Sisi: Brotherhood will not exist

[TruthSeeker]

Egypt's Sisi vows Muslim Brotherhood 'will not exist'

5 May 2014, BBC News

Egyptian presidential favourite and former army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has vowed that the banned Muslim Brotherhood group "will not exist," should he win.

In his first interview with Egyptian TV, he added that two assassination plots against him had been uncovered.

Mr Sisi removed Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi from power last July.

He is widely expected to win the presidential election on 26-27 May.

Mr Sisi had denied he had any political ambitions when he ousted President Morsi and launched a crackdown on the Brotherhood - which supported him - last year.

In a joint interview with Egypt's privately owned CBC and ONTV television channels on Monday, he said: "I want to tell you that it is not me that finished (the Brotherhood). You, the Egyptians, are the ones who finished it."

Asked whether the Brotherhood would cease to exist if he should gain the presidency, the former military leader - dressed in a suit - answered: "Yes. That's right."

Egyptians gathered in the streets in parts of Cairo to watch the pre-recorded interview
He said there had been two attempts to assassinate him, but added: "I believe in fate, I am not afraid."

He did not provide details of who was behind the alleged plots or how advanced they were.

Mr Sisi also denied being the candidate of the army, saying "the army would not have a role in ruling Egypt", and he defended a controversial new law that puts severe restrictions on the right to protest.

A second part of the interview is due to be broadcast on Tuesday.

The BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo says power cuts in parts of the capital interrupted Mr Sisi's lengthy broadcast.

Keeping the lights on will be one of the first challenges if - as is widely forecast - he is elected president later this month, she adds.

Military rulers

If he does become president, Mr Sisi will be the latest in a line of Egyptian rulers drawn from the military, going back to the 1950s - a line only briefly broken during President Morsi's year in office.

Human rights groups say the military-backed authorities have displayed increasing hostility to independent media and to political opponents.

Since Mr Morsi's overthrow more than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands of members of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood detained by the interim authorities, who have designated the Islamist movement a terrorist group.

Mr Sisi's supporters, however, view him as a strong figure who can stabilise a country plagued by protests and political violence since the army-backed popular uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

 

[Falcon29]

Obviously there's an international scheme against the social movement, which means they must be do something right.

 

[Hack-Hook]

its 50 years that egypt want to destroy the movement . the problem is their approach is outdated , totally wrong and only strengthen them .

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

General (retd.) Sisi finds himself in a position similar to Gamal Abdel Nasr (former military officer) who was part of a revolution to topple the King

at the same time he had to content with the Ikhwan -- who at the time were causing political destabilization....he had more marxist/pro-soviet leanings which made him unpopular in the west....the poor and middle class loved him, the industrialists and land owners hated him

I respect General Sisi as a military officer...it was obvious for months that he'd hang up the uniform and contest elections.

Whatever happens in Egypt - we must stand by them at all costs. It's an influential and historically important Muslim nation - a large one of strategic importance. Where and when we can help eachother, we must do so.

Foreign meddling and unprofessional journalism (lies/propaganda) to turn the state against the military should not be acceptable....but at the same time, witch-hunt type thing against moderate Ikhwanis would also be a huge mistake...the more they are pushed underground, the more violent they could become

Praying for Misr and its success during these testing times.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

Brotherhood is gone for good.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

Brotherhood is gone for good.

they've gone underground.....i dont think theyre gone for good

some kind of compromise will have to be made....Egyptians are dangerously polarized. Not as bad as in Syria, but things could get worse. . .

I was in Egypt about a month and a half after General Sisi's intervention (the media calls it a coup). On the ground things were very normal, its not all chaos there. Life goes on, the same way it goes on in Pakistan =)

 

[Yzd Khalifa]

Let's see if the MB is going to embrace peace rather than confrontation.

 

[livingdead]

you cant kill brotherhood, its better to allow them to rule and not abuse power

 

[Pakistanisage]

Sometimes when you OPPRESS a movement , you end up making it more Popular. That is just Human Psychology...

 

[Mahmoud_EGY]

Let's see if the MB is going to embrace peace rather than confrontation.

the brotherhood as a plotical party will always be this way what needs to be done is prove to their members that we will be on the right path and they will stand with the country

 

[KingMamba]

He cannot destroy the Brotherhood it has support on the grass roots level.

 

[agentny17]

Egypt’s el-Sissi: Brotherhood Will Not Return

Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the former military chief who removed Egypt's Islamist president and who is now poised to win the post in elections this month, said the Muslim Brotherhood will never return as an organization

(CAIRO) — Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, the former military chief who removed Egypt’s Islamist president and who is now poised to win the post in elections this month, said the Muslim Brotherhood will never return as an organization, accusing it of using militant groups as cover to destabilize the country.

El-Sissi spoke in the first TV interview of his campaign, aired Monday, vowing that restoring stability and bringing development were his priorities. The comments were a seemingly unequivocal rejection of any political reconciliation with the Brotherhood, which was Egypt’s most powerful political force until el-Sissi removed President Mohamed Morsi, a member of the group, last summer.

Since ousting Morsi, el-Sissi has been riding an overwhelming media frenzy lauding him as Egypt’s savior, and his status as the country’s strongest figure all but guarantees him a victory in the May 26-27 election. El-Sissi’s only opponent in the race is leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahi, the third-place finisher in the 2012 election won by Morsi.

El-Sissi’s comments were a stark signal of his intention to ensure the elimination of the 86-year-old Brotherhood as both a political and ideological force in the country. He is building on an unprecedented popular resentment of the group, after its rise to power in the last three years.

Asked whether the Brotherhood will no longer exist under his presidency, el-Sissi replied, “Yes. Just like that.”

“It’s not me that finished it, the Egyptians have. The problem is not with me,” he said.

The Brotherhood and its Islamist allies won every election following the 2011 ouster of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, dominating the parliament and capturing the presidency under Morsi. The Brotherhood’s electoral strength was largely rooted in a widespread grassroots organization it had built up for decades despite being banned under Mubarak.

But after a year in office, millions joined protests demanding Morsi’s removal, accusing his Brotherhood of monopolizing power and seeking to change the country’s identity along the lines of Brotherhood ideology — prompting el-Sissi’s ouster of Morsi.

Since then, there’s been no sign of reconciliation between the sides. The Brotherhood and its allies have denounced Morsi’s removal as a military coup that has wrecked democracy, rejecting the new government and persisting in a campaign of street protests.

Security forces have waged a ferocious crackdown on Morsi supporters, clashing with protesters. Hundreds have been killed and more than 16,000 members of the Brotherhood and other Islamists have been arrested. The Brotherhood’s leader, Mohammed Badie, has been sentenced to death — though the sentence can be appealed — and he and Morsi and other senior Brotherhood figures face a string of trials. The government has branded the Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Under the weight of the crackdown, protests have waned.

At the same time, Islamic militant groups have stepped up bombings and shootings against police and the military in retaliation for Morsi’s removal.

In the joint interview with two private Egyptian TV stations CBC and ONTV, el-Sissi directly accused the Brotherhood of being behind the campaign of bombings and shootings. He said the movement “created” Islamic militant groups to use as “covers to fight from behind … to keep the movement away from any accusations.” He said a senior Brotherhood leader had warned him that if he removed Morsi, extremist fighters from Afghanistan and elsewhere would come to Egypt to fight.

The Brotherhood denies any connection to militants.

He said the Brotherhood’s ideology was based on “arrogance in religion” — and the presence of that strain of thought had destabilized Egyptian society for decades.

“The thought structure of these groups says that we are not true Muslims, and they believed conflict was inevitable because they consider us non-believers,” he said. “It will not work for there to be such thinking again.”

He appealed to the public to support the police and the armed forces in their fight against terrorism. He vowed to respond to demands by the police to boost their capabilities to fight violence and said the armed forces are poised to help the police in such a task.

The 59-year-old el-Sissi retired from the military in March with the rank of field marshal to launch his candidacy. The one-hour interview was his first direct address to the public since he declared his intention to run and after the start of the official campaigning on May 2.

His election campaign is likely to largely be made up of TV and media interviews and private meetings, with few street appearances, mainly because of security concerns. In the interview, he said two assassination plots against him have already been uncovered, without giving details.

A second part of the interview, likely to go into more details about his economic program, is to be aired on Tuesday.

El-Sissi’s candidacy has also raised concerns among some secular activists over a return of the autocracy that reigned in Egypt under Mubarak, who was also a veteran of the military. A number of prominent secular activists have been arrested in recent months, several of them under a draconian new law banning all protests without a police permit.

El-Sissi defended the protest law, saying it was needed to prevent further instability and insisting that police will give permits to those who seek to hold peaceful demonstrations.

“We are talking about a country going to waste. People must realize this and support us. Whoever imagines otherwise, only wants to sabotage Egypt and this won’t be allowed,” he said, losing his temper for the first time during the interview.

“This chaos will bring it down, because of this irresponsible protesting,” he said.

El-Sissi spent a part of the interview discussing his family, explaining that he met his wife as a teenager and promised her marriage when he was admitted to military college. He spoke fondly of her as a major supporter of his decision to run for president. She told him he had no choice, he said, telling him, “We of course love you, but this nation will be lost.”

He revealed that his two of his sons work in the government, one as a member of the General intelligence and another in the powerful Administrative Oversight agency, a government monitoring organization. A third son applied to the foreign service and was twice rejected, he said. He also has a daughter.

U.S. trained el-Sissi said the military will not play a role in politics under his presidency and promised to consult with political factions. Asked if he will accept criticism, he responded with a smile, “I will put up with it” — but then said he won’t accept “offenses.”

In one Cairo neighborhood, Sayeda Zeinab, el-Sissi supporters organized showings of the interview at local coffeehouses, where dozens gathered to watch. During advertising breaks, they sang and clapped to pro-military anthems.

“After God, I worship him,” 65-year-old Alia el-Sayed Saad said, raising two pictures of el-Sissi. “We are not ignorant, we can differentiate between the wicked and the honest.”

Turnout at the café shows was not high however — and nearby coffeshops with TVs showing a soccer game were packed with larger crowds.

 

[BLACKEAGLE]

they've gone underground.....i dont think theyre gone for good

some kind of compromise will have to be made....Egyptians are dangerously polarized. Not as bad as in Syria, but things could get worse. . .

I was in Egypt about a month and a half after General Sisi's intervention (the media calls it a coup). On the ground things were very normal, its not all chaos there. Life goes on, the same way it goes on in Pakistan =)

People who support MB don't deserve freedom nor democracy no matter how many they are. Arab people shallow and stupid calculation is the only reason that brought us to this misery. I know many of such people, they have no logic and think with their ugly heards.

 

[Falcon29]

People who support MB don't deserve freedom nor democracy no matter how many they are. Arab people shallow and stupid calculation is the only reason that brought us to this misery. I know many of such people, they have no logic and think with their ugly heards.

Supporting the MB brings so much misery to the region? The reality tells us something else, very little problems exist from a social movement.

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

People who support MB don't deserve freedom nor democracy no matter how many they are. Arab people shallow and stupid calculation is the only reason that brought us to this misery. I know many of such people, they have no logic and think with their ugly heards.

people with beards or no beards can be illogical....the Arab world is in disarray because of weak institutions and regional rivalries. It's sad.

as for the MB - they are like Jamat e-Islami of Pakistan....well funded, EXTREMELY well organized....ironically, they do democratially vote their leaders (based on votes and consensus)

their agenda however - they basically say "have twelve children, marry ten wives, dont use contraceptives, women shouldn't drive or be productive members of society" etc. etc. They never talk about economic or business policies.

Now of course this is a sweeping generalization; there are educated moderates/middle class too and they should be aboard on the political process...those willing to compromise - rather than insist on Shariah as Constitution when the buggers can't even define what a true definable "Shariah law" is. If you live your life based on the teachings of the Quran and do good for yourself and your country and you remain pure - you've adhered already to 95% of the faith (which is a personal thing anyways)

i personally believe religion is important and proud to be a Muslim; but i dont think religion and politics should be mixed now that we are independent, sovereign countries. What we should do is try to bridge the gap between KSA and Iran. If we do that, then many of the regional proxy wars and spy games would come to an end

look at Syria and the bastards on both sides who are destroying it!

Supporting the MB brings so much misery to the region? The reality tells us something else, very little problems exist from a social movement.

MB is still better than some of the takfiri nut-jobs we see in Syria