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A supporter of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi stands guard at a barricade near Cairo University, where protesters have installed their camp in Giza, southwest of Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.
Manu Brabo/AP
A supporter of Egypt’s ousted President Mohammed Morsi stands guard at a barricade near Cairo University, where protesters have installed their camp in Giza, southwest of Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.
Manu Brabo/AP
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On Saturday, state media and other sources had confirmed that former International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei would be Egypt’s interim prime minister. Later in the day the president’s spokesperson walked it back.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
On Saturday, state media and other sources had confirmed that former International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei would be Egypt’s interim prime minister. Later in the day the president’s spokesperson walked it back.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Demonstrators from either side are being urged to take to the streets in Egypt Sunday, two days after clashes left 36 people dead and more than 1,000 wounded.
Away from the streets, an attempt to install Mohamed ElBaradei as interim prime minister was quashed after an Islamist group objected to the Nobel laureate. State media and other sources had confirmed the appointment on Saturday, but later in the day the president’s spokesperson walked it back. Reuters reports:
“The abrupt U-turn came amid opposition to the appointment by the Nour Party, Egypt’s second Islamist force after Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, highlighting the challenge the military faces in finding consensus among liberals and conservatives on who should run the country.”
ElBaradei is a divisive figure in Egypt. The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is seen as a staunch secularist, and, as The Washington Post explains this morning,”many Islamists view ElBaradei as uninterested in giving them a say in Egypt’s affairs.”
“‘Baradei in a way is kind of the ultimate liberal,’ said Shadi Hamid, an Egypt expert at the Brookings Doha Center. ‘He has a very antagonistic relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is why it doesn’t bode well for Brotherhood reintegration’ if he were to come to power.”
Over a dozen leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, the party supporting ousted President Mohammed Morsi, have been arrested since Egypt’s military overthrew the democratically-elected leader last week. NPR’s Leila Fadel reports the Brotherhood is calling for rallies Sunday to “protect legitimacy,” saying Morsi’s removal is an affront to democracy.
Opponents of the former president are also calling their supporters out to protest, as the AP reports:
“The collection of liberal, secular and youth groups that spearheaded the campaign to oust Morsi, meanwhile, have called for a mass rally in Cairo’s Tahrir Square later Sunday to support the country’s new interim government.”
Article source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/07/07/199661776/elbaradeis-pm-withdrawal-underlines-egyptian-splits?ft=1&f=1001