Egypt Crisis

EGYPT CRISIS

Goodmorning. What i’d like to present to you today is the egypt crisis. I’ve divided my talk into three parts. First i’ll tell you about prior events and causes of the crisis, then i’ll move on to look at the 3 july coup d’etat. Finally we’ll discuss about the international reactions. So now let’s see the events leading up to the crisis.

1. CAUSES

After Mubarak resigned and fled Cairo, the Egyptian military assumed the power to govern, dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution. A constitutional referendum was held and on November Egypt held its first parliamentary election. Turnout was high and there were no reports of major irregularities or violence. Mohamed Morsi was elected president on June 2012. Egypt's Prime Minister announced his 35 member cabinet comprising 28 newcomers including four from the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most powerful civil organisation deeply embedded in Egyptian society since 1928. Liberal and secular groups walked out of the constituent assembly because they believed that it would impose strict Islamic practices, while Muslim Brotherhood backers threw their support behind Morsi. Morsi issued a declaration seeking to protect the work of the constituent assembly. The move has led to massive protests and violent action throughout Egypt. Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of president Morsi clashed. Finally Mohamed Morsi offered a "national dialogue" with opposition leaders but refused to cancel the constitutional referendum.

So this leads directly to the second part of my talk.

2) COUP D’ETAT

On 30 June 2013 (the one-year anniversary of Morsi's presidency), a pre-planned and pre-announced popular up-rising without clear political backing led to the end of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood's rule. Millions of protesters took to the streets and demanded the military intervention and the immediate resignation of the president for many reasons including accusations that he was increasingly authoritarian and pushing through an Islamist agenda without regard to the rule of law. The demonstrations, which had been largely peaceful, turned violent when five anti-Morsi protesters were killed. The situation escalated to a national political and constitutional crisis, with Morsi refusing the military's demands for him to leave power. Morsi reiterated his "legitimacy" as a democratically elected president and criticised the military for taking sides in the crisis.

On 3 July, the Egyptian military announced the end of Morsi's presidency, the suspension of the constitution, and that a new presidential election will be held soon. The military appointed Chief Justice Adly Mansour as the interim president, and charged him with forming a transitional technocratic government. Morsi was put under house arrest and several Muslim Brotherhood leaders were arrested too or are still in hiding. The announcement was followed by demonstrations and clashes between supporters and opponents of the coup throughout Egypt.