Tag: uprising
SCAF and Essam Sharaf’s cabinet under fire
[Video removed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtLBxpLJ8ck]
As the Tahrir occupation continues, PM Essam Sharaf made a public speech on Saturday evening, whereby he
…ordered the suspension of police accused of killing protesters during the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
Essam Sharaf also said a panel would be created to speed up court cases against them and those accused of corruption.
Earlier in the day, the prosecutor general ordered the re-arrest of head of Suez police and two secret policemen, while in Alexandria the prosecutor ordered the arrest and interrogation of 12 police officers involved in the torture and killing of Sayed Bilal, the salafi young man who was wrongly accused by the State Security Police in January of blowing up the Two Saints Church in Alexandria.
But as always, the government’s “concessions” are vague and meaningless. No names of officers were announced, no transparency, no public trials, no mention of Suzan or Omar Suleiman, and nothing said re the national minimum wage. And of course nothing re halting the military tribunals. Nothing concrete at all. And while promising one of the biggest “restructuring moves” in the history of the interior ministry by mid July, Sharaf’s interior minister, General Mansour el-Essawi, went on Al-Hayat channel, describing the use of the word “purge” as a “silly”.
[Video removed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejvDEkWytVs]
Sharaf’s speech doesn’t assure anyone. The protests continue as of time of writing, and in Tahrir Square already thousands are marching demanding Sharaf’s immediate resignation.
[Video removed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1scFulTW5o]
While in Suez, tens of thousands of the city residents are now threatening to block the Suez Canal, and sit-ins continues in other provinces.
The US and Egypt’s military junta
Obama continues his endorsement of Mubarak’s Field Marshal Tantawi and his ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. According to the Jerusalem Post:
[T]he United States signaled this week that it plans to continue business as usual when it comes to arms sales to the Egyptian Military.
On Friday, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible sale of 125 M1A1 Abrams tank to Egypt – the first large arms deal since Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power in February – including associated weapons, equipment, parts, training and logistical support for an estimated cost of just over $1.3 billion.
If approved, the deal would increase the number of Abrams tanks in Egypt from around 1,000 to 1,130.
According to the notification to Congress, Egypt would receive 125 tanks parts of which would be produced in Egypt as well as M256 Armament Systems, M2 .50 caliber machine guns, 7.62mm machine guns, spare parts, maintenance, support equipment, personnel training and other related elements of logistics and program support.
The Pentagon told Congress – which has 30 days to object to the deal – that the sale of the tanks would “contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that has been and continues to be an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.”