Egypt military hits out at Muslim Brotherhood

12 hours ago
Aljazeera
Source: Yahoo News Maktoob

Egypt's ruling generals have lashed out at the Muslim Brotherhood over its questioning of the military's continued support of the cabinet, while urging the Islamists "to look to the future with the spirit of cooperation."

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces [SCAF] in a statement on Sunday expressed "extreme indignation" over Brotherhood comments that questioned its motives in supporting the government, which the Islamists accuse of stalling the revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

The SCAF also called "on all to be aware of history's lessons, to avoid past mistakes we do not want to see repeated, and to look to the future with the spirit of cooperation."

In a statement read out by Egyptian state television, it expressed "grave resentment" toward charges by the leading Islamist group that cast doubts upon "the performance and the patriotism of the government, the independence of the supreme constitutional court and influence on the neutrality of its verdicts". It said all such charges "are lies and biased accusations".

'Warning'

The SCAF urged the Muslim Brotherhood to "understand history lessons" in a veiled reference to the group's clash with late President Gamal Abdel Nasser shortly after the 1952 revolution.

The Brotherhood, whose political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party won a crushing victory in parliamentary elections, had issueda statement accusing the government of stalling reforms. It said the government's performance had been the "biggest failure", pointing to unrest, judicial interference, stalling of reforms, fuel shortages and dwindling foreign reserves.

In a statement posted on its website, the Freedom and Justice Party said the presidential elections due in May could be rigged to benefit a "certain candidate" it did not identify. It added that the party is studying proposals to field its own candidate, reversing an earlier decision not to do so.

The Freedom and Justice Party has been pressuring the military to sack the cabinet and appoint an FJP-led government.

But the SCAF, which took power after the popular uprising, has stood by the cabinet and its head Kamal Ganzuri.

"When we called for the resignation of the government, its head refused, and this was unfortunately supported by the military council," the Brotherhood said in its statement.

"If anyone intends to recreate the former corrupt regime with new faces, the people are willing to move in order to revive their revolution and protect their ship from sinking at the hands of people with no sense of responsibility," it said.

Last month, a lawsuit was brought before the supreme constitutional court arguing that the parliamentary election was unconstitutional due to its complex voting system.

The Islamists said they fear the military council could push through this lawsuit should they insist on Ganzuri's removal.