Morsi rejects army ultimatum, Egypt on the boil

New Delhi, July 2: From Mubarak to Morsi, the journey of Egypt has not been any better and the army has again become an arbitrator of power.

Today, President Mohamed Morsi rejected an army ultimatum threatening to intervene if the Islamist President did not meet the demands of the people.

Monday's army statement came just a day after millions of protesters took to the streets across Egypt, calling for Morsi to step down. The sit in at Cairo's Tahrir Square continues with thousands keeping a vigil.

However, Morsi, despite resignations by his foreign minister and other high profile cabinet ministers, said that he would continue on its own path towards national reconciliation. Mursi's military adviser, U.S.-trained former chief-of-staff General Sami Anan, also resigned.

The army has given Morsi 48 hours to comply with its call. "If the demands of the people are not met in this period... (the armed forces) will announce a future roadmap and measures to oversee its implementation," it said.

Morsi is Egypt's first freely elected president. A longtime leader of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, he was catapulted to power by the 2011 uprising that ended three decades of dictator Hosni Mubarak's rule.

The president now looks completely isolated with the liberal opposition refusing to talk to him and the armed forces giving him an ultimatum on sharing of power.

Morsi's opponents accuse him of having betrayed the revolution by concentrating power in Islamist hands and of sending the economy into freefall.

His supporters say he inherited many problems from a corrupt regime, and that he should be allowed to complete his term, which ends in 2016.

For many Egyptians, fixing the economy is key. Unrest since Mubarak fell has decimated tourism and investment and state finances are in poor shape, drained by extensive subsidy regimes and struggling to provide regular supplies of fuel.

OneIndia News