Egypt Military Steps up Feud with MB after Meeting Clinton

Egypt’s top military official takes a tough line with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), saying the army would prevent the country from being dominated by just one group

Egypt’s top military official takes a tough line with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), saying the army would prevent the country from being dominated by just one group. Clinton, Tantawi

The remarks by the official, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, did not mention the Brotherhood by name but were widely seen as a reference to the MB and to Mohamed Mursi, Egypt’s newly elected president and a former Brotherhood leader.

His remarks also came just hours after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with the field marshal in Cairo in an effort to prod Egypt’s military to hand its power to civilians.

Clinton faced anger from Christian leaders, including some who boycotted a meeting with her on Sunday, objecting to what they said was interference by the United States in Egypt’s politics in order to aid an Islamist rise to power.

After meeting Mursi on Saturday, Clinton sat down on Sunday morning with Field Marshal Tantawi. The military still retains broad legislative and executive authority, having seized further powers before the presidential election in June.

After the meeting, which lasted a little over an hour, a senior State Department official said Tantawi and Clinton had discussed the economy, regional security, “the political transition” and the military’s “ongoing dialogue with President Mursi.”

Field Marshal Tantawi emphasized that Egyptians needed “help getting the economy back on track,” the official said. “The secretary stressed the importance of protecting the rights of all Egyptians, including women and minorities.”

But only hours after the meeting, “Egypt will never fall. It belongs to all Egyptians and not to a certain group the armed forces will not allow it,'' Tantawi told reporters in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia. “The armed forces will not allow anyone, especially those pushed from outside, to distract it from its role as the protector of Egypt,’’ he added.