Egyptian President Forces Country’s Top Military Leaders Into Retirement

Mohamed Mursi took the country by surprise on Sunday when he forced Egypt’s top military leaders into retirement.

People gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square Monday to show their support for Mursi’s move against Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi.

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with Arab Affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi.

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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman. This is “The World”. A bold move by Egypt’s new President, Mohamed Mursi, took the country by surprise yesterday when he forced Egypt’s top military leaders into retirement. Today, Mursi called on his country to rally behind him.

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People gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to show their support for Mursi’s move against Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi. Magdi Abdelhadi is an Arab Affairs analyst. He joins us from London. Magdi, what is the likely motivation behind Mursi’s decision? It’s huge.

Magdi Abdelhadi: This was bound to happen sooner or later, that he somehow gets rid of the holdovers from the Mubarak era within the military, and these were the most prominent figures to be gotten rid of. So that in itself is hardly surprising. What is surprising is the speed with which this has happened and took everybody by surprise and the reason for that is that Mursi apparently saw an opportune moment following the killing of sixteen Egyptian border guards on the border with Israel by Islamists militants and that was clearly the army’s fault. I mean they had warnings from Israel that something like was going to happen and they did very little, and that, of course, made the armies look really, well, the army leaders at least look really bad in the eyes of the public and he thought, well, that is probably the moment to act. So before getting rid of Tantawi and the Chief of Staff, a few earlier he managed to get rid of the Chief of Intelligence, and that has everybody by surprise. Nobody really thought that Mursi had it in him to act so swiftly and decisively.

Werman: So, Magdi, weigh the balance of power for us right now in Egypt. How much power does Mursi really have? And how much power does the army still have?

Abdelhadi: Well, the relationship between the two institutions are still largely undefined because there’s no constitution in Egypt. That is currently being drawn and it’s a contested process. The constituent assembly might actually be dissolved. They may have to start all over again. So at present, on paper at least, Mursi seems to have absolute power. However, you have to remember that what he did, he didn’t dissolve the military council that ran Egypt since he overthrew Mubarak. He just got rid a few of them and recycled the others. So the people who are replaced, Tantawi and the others, are coming from the same institution, they’re just a younger generation. Now, also to remember that Tantawi and the others are well beyond their retirement age and Tantawi is reputed to be really seriously ill, so I think it was long overdue that those people should take a rest, and I think that it has gone down extremely well with the wider public in Egypt.

Werman: Now, the other news today, Magdi, is that Egypt’s public prosecutors has ordered that the owner of al-Faraeen, a TV channel, and the chief editor of al-Dustour newspaper be tried at the Cairo Criminal Court. What’s that all about? And what are the charges?

Abdelhadi: Well, that has worried everybody, of course, because even many people who dislike these extremely tabloid-y controversial media outlets, they quite often broadcast stuff that, by Western standard, could be considered incitements or even libelous, but the problem with the Egyptian law is, of course, that instead of the Egyptian, shall we say, the Egyptian establishment frame of mind is more authoritarian and would take to the sledgehammer rather than put them in trial, fine them for whatever offense they’ve committed, the knee-jerk reaction is to close them down. And that has angered many pro-democracy people and many liberal people in Egypt. But, once again, you see the new rules of the game in Egypt have not been laid down yet. So much of what is happening now is part of the Mubarak era legislation being used, and people are very unhappy about his because this should be a new beginning. And everybody, of course, is worried that given that Mursi has enormous powers now, there is tangible fear that the Muslim Brotherhood could show their very undemocratic tendencies.

Werman: Arab Affairs analyst Magdi Abdelhadi speaking with us from London. Thank you, Magdi.

Abdelhadi: You’re most welcome.

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