Egypt military calls for "national dialogue", Morsi agrees, opposition to decide Wednesday

The head of the Egyptian military called for a "national dialogue" to be held on Wednesday in an attempt to resolve the political crisis gripping the Arab world's most populous country, a military source said.   

"Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is calling for all sections of the people to convene a national dialogue at the Olympic Village tomorrow," the military source told Reuters.

Later on,  army chief said that Wednesday's national unity talks would not be about politics or a referendum on a constitution that liberals want scrapped but would be to bring Egyptians together, speaking in comments broadcast on state television.  

"We will not speak about politics nor about the referendum. tomorrow we will sit together as Egyptians," armed forces chief and Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said at a joint gathering of army and police officials.

In response, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi approved the army call for unity talks, a presidency official said on Tuesday.   

Refa'a Al-Tahtawy, Morsi's presidential chief of staff, made the comment to Al Jazeera television.

In this context, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the group that propelled Morsi to office in a June election, said it would attend the talks.   

"The invitation is clear that it is from the army with the permission of the president. If anyone is invited, I don't think it is appropriate to stay away," Brotherhood spokesman Mahmoud Ghozlan told Reuters, confirming his group would go.

For its part, Egypt's main opposition coalition said it would meet on Wednesday morning to decide whether to attend unity talks a leading politician in the National Salvation Front, Hamdeen Sabahy, told Reuters.  

"We have not yet received any invitations from the army but if we do, the Front will meet tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11 a.m. (0900) to decide its position on the invitation," he said.

This after the presidency announced that "after the army was given powers of arrest during the vote period, anyone arrested by the military during Egypt's referendum on a new constitution will face civil rather than military courts."

"Individuals arrested under these powers must be remanded to the office of the prosecutor and are tried before civilian courts, if the prosecutor recommends trial," the presidency said in a statement after rights groups criticized the arrest powers granted by President Mohamed Morsi.   

"Rumours have circulated that the law allows for civilians to be referred to military courts and this law does not, in any way, allow for civilians to be tried before military courts," it said in a note explaining the army's role that will last until results are declared after Saturday's referendum.

Earlier in the day, nine people were hurt when unknown attackers fired at protesters camping at Tahrir Square in central Cairo on Tuesday, according to witnesses and Egyptian media, as opponents and supporters of President Mohamed Morsi's plans to vote on a new constitution geared up for a day of street demonstrations.           

Police cars surrounded the square, the first time they had appeared in the area since Nov. 23, shortly after a decree by the Islamist president giving himself sweeping temporary powers touched off widespread protests.        
                                 
The attackers also threw petrol bombs which started a small fire, witnesses said. Many of the protesters, awakened by the noise, chanted: "The people want the downfall of the regime." Recorded recitations of the Koran were played over speakers in the square.                    

Seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and opponents besieging Morsi's graffiti-daubed presidential palace.                   

The elite Republican Guard has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades, but a decree issued by Morsi late on Sunday gives the armed forces the power to arrest civilians during the referendum and until the announcement of the results.  


REUTERS