Egypt’s military rulers have triggered a new public outcry with a proposal that critics see as an attempt to enshrine a supreme political role for themselves in the new constitution.
The furor is over a new government-sponsored proposal of overarching principles that would guide the drafting of a new constitution. The proposal only requires adoption by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to make it binding.
If approved, the measure would shield the military from parliamentary oversight, give it a veto over legislation dealing with its affairs and reduce the powers of parliament to select a panel to write the constitution.
The proposal would also declare the armed forces the protector of “constitutional legitimacy,” wording that is widely interpreted to mean giving the military final say over major policies.
Egypt’s best-known reform proponent, Mohamed ElBaradei, described the document as “distorted” and demanded its withdrawal.
“There is a difference between a civilian democratic state that guarantees man’s basic rights and military guardianship,” he said.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest and most powerful political group, is leading the opposition to the document, saying it “raped people’s will.”
“This route goes against the will of the people, and will lead to another revolution,” said Saad el-Katatni, spokesman of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. “We call on the people of Egypt to reject the document to protect their rights.”
Critics say the document would create a military state-within-the-state and devalue the democratic system the military vowed to install when it took over after Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February in a popular uprising.
The uproar over the draft, which dominated the nation’s press on Thursday, has deepened tension between political activists and rights groups and the military ahead of this month’s key parliamentary elections.
It came after the arrest earlier this week by the military of one of Egypt’s best known bloggers and activists for his alleged role in sectarian clashes on Oct. 9 in which 27 people, mostly Christians, were killed and hundreds wounded.
Alaa Abdel-Fattah’s arrest sent shock waves through the community of activists and pro-reform groups behind Mubarak’s ouster. They said the move showed a systematic campaign to discredit them as the generals build their own image as the nation’s foremost patriots.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS