At last, Egypt is now free from the oppressive rule of the Muslim Brotherhood!
The Armed Forces took the side of the millions of Egyptians who demonstrated in the streets since the 30th of June against President Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood. The Armed Forces responded to the invitation of the people to intervene and force the President to step down at the request of the people of Egypt. Field Marshall Abdel Fattah el-SiSi invited His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and The Grand Imam of Egypt Dr. Ahmed el-Tayyib, and other political leaders, to discuss the roadmap for the future of Egypt. After this meeting, it was announced that the head of the constitutional court will be an interim leader of the nation. The current controversial constitution is now suspended. The new government will involve capable people from different backgrounds.
As soon as Field Marshall Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced this, millions of Egyptians on the streets went around rejoicing, singing, dancing, and making a lot of fireworks. I have never seen Egyptians rejoicing in such a way! They deserve this joy as they insisted to write their own history!
Since the Muslim Brotherhood ruled the country a year ago, we Egyptians experienced divisions, exclusions, sectarian clashes, fanaticism, a decrease in tourism, and a bad economy.
This is an answer to the prayers of so many people from around the world who were praying for our beloved country Egypt. Please continue to pray for protection from violent reaction of the Islamists which already has started. Pray also for unity and reconciliation after more than 1 year of divisions.
May the Lord bless you!
+ Mouneer Egypt
Read it all [pdf] and there are some photos, including of Bishop Mouneer celebrating with his people
While I’ve no desire to pour cold water on the understandable jubiliation of Bishop Anis, it’s worth recalling that a very narrow majority of the Egyptian people put President Mursi into office in the first place. While there’s no question that some of that 51 percent now have buyer’s remorse (the alternative in the runoff was a Mubarrak loyalist), it’s not as if there isn’t a significant section of the population who voted for Mursi [i]because[/i] of who he was.
To drive the Muslim Brotherhood back underground is almost certain to set the stage for a reprise of the Syrian tragedy on a grander scale. Furthermore, one should also remember that even a few months ago the army were hardly the heroes of the people that they are being portrayed today. The saga of the “virginity tests,” for example, left a sour taste in the mouths of many ordinary Egyptians.
In fact, Egyptian liberals have reason to be grateful to the Muslim Brotherhood. Voters gave them an opportunity both in parliamentary and presidential elections to show they could rise above sectarianism and rescue the nation from economic stagnation and they largely failed. Mursi had a chance to pursue a big-tent appraoch to solving the national crisis and, for the most part, declined to act. Liberals should for the present choose to be magnanimous, encouraging the moderate wing of the Muslim Brotherhood to advance leaders like Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh (who received 17 percent of the vote in the first round of the presidential elections). To do otherwise risks a polarization that will have severe repercussions for minority groups, including Egyptian Christians.
It’s informative for people to see what actually happens when certain groups are in charge. This was the Brotherhood’s chance, and they couldn’t help but show their colors right out of the gate. In this case it was clearly a power grab and an attempt to completely take over the country and make it what the Islamists wanted it to be. Here we would have had a re-call. Over there the millions of people took power back in a manner equivalent to what was being perpetrated against them by Mursi.
Please correct me if I am wrong but as I understand it, the basic premise of the Muslim Brotherhood is now and always has been, the full implementation of the Muslim Religion and Sharia Law.