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| This image made from video broadcast on Egyptian State Television shows President Mohammed Morsi addressing the nation in a televised speech on Tuesday, July 2, 2013. With the clock ticking, Egypt's besieged president said Tuesday that he will not step down as state media reported that the powerful military plans to overturn his Islamist-dominated government if the elected leader doesn't meet the demands of the millions of protesters calling for his ouster. |
CAIRO (AP) --
The fate of Egypt's first democratically elected president hung in the
balance Tuesday, hours before a deadline to yield to the demands of
millions of protesters or see the military suspend the constitution,
disband parliament and install a new leadership.
Embattled
Islamist President Mohammed Morsi vowed not to resign, however, and he
demanded that the powerful armed forces withdraw their ultimatum, saying
he rejected all "dictates" - from home or abroad.
In
a speech to the nation, he pledged to protect his "constitutional
legitimacy" with his life and accused loyalists of his autocratic
predecessor Hosni Mubarak of riding the current wave of protests to
topple his regime.
"There is no substitute for
legitimacy," said Morsi, who at times angrily raised his voice, thrust
his fist in the air and pounded the podium. He warned that electoral and
constitutional legitimacy "is the only guarantee against violence."
Morsi's
defiant statement sets up a major confrontation between his Islamist
supporters and Egyptians angry over what they see as his efforts to
impose control by his Muslim Brotherhood as well as his failure to
introduce reforms more than two years after the Arab Spring revolution.
His opponents say that he has lost his legitimacy through mistakes and
power grabs and that their turnout on the streets shows the nation has
turned against him.
Millions of jubilant,
chanting Morsi opponents filled Cairo's historic Tahrir Square, as well
as avenues adjacent to two presidential palaces in the capital, and main
squares in cities nationwide. After Morsi's speech, they erupted in
indignation, banging metal fences to raise a din, some raising their
shoes in the air in a show of contempt. "Leave, leave," they chanted.
Morsi
"doesn't understand. He will take us toward bloodshed and civil war,"
said Islam Musbah, a 28-year-old protester sitting on the sidewalk
outside the Ittihadiya palace, dejectedly resting his head on his hand.
The
president's supporters also increased their presence in the streets of
the capital and other cities, after the Muslim Brotherhood and hard-line
Islamist leaders called them out to defend what they say is the
legitimacy of his administration.
At least
seven people were killed in three separate clashes between his
supporters and opponents in Cairo, according to hospital and security
officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not
authorized to talk to the media. At least 23 people have died in
political violence since the unrest began on Sunday, the first
anniversary of Morsi's inauguration.
Morsi's
supporters have stepped up warnings that it will take bloodshed to
dislodge him, saying they would rather die fighting a military takeover
than accept his ouster just a year after Egypt's first free election.
"Seeking
martyrdom to prevent the ongoing coup is what we can offer as a sign of
gratitude to previous martyrs who died in the revolution," Brotherhood
stalwart Mohammed el-Beltagy wrote Tuesday in his official Facebook
page.
Monday, the military gave Morsi an
ultimatum to meet the protesters' demands within 48 hours. If not, the
generals' plan would suspend the Islamist-backed constitution, dissolve
the Islamist-dominated legislature and set up an interim administration
headed by the country's chief justice, the state news agency reported.
The
leaking of the military's so-called political "road map" appeared aimed
at adding pressure on Morsi by showing the public and the international
community that the military has a plan that does not involve a coup.
On
his official Twitter account, Morsi urged the armed forces "to withdraw
their ultimatum" and said he rejects any domestic or foreign dictates."
Fearing
that Washington's most important Arab ally would descend into chaos,
U.S. officials said they are urging Morsi to take immediate steps to
address opposition grievances, telling the protesters to remain peaceful
and reminding the army that a coup could have consequences for the
massive American military aid package it receives. The officials spoke
on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak
publicly.
Morsi adviser Ayman Ali denied that
the U.S. asked Egypt to call early presidential elections and said
consultations were continuing to reach national conciliation and resolve
the crisis. He did not elaborate.
Morsi met
with the army's chief, Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, and
Prime Minister Hesham Kandil in the second such meeting in as many days,
Ali said, without giving details.
The army
has insisted it has no intention to take power. But the reported road
map showed it was ready to replace Morsi and make a sweeping change in
the ramshackle political structure that has evolved since Mubarak's fall
in February 2011.
The constitution and
domination of the legislature after elections held in late 2011-early
2012 are two of the Islamists' and Brotherhood's most valued victories -
along with Morsi's election last year.
A retired army general with close ties to the military confirmed the news agency report's version of the road map.
Hossam
Sweilam said a panel of experts would draft a new constitution and the
interim administration would be a presidential council led by the
Supreme Constitutional Court's chief justice and including the defense
minister, representatives of political parties, youth groups, Al-Azhar
Mosque and the Coptic Church.
He said the military envisioned a one-year transitional period before presidential elections are held.
The
military spokesman, Col. Ahmed Mohammed Ali, declined to confirm the
details. "It is too early and we don't want to jump into conclusions,"
he said.
At least one anti-Morsi TV station
put up a clock counting down to the end of the military's ultimatum,
putting it at 4 p.m. Wednesday (1400 GMT, 10 a.m. EDT), though a
countdown clock posted online by Morsi opponents put the deadline at 5
p.m. (1500 GMT, 11 a.m. EDT). The military did not give a precise hour.
Morsi also faced new fissures within his leadership.
Three
government spokesmen - two for Morsi and one for the prime minister -
were the latest to quit as part of high-level defections that
underscored his increasing isolation and fallout from the military's
ultimatum. Five Cabinet ministers, including the foreign minister,
resigned Monday, and a sixth, Sports Minister El-Amry Farouq, quit
Tuesday.
One ultraconservative Salafi party,
al-Nour, also announced its backing for early elections. The party was
once an ally of Morsi but in recent months has broken with him.
Among
the opposition crowds outside Qasr el-Qobba, one protester said he
believes Morsi will not go easily. "He will only leave after a
catastrophe. Lots of blood. And the military is the only party that can
force him out then," said Haitham Farouk, an oil company employee
joining a protest for the first time.
He said
the "epic" crowds showed how Egypt's public has turned against Morsi and
his Brotherhood, which opponents claim is the real power behind the
president. "This is everybody, not just the educated or the political,"
Farouk said of the protesters. "They came down because only the
Brotherhood gained in the past two years.
Morsi
may try half-measures to satisfy the army, he said, "but the people are
not going back until he leaves. After what we have seen in the past
year, we will not settle for less."
In a
significant move, opposition parties and the youth movement behind the
demonstrations agreed that reform leader and Nobel Peace laureate
Mohamed ElBaradei would represent them in any negotiations on the
country's political future. The move appeared aimed at presenting a
unified voice in a post-Morsi system, given the widespread criticism
that the opposition has been too fragmented to present an alternative to
the Islamists.
Brotherhood spokesman Gehad
el-Haddad said the opposition is to blame for its own woes, failing to
perform well in the elections, and has now decided to "brush up to
military power."
"We can't keep running
elections until (the Brotherhood) loses," he wrote in a Tweet. He said
the opposition should "man up" to its responsibilities and come up with a
better strategy "or accept democratic outcomes."
Despite
heated rhetoric among many Islamists about standing up to the military,
one cleric from the Salafi movement warned against repeating the
scenario of Algeria, when the military negated elections that Islamists
won in the 1990s, and the Islamists responded with a yearslong, bloody
insurgency.
The result, Adel Nasr wrote on a
Salafi website, was that "more than a hundred thousand were killed and
... their popularity went down," costing Islamists both political power
and the power of their religious message.
