[UAH] EGYPT''S MILITARY SAY IT MAY INTERVENE

Egypt's Military Say It May Intervene to Prevent Conflict

By Salma El Wardany - Jun 23, 2013 2:00 PM PT

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Egypt's Defense Minister Abdelfatah Al-Seesi said the military is prepared to intervene to stop the country's political crisis from spiraling out of control, a week before a planned rally against President Mohamed Mursi.

The armed forces "won't remain silent as the country slides into a conflict that's difficult to control," Al-Seesi said in remarks posted yesterday on the military's official Facebook page. "There is a state of division in society and its continuation is a danger to the Egyptian state."

Mursi's opponents are planning a mass rally on June 30 to force the president to call early elections. His supporters held a demonstration in Cairo during the weekend and warned against attempts to overthrow the Islamist politician, who marks one year in office at the end of this month.

"It's a pretty strong-worded statement that is meant to send a message reassuring those who oppose Mursi that the army has got their back," Hassan Nafaa, a political science professor at Cairo University, said in a phone interview. The statement also sends "a warning to the Islamist backers of the president who are threatening a bloody war against the opposition and are calling whoever opposes Mursi an infidel."

By threatening to intercede, the army is indicating it's going to apply pressure to block any attempts to monopolize power, Nafaa said. A military coup is unlikely, he said.

Opposition parties and youth movements accuse Mursi of seeking to consolidate the power of his Islamist backers while failing to address the economic and political demands that sparked the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak. The political turmoil has battered the nation's stocks and bonds, sending Egypt's credit risk to the highest level since 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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