised questions about the future of US assistance to the region, particularly given sharp budget constraints at home.

The senior official said Clinton, who has personally lobbied lawmakers to keep US aid to Egypt and other Arab countries on track, believed these concerns had been laid to rest.

"Of course we understand that there may be [member of Congress] who have questioned [the aid], but there is strong bipartisan support for Egypt being a democratic success because it's in our national security interest that that occur," the official said.

The United States was a close ally of Egypt under Mubarak and gives $1.3 billion in military aid a year to Egypt plus other assistance

No Obama meeting planned

Morsy will use his New York trip to appear at former President Bill Clinton's annual philanthropic summit but has no plans to meet US President Barack Obama, who is forgoing individual meetings with world leaders during his own brief stop at the United Nations on Tuesday.

In his talks with Clinton, Morsy outlined his government's plans to enact economic reforms as part of a broader push to win a $4.8 billion loan package from the International Monetary Fund, which the United States supports, the official said.

"The Egyptians have a lot of tough road in front of them to take the budget reforms that will be necessary and to do it in a way that helps them to move their democratic process forward," the official said.

Clinton and Morsy also discussed security issues, including a rising militant threat in the Sinai Peninsula, a region critical to relations with neighboring Israel.

The US official said Clinton and Morsy also touched on the issue of Iran but indicated the United States would be slow to support Morsy's proposal that Iran, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia form a new group to try to find a solution to the violence in Syria.

"The Egyptians themselves would say that it's a new initiative and no one is sure whether it is going to head toward an end point or not," the official said. "We always have concerns when Iran is engaged."

Obama's rival in the US presidential race, Republican Mitt Romney, called for a tougher line with Egypt after protesters scaled the Cairo compound wall and tore down the US flag in one of series of protests that also saw the US Consulate attacked in the Libyan city of Benghazi, killing the US ambassador and three other Americans.

Obama created doubts this month when he told a Spanish-language television network that the United States considered the new Islamist government neither an ally nor an enemy.

The US official said Clinton's meeting with the Egyptian leader was relaxed and warm and waved away suggestions that the president's "ally" comment reflected broader uncertainty in the relationship.

"We've moved past that," the official said.

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Egyptian ambassador: Washington’s threats to cut aid an ‘election issue’

by admin
September 17th, 2012

Egypt’s ambassador in Washington, Mohamed Tawfiq, said that any threat to cut off US aid to Egypt is only an “election issue.”

The ambassador said in interview Sunday evening with the privately owned satellite channel Al-Hayat that military aid to Egypt is worth US$1.3 billion, in addition to $250 million of economic aid.

“This aid serves the interests of America in the region. In addition, the success of the democratic experiment in Egypt will achieve the strategic interests of the United States,” he added.

Interviewed via satellite from Washington, the ambassador said Egyptian-American relations are “important for the two parties,” and this will continue in the future, although violence outside the US Embassy in Cairo has created some concern for American citizens.

Press reports had previously said a number of US lawmakers have threatened to cut off aid to Arab countries where embassies were stormed in protest of the film produced in the US, which many consider insulting to the Prophet Mohamed.

Tawfiq said the American street has been upset by the attack on US embassies in Arab countries, but the Egyptian-American relationship is strategic and is not experiencing any tension.

“The Egyptian government stressed from the first moment securing the US Embassy in Cairo, and this happened already,” he said.

He added that the Egyptian Embassy has spoken with the US State Department about the offensive film from the first moment of unrest. They “understood the situation and Google has been addressed to delete the movie, and this happened already in some countries. We continue to take litigation action and act according to the general international rules regarding contempt of religion.”

Regarding the phone call between US President Barack Obama and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy, the ambassador stressed that it was “friendly,” and that the US is “trying to support the renaissance and democracy in Egypt.”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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61 Egyptians detained in Saudi prisons for months

by admin
September 6th, 2012

Sixty-one Egyptians in Saudi Arabia were held in a Jeddah prison for three months without being interrogated or referred to trial under the pretext that they violated residence laws.

The detainees included business owners, some of whom say they had residence permits.

A number of detainees told Al-Masry Al-Youm Wednesday that Saudi authorities arrested them along with other detainees and held them in prison until being deported to Egypt.

A member of the Egyptian consulate's staff in Jeddah met 12 detainees and took them out of the prison to deport them before returning them to prison 10 days later, they said.

Detainees Mahmoud Mohamed Ramadan, Nasser Abdel Fattah Youssef, Mohamed Qamhawy, Abdel Nasser Mowahed Mohamed, and Mohamed Ismail Mohamed called on the Egyptian authorities to intervene and end what they called a "tragedy."

They said they were detained in a cell that included about 700 prisoners of different nationalities, adding that they slept on the ground.

Mohamed Saad, another Egyptian who was detained, told Al-Masry Al-Youm he was a businessman in Saudi Arabia who had a residence permit.

On 17 August, Saad was arrested by the Saudi authorities before boarding the plane to spend Eid vacation in Egypt because he allegedly had not given airport authorities his fingerprints when he entered the country a few years ago.

In February, Saudi Ambassador to Cairo Ahmed al-Qattan said that there are 1,401 Egyptian prisoners in Saudi Arabia, and that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry has been briefed on them.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy visited Saudi Arabia in July and discussed the issue with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz. In August, Qattan announced that the Saudi king had pardoned and released 82 Egyptian prisoners on the occasion of Ramadan.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

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US business leaders to visit Egypt amid debt cancelation questions

by admin
September 5th, 2012

US Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides will accompany a major American business delegation visiting Egypt on Saturday, officials said, as speculation over a major debt cancelation agreement grows.

Nides will join the US Chamber of Commerce and more than 100 executives from American companies aiming to promote private sector development in Egypt, the State Department said in a statement Tuesday.

The announcement came a day after the New York Times reported that the United States was weighing a deal with Egypt's new rulers to relieve US$1 billion worth of debt.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said he thought discussions about the debt deal were "ongoing" but said the trip was more closely tied to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Egypt in July, which was heavily focused on the nation's economy.

"Clearly Egypt needs to get its feet back on the ground economically to push forward," Ventrell said, highlighting the need to help businesses, but noting that the US is "looking at ways we can give direct financial assistance."

Egypt, which has seen its economy worsen since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in February 2011, asked last month for a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, which in turn urged economic reforms.

After meeting newly-elected Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy in July, Clinton reaffirmed Washington's "strong support" for the democratic transition following the ouster of Mubarak, a longtime US ally.

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Syrian minister criticizes Morsy over Non-Aligned Summit speech

by admin
September 3rd, 2012

Syrian Information Minister Imran Zoubi attacked Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy for his recent speech at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran, the German news agency DPA reported.

In Tehran, Morsy’s speech dealt with the Syrian and Palestinian people’s struggle for freedom.  

In a press conference held in Damascus Monday, Zoubi described Morsy's speech as “political hypocrisy” and “an additional attempt to belittle Egypt.”

He held Morsy, along with Saudis and Turks, responsible for shedding Syrian blood, in response to Morsy's statement that, “We're all responsible for the Syrian blood.”

Zoubi expressed his regret that “after Mubarak left, another president came and his only difference from Mubarak is the beard.”

Zoubi implied that other countries are responsible for Morsy's speech, saying, “Egypt is greater than being belittled by Gulf money and US wheat … Egypt cannot be bought out by US$2 billion from Qatar in the Egyptian banks."

Zoubi also commented on the mission of the new international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, saying that “we will interact positively with any initiative that helps Syria to get out of the conspiracy it is witnessing and does not harm national security and sovereignty.”

“All words, initiatives or proposals harming the concept of national sovereignty will not find listening ears,” he added.

The Syrian minister stressed that the authorities in his country “will provide Brahimi with maximum assistance.”

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

 

 

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US welcomes UN and Egyptian criticism of Iran and Syria

by admin
August 30th, 2012

WASHINGTON — The United States welcomed Thursday a decision by UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy to criticize Iran and Syria during a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Tehran.

Ban and Morsy’s decisions to attend a summit hosted by Iran raised concerns in some quarters, but Washington expressed satisfaction when they chose to use the opportunity to tackle Tehran and its ally in Damascus respectively.

US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell hailed Morsy’s stern slap down of Bashar al-Assad's Syrian regime, which caused the Syrian delegation to walk out of a session the Tehran summit in anger.

"They are very helpful comments. They are very clear, very strong. Really strong and clear statement by President Morsy, obviously made in Tehran," he said, suggesting the remarks had more power for having been made in Iran.

"His comments in support of the Syrian people were very clear and we share Egypt's goal to see an end to the Assad regime and an end to the bloodshed and a transition to a democratic Syria that respects human rights."

Ventrell also thanked Ban for risking the anger of his Iranian hosts to slam Tehran's repeated threats and insults towards Israel. "We think that is a good thing," the spokesperson said.

Egypt has traditionally been aligned with Western interests in regional matters and Morsy’s decision to attend the summit made him the first Egyptian leader in decades to visit Iran, governed by an Islamic regime.

Some in the West saw this as a worrying sign that Cairo's new Muslim Brotherhood-led government is re-aligning its ties, but Morsy used his appearance to fire a broadside against Iran's ally Syria.

Morsy said his own election was the result of the same Arab Spring protest movement that triggered the revolt against Assad in Syria. Iran has stood by its Damascus ally, but Morsy made it clear where Egypt stands.

"Our solidarity with the struggle of Syrians against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty, and a political and strategic necessity," Morsy declared.

Ban also had tough words for Tehran during the summit, slamming the regime's leadership for their "outrageous" threats against Israel and for denying the reality of Nazi Germany's Holocaust massacre of Jews.

"Claiming another UN member state does not have the right to exist or describe it in racist terms is not only utterly wrong but undermines the very principles we have all promised to uphold," Ban added.

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Egypt broadens Sinai campaign against militants

by admin
August 29th, 2012

Egypt's military said on Wednesday it would broaden its offensive against militants in the Sinai Peninsula, a campaign that has raised concerns in Israel about the movement of heavy armor into the area near its border.

After militants attacked and killed 16 border guards on 5 August, Egypt launched an operation using the army and police to raid militant hideouts, arrest suspects and seize weapons, including rockets and other arms, that are rife in the area.

Disorder has spread in Sinai since President Hosni Mubarak's overthrow last year. Analysts say Islamists with possible links to Al-Qaeda have gained a foothold. This has alarmed Israel.

But Israeli officials have also privately voiced concerns about heavy equipment being sent to an area where there are restrictions on weapon deployments under a 1979 peace treaty.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy told Reuters on Monday in his first interview with international media that Egypt was committed to all treaties and, without naming Israel, said no other states should worry about its actions in Sinai.

"As of the morning of 29 August, in continuation of the military operation, there will be a redeployment of forces in various locations in Sinai to complete the hunt for terrorist elements," the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

A military source told Reuters this would involve spreading security forces over a wider area to root out militants.

The campaign is led by the Defense Minister and head of the armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, appointed by Morsy in a shake-up of the military top brass on 12 August. The Islamist president has promised to restore order.

Sisi briefed Morsy on the Sinai operation on Monday.

The ministry statement on its website said 11 militants had been killed and 23 arrested in the campaign. It said 11 vehicles had been seized, along with ammunition, including five boxes of Israeli-made ammunition, but did not give details.

Egypt has not given details of the equipment it has sent to Sinai, but security sources had said aircraft and tanks would be used. Egyptian television has shown images of Sisi speaking to troops in Sinai at a camp with tanks and other heavy weaponry.

The unrest has occurred mainly in North Sinai, where many people have guns and where Bedouin tribes have long complained of neglect by the central government, saying they have seen no benefits from the expanding Sinai tourist resorts.

Mubarak's military-backed government worked closely with Israel to keep the region under control. Diplomats say security contacts continued after Mubarak's fall. But Egyptian security sources said Israel should not expect day-to-day reports.

The 1979 peace treaty limits the military presence in the desert peninsula though in recent years Israel has agreed to allow Egypt to deploy more forces there to stem weapons smuggling by Palestinian gunmen and crime.

Israeli officials, who say they are in regular contact with Cairo, have encouraged Egypt to take tough action against the gunmen behind the 5 August assault and have previously approved the use of helicopters in the operation.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killing of the border guards, but a Sinai-based Islamist militant organization, the Salafi Jihadi Group, warned the Egyptian army last week that the crackdown would force it to fight back.

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