Qatar will remain supportive of Egypt as a leader and pioneer in the Arab and Islamic world, a Foreign Ministry source said yesterday.
The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of congratulations to the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, who took oath as interim president.
Qatar’s policy has always been to support the will of the Egyptian people, Qatar News Agency said, citing the source. The source praised the role of the Egyptian armed forces in defending the country and its security, stressing the need to enhance cohesion among all Egyptians to further their interests in accordance with the gains of the revolution so that its objectives are achieved.
The source said Qatar will maintain its excellent fraternal relations with Egypt and work to strengthen them to serve the interests of both countries and their peoples.
In Cairo, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood was arrested by security forces in a crackdown against the Islamist movement after the army ousted the first democratically elected president Mohammed Mursi.
An Islamist coalition led by the Brotherhood called on people across the nation to protest in a “Friday of Rejection” after prayers.
Mansour used his inauguration to hold out an olive branch to the Brotherhood, Mursi’s power base. “The Muslim Brotherhood are part of this people and are invited to participate in building the nation as nobody will be excluded, and if they respond to the invitation, they will be welcomed,” he said. But a senior Brotherhood official, however, said it would not work with “the usurper authorities”. Another member said Mursi’s overthrow would push other groups, though not his own, to violent resistance.
Badie arrested
The Muslim Brotherhood’s supreme guide, Mohamed Badie, was arrested in the northern city of Marsa Matrouh, near the Libyan border, although security sources said they did not believe he had been trying to flee the country. Prosecutors also ordered the arrest of his influential deputy Khairat El Shater after both were charged with inciting violence against protesters outside the Brotherhood’s headquarters in Cairo that was attacked on Sunday night.
At least 23 people have been killed in street clashes since Mursi’s overthrow. TV stations sympathetic to Mursi were taken off air, and a newspaper affiliated with the Brotherhood said the state-owned printing press had refused to produce its Thursday edition.
Mursi was in military custody and authorities opened an investigation into accusations that he and 15 other Islamists insulted the judiciary.
A technocratic interim government will be formed, with a panel for national reconciliation, and the constitution will be reviewed. Mansour said fresh parliamentary and presidential elections would be held, but did not specify when.
QNA & Agencies
Khalfan stops tweets about Brotherhood
DOHA: Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan who became popular in the Arab world by constantly taking a dig at the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on his Twitter account, said yesterday this was his last tweet as Mohammed Mursi and his regime had fallen.
“Bye”, Khalfan tweeted cryptically and then wrote down that since the Brotherhood rule had ended he was closing his Twitter account. “I am stopping tweeting now”. Khalfan who tweeted in Arabic, had more than 466,000 followers and had tweeted over 28,000 messages, apparently mostly about the Brotherhood.
He began pooh-poohing the Brotherhood on the Twitter during the Egyptian presidential election in May and June 2012 and when Mursi was elected, Khalfan said his victory was a clear indication of the failure of the Egyptian revolution. He said the Brotherhood posed a danger to the GCC states politically and accused Mursi of being close to Iran.
Khalfan’s criticisms of the Brotherhood prompted the Egyptian government to summon the UAE ambassador to clarify his country’s stand vis-à-vis Egypt.
Source:The Peninsula
