Army to hand Egypt civilian rule by August

EGYPT’S military said yesterday it hoped to hand over power to an elected government in six months, but the Muslim Brotherhood said ending emergency law and freeing political prisoners would build a “bridge of confidence”.

Rumours continued about Hosni Mubarak’s health. Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said it was deteriorating and the deposed president had refused to go abroad for treatment. A military source said Mubarak, 82, believed to be in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, was “breathing”. Another Egyptian source with links to the family said he was not well.

The military’s remarks on the transition, which were carried on the state agency, were the clearest sign since Mubarak quit on Friday that the generals were committed to a swift time frame for fulfilling their promises of elections and democracy.

But the Islamist Brotherhood, echoing the demands of pro-democracy activists and reformists, said it wanted the military to carry out further steps immediately.

“We, together with the entire nation ... are in need of a bridge of confidence between the army and the people,” said Essam al-Erian, a senior Brotherhood member, referring to the lifting of emergency law and releasing political prisoners.

Some secular leaders fret that racing into presidential and parliamentary elections in a nation where Mubarak had suppressed most opposition activity for 30 years may hand an edge to the Brotherhood, probably the only well-organised political group.

“The Higher Military Council expressed its hope to hand over power within six months to a civilian authority and a president elected in a peaceful and free manner that expresses the views of the people,” an armed forces statement said.

“The council affirmed that it does not seek power, that the current situation was imposed on the armed forces and that they have the confidence of the people,” it said.

The military also decreed that a committee headed by an independent judge, Tareq al-Bishry, should finish its work within 10 days on drafting amendments to the constitution. The plan is to then put these to a referendum.

As the upheaval in Egypt sent shock waves around the Middle East, troubling global financial markets jittery about oil supplies, clashes broke out in Bahrain and Yemen, neighbours of the world’s biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia.

Thousands of Iranians opposed to their government rallied on Monday in support of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

Existing political groupings are mostly weak and fragmented. The Muslim Brotherhood, which under the now-suspended constitution could not form a party, may be the most cohesive group but its true popularity has yet to be tested.

“When the popular demand for the freedom to form parties is realised, the group will found a political party,” the Brotherhood said in a new statement.

Signalling the transformation in Egypt, state television aired an interview with the Brotherhood’s Erian, something unimaginable in the Mubarak era.

The Brotherhood is an Islamist group founded in the 1920s with deep roots in Egypt’s conservative Muslim society. Washington has expressed concern about its “anti-American rhetoric” and said it has serious disagreements with it.

Pro-democracy leaders plan a big “Victory March” on Friday to celebrate the revolution — and perhaps also to remind the military of the power of the street.

Uncertainty remains over how much influence the military will seek to exert in reshaping a corrupt and oppressive ruling system which it has propped up for six decades.

The military has promised free and fair elections, suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament, dismantling parts of the apparatus that kept Mubarak in power after he replaced Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamist radicals in 1981.

Facing a rash of pent-up labour demands from groups ranging from bank staff and tour guides to policemen and steelworkers, the new military rulers have urged people not to disrupt further an economy jolted by the 18-day uprising.

Major protests against authoritarian governments have spread across the Middle East and North Africa.

Iranian member of parliament Kazem Jalali yesterday was quoted as saying by ISNA, the student news agency, that two people were killed at a banned opposition rally in the Islamic state. Iranian lawmakers urged the judiciary on Tuesday to hand out death penalties to opposition leaders for fomenting unrest.

In Bahrain, one person was killed when police in Bahrain clashed with mourners at the funeral of a Shi’ite protester shot dead during an anti-government “Day of Rage” on February 14, witnesses and police said yesterday.

In Yemen hundreds of anti-government demonstrators and government loyalists fought with rocks and batons in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, yesterday.

Police have cracked down on both sides to prevent fighting and have generally refrained from attacking protesters. But security forces have beaten and detained journalists.