From: Nowa Omoigui <nowa_o@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, Jul 2, 2013 at 7:04 PM
Subject: {'Yan Arewa} How Egypt's President Precipitated a Crisis
To: defsec@egroups.com
How Egypt's President Precipitated a Crisis
By Sarah A. Topol
July 02, 2013
Bloomberg Business
Mohammed Morsi, a member the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, was sworn in as Egypt's president on June 30, 2012. One year later, an unprecedented number of Egyptians have taken to the streets across the country to demand the resignation of the first democratically elected president Egypt has ever known. Morsi's presidency has been beset by stumbles, mass protests and missed opportunities. Here is a list of the top ten blunders:
1. Running for office in the first place: The Muslim Brotherhood promised not to field a candidate for presidential elections early on after Hosni Mubarak was toppled, but when the time came, Morsi's name was on the ballot. The significance of the Brotherhood going back on its word so quickly was seen by its opponents as a harbinger of things to come.
2. A complete inability, alternately seen as a lack of desire, to create an inclusive government: Morsi came to office on the narrowest of margins, winning only 51.7% of the vote in a second round runoff. After taking office, he was unable, or some say unwilling, to find figures from across the political spectrum to join his cabinet. Instead the Brotherhood played majoritarian politics. After winning the elections, both parliamentary and presidential, it governed without coalitions, pushing its agenda despite opposition.
3. Morsi and the Military: Egypt's well-respected military has long held the reigns of power in the country, on stage and behind the scenes. All three previous presidents of the Arab Republic hailed from its ranks. After president Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11 2011, the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces took over the country, passing an addendum to the constitutional declaration that granted itself legislative powers, a substantive role in drafting the constitution and limiting the powers of the new president. On August 12, 2012, Morsi repealed the SCAF addendum and ordered the retirement of the two most senior members of the SCAF, replacing them with men thought to be more loyal to him. He was obviously wrong. The country's new constitution failed to curb the powerful generals, and Morsi never took the military out of politics, even if he gave the appearance he had.
4. The epic mess of Egypt's new constitution, drafting, and passage: The constituent assembly tasked with drafting Egypt's new constitution under SCAF had been plagued by infighting and legal challenges. On November 22, 2012, Morsi unilaterally issued his own constitutional declaration that made his decrees immune from judicial oversight until the passage of a new constitution, and dismissed the sitting public prosecutor in hopes of pushing through a new constitution. Egyptians took to the streets to protest Morsi's moves. Meanwhile, Brotherhood delegates on what remained of the constituent assembly rammed through a hastily drafted version, followed by a national referendum. Critics complained the new document did little to protect freedom of expression, minority and women's rights. Morsi's actions looked like a ploy to keep the opposition out and Islamize Egypt with his backers.
5. Failure to reform the state's security apparatus: The hated police that brought people to the streets under Mubarak were never purged or reformed. The security services and the Interior Ministry stayed intact, but either would not or could not enforce public order. Petty crime went up and people waited in vain for security Morsi promised to bring.
6. The price of bread: When people took to the streets to protest Mubarak they demanded "bread, freedom and social justice!" The Brotherhood had campaigned heavily on promises to fix the country's battered economy and a general optimism over this prospect existed, even in their detractors. As a banned organization, the Brotherhood had built its popularity from providing social services the government did not. Instead, inflation rose, the price of basic goods increased—bread, tomatoes, meat, chicken and cigarettes. The Egyptian economy floundered under Morsi's watch. The heatedly debated IMF loan never came.
7. The opposition's ineptitude only furthered the Brotherhood's mistakes: There was a distinct perception from the top of the government was that the enemies to Brotherhood rule were everywhere. In response, Moris and the Brotherhood circled the wagons. For its part, Egypt's fractured opposition was never able to create a united front with viable political alternatives to the Islamists' rule. Most protesters only agreed on the demand for an end to something, instead of a charter of programs. So when it came time to deal with the opposition, the Brotherhood stuck to its path, never negotiating, partially because there was no one to negotiate with.
8. Sectarian violence: Under Morsi, the country's Christian minority has complained of increased sectarian strife which, while not uncommon, certainly had occurred less frequently under Mubarak. Whether it's due to the inaction of the security services or the Brotherhood's alliances with more vocal fundamentalist groups who think they have free reign of Egypt's streets, the public blame falls on Morsi.
9. The media: Freedom of expression was tightened under Morsi's term. The Brotherhood's errors became a target of the private media. The movement responded with open aggression. Independent media outlets were threatened with closure, journalists were investigated for insulting the president, some they were brought into the courts, while others were threatened and tortured.
10. Electricity and fuel: The final impetus to the Sunday protest. Prior to June 30, 2013, chronic gasoline shortages were common all over the country, while electricity cuts and rolling blackouts were the norm. Egypt's sweltering summer found people in gas station queues and bread lines or at home without fans or air conditioning when the power went out. The exasperations of daily life stoked the country's fury, and people ended up in the street.
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