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Egypt's military pressured by U.S. to hand over power to the people
by Joseph Earnest November 26, 2011
Newscast Media, CAIRO, Egypt--The Egyptian military has been pressured by the U.S. government to hand over power to civilian leaders so they can form a new government that is acceptable to the Egyptian people, after Friday’s protests that filled Tahrir square with tens of thousands of protesters. Amid turbulent protests in Cairo this week, the White House has called for the military to set aside in Egypt, in favor of a civilian government.
Part of the statement from the White House press secretary read: "The United States strongly believes that the new Egyptian government must be empowered with real authority immediately. We believe that Egypt’s transition to democracy must continue, with elections proceeding expeditiously, and all necessary measures taken to ensure security and prevent intimidation. Most importantly, we believe that the full transfer of power to a civilian government must take place in a just and inclusive manner that responds to the legitimate aspirations of the Egyptian people, as soon as possible."
The entire statement can be read here. (pop-up)
Despite the many parallels being drawn to this week's unrest and the mass protests that brought down President Hosni Mubarak in February, several key differences are contributing to the containment of this conflict.
"The protesters don't want to antagonize the lifestyle of the rest of the population, but the most important fact is they want to show up for a mass rally in a place that’s safe because it's self-protected from attacks," said Ashraf al-Sherif, a political science lecturer at the American University (AUC) in Cairo.
When protests erupted throughout the country in January, Tahrir had not yet become the local and international symbol of freedom and civil rights, or even the popular social destination, that it is now.
"At that time Tahrir was not really that iconic and people were fighting their own battles with police in popular neighborhoods, unlike now when protests are concentrated in main squares in the cities and life is kind of normal outside of that," Sherif said.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' announcement Friday that Mubarak-era Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri will lead a new cabinet did nothing to assuage the anger in the square on "Last Chance Friday." And many are skeptical the tenuous peace imposed early Thursday morning between police and demonstrators will hold.
Tensions and rallies are likely to escalate even further over the next few days as military rulers fail to satisfy the Tahrir demands ― namely that they step aside, according to AUC lecturer Sherif. Protests and renewed clashes could spread throughout the city ahead of or during the scheduled vote, he said.
"In the coming few days before the elections I think the crisis will intensify," he said. "It's not the scale of the protests ― it doesn't really matter if there are only 30,000 or 40,000 people in Tahrir, that's enough to cause a problem ― it’s the lack of solutions."
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