admin
A tomato struck an Egyptian official in the face, and shoes and a water bottle landed near the armoured cars carrying Clinton’s delegation in the port city of Alexandria after she gave a speech on democratic rights.
A senior US official said neither Clinton nor her vehicle, which was around the corner from the incident, were hit by the projectiles, which were thrown as US officials and reporters walked to the motorcade after her speech.
Protesters chanted “Monica, Monica”, a reference to the extra-marital affair conducted by Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, while in the White House. Others earlier chanted “leave, Clinton”, an Egyptian security official said.
It was not clear who the protesters were or what were their political affiliations. Demonstrations have become common in Egypt since former President Hosni Mubarak, long-time US ally, was brought down by mass street protests last year.
Egypt is gripped by political uncertainty as two major forces, the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, engage in a power struggle over the future of a country that remains without a permanent constitution, parliament or government.
On Saturday night, protesters outside Clinton’s luxury hotel in Cairo chanted anti-Islamist slogans, accusing the United States of backing the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power.
In her speech at the newly re-opened US consulate in Alexandria, Clinton rejected suggestions that the United States, which had long supported former Mubarak, was backing one faction or another in Egypt following his ouster last year.
“I want to be clear that the United States is not in the business, in Egypt, of choosing winners and losers, even if we could, which of course we cannot,” Clinton said.
“We are prepared to work with you as you chart your course, as you establish your democracy,” she added. “We want to stand for principles, for values, not for people or for parties.”
Earlier on Sunday, Clinton met Egypt’s top general, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, to discuss Egypt’s turbulent democratic transition as the military wrestles for influence with the new president.
The meeting came a day after she met Morsi, whose powers were clipped by the military days before he took office.
Morsi fired back by reinstating the Islamist-dominated parliament that the army leadership had disbanded after a court declared it void, deepening the stand-off before the new leader even had time to form a government.
In their hour-long meeting, Clinton and Tantawi discussed Egypt’s political transition, the military’s “ongoing dialogue with President Morsi,” and the country’s economic troubles, a US official travelling with Clinton said in an email brief.
“Tantawi stressed that this is what Egyptians need most now — help getting the economy back on track,” the official said.
The talks also touched on the increasingly lawless Sinai region and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Speaking after the meeting, Tantawi said the army respected the presidency but would not be deterred from its role of “protecting” Egypt.
“The armed forces and the army council respects legislative and executive authorities,” he said in a speech to troops in the city of Ismailia. “The armed forces would not allow anyone to discourage it from its role in protecting Egypt and its people.”
Ties with the United States, which provides Egypt with an annual $1,3 billion in military aid, were strained this year when Egyptian judicial police raided the offices of several US-backed non-governmental organisations on suspicion of illegal foreign funding and put several Americans on trial.
The spat ended when Egyptian authorities allowed the US citizens and other foreign workers to leave the country.
Clinton said Washington wanted to support “real democracy,” in which “no group or faction or leader can impose their will, their ideology, their religion, their desires on anyone else.”
She delivered a similar message in earlier meetings with women and Christians, both groups that fear their rights may be curtailed under a Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government.
“I will be honest and say some have legitimate fears about their future,” she said.
“I said to them . . . no Egyptian, no person anywhere, should be persecuted for their faith, or their lack of faith, for their choices about working and not working.
“Democracy is not just about reflecting the will of the majority. It is also about protecting the rights of the minority,” she said.
The United States had learned that “the hard way,” Clinton said, noting the US constitution originally did not protect the rights of women or slaves.
Meanwhile, the death toll in a building collapse in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria has reached 19, the health ministry said yesterday, adding that it was still searching for survivors.
“Nineteen bodies have been retrieved from under the rubble of the collapsed building,” the health ministry said.
“The bodies have been taken to the Kom el-Dekka morgue in Alexandria,” said Ahmed al-Ansari, head of Egypt’s ambulance services, in a statement to the official MENA news agency.
The building collapsed in Egypt’s second city on Saturday, destroying three neighbouring homes, police said.
Witnesses said the building housed four families and a bakery, but could not give an overall number of tenants.
Egypt has seen a number of construction disasters over the years, partly owing to building violations or bad maintenance.
At least 11 people were killed in Alexandria in 2008 when a four-storey building collapsed late at night as residents slept.
That came a month after a massive rock slide buried a neighbourhood at the foot of a cliff in Cairo, killing more than 100 people.
In another development, Egypt’s prosecutor general yesterday ordered convicted former strongman Hosni Mubarak back to prison nearly a month after he was moved to a military hospital in Cairo after reportedly suffering a stroke.
Abdel Meguid Mahmud “has issued an order to transfer former president Hosni Mubarak from the Maadi Armed Forces Hospital to Tora prison hospital after an improvement in his health,” his office said in a statement.
On July 4, Mahmud had ordered the formation of a committee of medical experts to look into the 84-year-old Mubarak’s health, and determine whether he could be moved back to prison, deputy prosecutor general Adel al-Saeed said.
The doctors agreed that “Mubarak’s health is currently stable with medication, and it is considered good for someone of his age,” Saeed said.
The committee found “no reason for the convict to currently remain in the Armed Forces Hospital in Maadi or any other hospital” with special facilities, he said.
Mubarak’s health was clouded in uncertainty following his move to hospital on 19 June, with state media declaring him clinically dead on arrival at a military hospital.
But medical sources said he was in a coma and on an artificial respirator.
On 2 June, Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the death of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his three-decade rule.
His health deteriorated after the transfer, with doctors defibrillating him twice last month, and reports saying he was suffering from bouts of depression, high blood pressure and shortness of breath. — Reuters/AFP.
Online Reporter