For weeks, Egypt’s state TV and private media has been running national songs glorifying the commander of the army, Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, after he led a coalition of political groups and religious institutions to oust Egypt’s first elected president on July 3. Since then, Sisi, portrayed by loyal media as a national savior and a leader of so-called June 30 revolution, was keen to emphasize that his removal of Mohamed Morsi was not a military coup. It was, he claimed, a revolutionary wave, an answer to growing public opposition to Morsi’s rule, and a fulfillment of the true role of Egypt’s military as a safeguard of the nation. “Raise your heads up. Be proud of your military. We at the military are God fearing people. We never betrayed [the] former president or conspired against him,” Sisi told military leaders and new graduates at the Naval Academy on Wednesday. His address was carried live on state TV and was directed towards the nation at large in the middle of an unprecedented political crisis following the removal of Morsi one year after he took office. Dozens of Egyptians have been killed in post-coup violence, as thousands of Morsi supporters have filled the streets of several Egyptian cities for days to protest the president’s ousting. However, Sisi’s speech was not only about the past or about promising new democratic guarantees. Before its end, Sisi delivered a veiled threat to Morsi’s supporters - a coalition of religious groups led by the Muslim Brotherhood and its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) - sending shock waves across the nation. “Do you want to either rule the country or destroy it? Do you want to either have the military on your side or destroy it? Some are trying to take country into a dark tunnel. We are at a crossroad,” Sisi said, addressing his opponents.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 08:56:35 +0000
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