Egyptian Islamists boycott army civilian council

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, doing well in parliamentary elections, said on Thursday it would shun a new council set up by military rulers to help oversee the drafting of a new constitution.    

The popular Islamist group said it feared the body, which will include politicians, presidential candidates and youth representatives, would usurp the authority of the new parliament and become a permanent fixture in Egypt.    

The army, which took charge of the country in February following the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak, is due to unveil the council formally later in the day.    

A source close to the project told Reuters that if it proves successful its mandate could be extended once the military has handed full power to a civilian president in 2012.     

"If this body succeeds to resolve national issues, it could possibly evolve into a national defence committee and stay in force even after a president is elected," the source said, making clear that army figures could join the group later.     

It was not clear how such a body would fit beside the new parliament and a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which has taken a firm lead in early polling over recent weeks, said the group would boycott the council.  

Reuters