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Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsy issued Constitutional Declaration expanding his powers

Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsy has issued the new Constitutional Declaration on Thursday, 22 November 2012, which came as a surprising decision for many.

The new Constitutional Declaration expands the powers of the state’s President, as the head of state has the right to appoint the new Prosecutor General for the four-year term. Thus, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy has sacked today the state’s Prosecutor General Abdel Meguid-Mahmoud and appointed Judge Talaat Ibrahim Mohamed Abdallah as the new Prosecutor General for the next four years. Talaat Ibrahim Mohamed Abdallah is the former deputy head of Egypt’s Court of Cassation.

In addition to that one of the articles of the new Constitutional Declaration states that all the previous constitutional declarations, laws, orders and decrees made by the President since he was sworn in are final and binding and cannot be appealed by any authority until the new Constitution will be finalized and approved and the new Parliament will be elected. All the appeals and lawsuits against those decisions should be annulled, so the President’s decisions consider being the final. This is one of the most controversial articles of the Constitutional Declaration which cause a lot of worries, concerns and protests among the activists and representatives of different political powers who accuse Mohamed Morsy of conducting a coup and trying to usurp the power in the country.

According to the text of the Declaration Constituent Assembly also receives the additional two months for its work, so the term of the process of writing the Constitution is expanded to eight months since the date of the formation of the body. As Presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali announced this decision was made to give the Constituent Assembly the chance to consolidate its powers, unite and finalize the draft of the Constitution.

Mohamed Morsy’s new Constitutional Declaration also protects Shura Council (upper house of Egypt’s Parliament) and gives it immunity from the potential dissolution.

According to the text of the Declaration Egypt’s President can take all the necessary measures and actions to protect the country, its people and the goal of the revolution.

It’s also very important that the new Constitutional Declaration also orders the reopening of the investigations and retrial of those responsible for the killing and injuring the peaceful protesters during the days of January 25 Revolution in 2011 and the following transitional period. It means that those retrials will also target Egypt’s highest officials from the previous regime, including ex-President Hosni Mubarak and his Interior Minister Habib Al-Adly.

The presidential Declaration has also ordered to give the pensions to the family of the “revolution’s martyrs” and to increase the help and assistance for those injured.

Despite the wide protest moods and deep concerns over the newly released Constitutional Declaration and the accusations of the attempts to monopolize the power the official spokesperson of Egypt’s President, Yasser Ali, announced that this Declaration aims to achieve the demands of the revolutions and its goals. It also should help to shorten the transitional period, stressed the spokesperson.

Meanwhile several Egyptian political forces and prominent figures (such as Hamdeen Sabbahy, Mohamed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, Sameh Ashour and others) face their worries and concerns regarding the presidential decree as it threats the democracy and the goals of the revolutions and demonstrates the attempt to control all the fields of power and also the process of writing the Constitution by the President and Islamist forces. Egyptian activists and representatives of different political forces have called for tomorrow’s Friday protests against this decision.

It’s worth mentioning that the demonstration and march were planned for tomorrow, but they were expected to be held to commemorate the victims of the four days clashes between the protesters and police and security forces in Cairo’s Mohamed Mahmoud Street and Tahrir Square which happened one year ago. The peaceful march in memory of those killed and injured started on Monday, 19 November, but then suddenly the marches turned violent as the protesters and security forces clashed near the building of Egypt’s Ministry of Interior. The clashes have already left dozens of injured and one person is reportedly killed. Meanwhile the clashes still continue, and there are also reports about police detentions and arrests of the protesters.

However, after the announcing of President’s Constitutional Declaration the plans for tomorrow’s march have been corrected and the demands were changed. Among those demands are the dismissal of the government appointed by Mohamed Morsy, prosecuting the police personnel and officers responsible for killing, injuring and torturing the protesters and restructuring of the police forces. After the issuing of the Declaration the protests against it and its articles will probably become the main issue, stress some activists. The numbers of those who will attend the demonstration could increase.

The joint statement of several Egyptian political parties and forces has called for the massive demonstrations against the Constitutional Declaration tomorrow. Those powers included Constitution Party, Democratic Front Party, Social Democratic Party, Egypt Freedom Party, Egyptian Popular Current, Free Egyptians Party, Socialist Popular Alliance Party, National Association for Change and others. The groups 6 April, Mosireen Media Collective, Kazeboon campaign, “No to Military Trials for Civilians” campaign, Maspero Youth Union, New Women Foundation and others will also participate in the Friday’s protest.

The protests are planned to start after Friday noon prayers and will head to Cairo’s Tahrir Square from several city’s districts.

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Egyptian oppositional youth refused to attend the Presidential Constitution meeting

The youth representatives of six Egyptian oppositional parties released a joint statement on Monday, 5 November 2012, where they apologized for their refusal to attend the meeting with the President and his advisory team regarding the drafting of the future Constitution.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy initiated to hold the negotiations with his advisory team and diverse political parties and forces to discussed the draft of the future Egyptian Constitution proposed by the current Constituent Assembly. Fourteen different political forces have received the official invitations to participate in the talks scheduled in a few days and to also send their youth’s representatives. But six of them have refused to attend the meeting.

Among those parties refused to meet the presidential advisors are Constitution Party, Egyptian Current Party, Socialist Popular Alliance Party, Egyptian Social Democratic Party, Free Egypt Party and Free Egyptians Party. Their youth’s wings refused to participate in the planned meeting with the presidential advisory team as they refuse the current formation of the Constituent Assembly tasked with drafting the new Constitution.

The young representatives of those political forces called to form the new Constituent Assembly which will be the representative body ensuring the drafting of the Constitution which will represent all the Egyptian citizens and will guarantee them their rights and freedoms.

The young members of the parties stressed that this point of view has been already revealed by their party’s members and have been also communicated between them and the presidential team. So the young activists do not see any need to participate such meetings until President will not announce his official position regarding this issue.

The scheduled and expected to be held in a few days meeting initiated by the presidential team does not respect the position of the liberal parties which have already voiced their concerns and expressed their demands regarding the forming of the new representative Constituent Assembly and the process of drafting the state’s main document. In addition to that this meeting does not offer any opportunities for the forces oppositional to Islamists to work productive.

The parties’ joint statement also says as a conclusion that those parties are calling for those planning to attend the meeting to voice these demands and points during the negotiations.

It’s worth mentioning, that already on Sunday President Mohamed Morsy has reached agreement on almost 90% of the chapters of the proposed draft of the Constitution with the leaders of different Egyptian parties. This statement was made by Yasser Ali, the official Presidential spokesperson.

We would remind that the process of drafting the future Constitution of Egypt became very complicated as the powers cannot reach an agreement on a lot of points. The current Constituent Assembly is strongly dominated by the Islamist forces (almost the same like the first one which was dissolved). In addition to that the current drafting body is still waiting for the High Constitutional Court’s sentence regarding the question of the constitutionality of the body.

The process of drafting the Constitution is very controversial and caused a lot of worries and concerns, especially among the leftist, liberal and other secular forces. The current Constituent Assembly is accused of being unrepresentative body, and the draft of the Constitution is expected to be potentially limiting the freedoms and human rights of the citizens and also deteriorating of the situation with the women’s rights, rights of the minorities and restricting the freedom of expression and religious beliefs etc. The chapters dedicated to the forms of the administration and powers and authorities of different branches of power have been also strongly criticized.

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IMF team will arrive in Egypt for the final stage of the financial aid negotiations

The special team of International Monetary Fund (IMF) will arrive in Cairo, Egypt, next week in attempt to resume the negotiations about the $4.8 billion loan requested by Egyptian government for supporting the state’s economy, according to the statement of an official spokesperson of IMF.

Egyptian government has been negotiating the issue of the financial support from IMF during last one and half year. The previous Egypt’s authorities made a request for $3.2 billion, but later the Cabinet of Hisham Qandeel increased the request to $4.8 billion which are reportedly needed for the recovering of Egypt’s economy which suffered a lot since the events of January 25 Revolution in 2011 and during the following transitional period headed by SCAF.

The IMF loan is a very controversial issue for Egypt as the possible financial support of the international organization sparked the wave of criticism within the Egyptian society. Several political forces, such as leftists, for example, speak against the IMF loan and reject it because they are sure this loan will not bring Egypt and its economy any benefits. Several protests have been taking place during the visits of the IMF delegations to express, but the country’s authorities, Egypt’s government and Finance Ministry stress the IMF loan will not harm Egyptian economy but – the opposite – it will help to improve it and to redraw the foreign investments to the country’s economy.

The IMF technical team headed by Andreas Bauer (IMF Egypt’s mission Chief) will arrive in Cairo at the end of October again to discuss the reforms in Egypt’s economic program and to negotiate the terms of the loan. The mission will reportedly arrive on Tuesday, 30 October.

Meanwhile IMF wishes Egypt to make some steps in reforming its economy. One of the most important tasks is to narrow the budget deficit which has grown to 11% of GDP since the Revolution events. Another important issue is to reduce the state fuel subsidies – the measure which is considered to be one of the keys to the IMF deal.

Egypt’s government, in its turn, has been working on the drawing of the new economic reform program which is expected to be finalized and open up for the public discussions soon. The new economy program includes the cut in state’s energy subsidies, expanding of the sales tax into the full-value added tax etc. The program aimed to develop the state’s suffering economy and it might also become the basis for the upcoming IMF negotiations. 

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After the visit I made to Damascus, there is agreement from the Syrian government for a ceasefire during the Eid

BREAKING: International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi has said the Syrian government has agreed to a ceasefire during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, a decision Damascus would announce shortly. (via newsflick)

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Calls for social justice protest on Friday in Egypt

Several political parties and groups in Egypt announced that the social justice protest is planned for this Friday, 19 October 2012. The mass demonstration will be held under the slogan “Egypt for all Egyptians” and will demand the social justice and equality, representative Constitution and respect for human rights.

Among the parties and groups expecting to participate in the Friday demonstration “Egypt for all Egyptians” are National Association for Change, Al-Tagammu Party, Social Democratic Party, Constitution Party, Popular Socialist Alliance, Egyptian Communist Party, Democratic Front Party, Free Egyptians Party, Popular Current, Conference Party, Revolutionary Socialists, We Are All Mina Daniel movement, The April 6 Democratic Front, Maspero Youth Union and other parties and groups along with some workers, professional and trade unions as well.

The activists calling for the mass demonstrations on Friday announced about those plans during their press conference today, on 16 October. The stated that three marches are planned to head to Tahrir Square in Cairo following the Friday afternoon prayers. They will start in Downtown Cairo, such as iconic Mostafa Mahmoud street.

Read the full story here http://proudukrainian.blogspot.com/2012/10/calls-for-social-justice-protest-on.html

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Egyptians commemorate the victims of last year’s Maspero clashes

Thousands of Egyptians marched today, on 9 October 2012, to the Maspero building to commemorate the victims of last year’s clashes and to mark the first anniversary of thise terrible event.

The demonstrators gathered in Shubra district and marched to the Maspero building, the building of Egyptian state radio and television, where 27 protesters, mostly Copts, were killed last year as a result of the clashes between the peaceful demonstrators and military and security forces.

Last year on 9 October Coptic protesters marched to the building of Maspero protesting against the destruction of the Christian church in Aswan and inaction of the Egyptian authorities. But the peaceful march met the confrontation of the military and security forces with the military personnel running over the protesters with the armored vehicles and firing live bullets on them. The deadly clashes left 27 demonstrators dead and tens of injured.

The actions of Egyptian state TV worsened the situation with providing the false reports covering the events and provoking more violence on the scene. One year after terrible Maspero clashes justice has not been delivered and the investigation didn’t give the results with no persons responsible for this deadly incident facing the trial.

Today’s demonstrations were dedicated to the commemorating the memory of those killed during the Maspero clashes and calling for justice. The protesters were holding the banners and the flags with the pictures of slain protesters and with Mina Daniel, Coptic activist and protester, who was killed during Maspero clashes and became the iconic revolutionary figure in Egypt. The relatives of victims were also presented today.

Among the protesters were also some people holding the banners with the pictures of Mohamed Hussein Tantawy, who was the Head of SCAF and Egypt’s Defense Minister during the Maspero events, and of Sami Anan, Tantawy’s deputy. Protesters were holding their pictures with the lashes around their necks signifying their execution. Mohamed Hussein Tantawy and Sami Anan are no longer the heads of SCAF as they were retired by Mohamed Morsy’s order issued in August 2012.

Protesters have been chanting against SCAF and SCAF leaders and also against Muslim Brotherhood and against their supreme guide Mohamed Badie, as the people accuse Muslim Brotherhood of betraying the revolution.

The building of Maspero is usually guarded by the soldiers and tanks, but there was a minimal military and security presence there during today’s marches.

The symbolic funeral has also proceeded today during the protests. The group of the girls in the pharaonic clothes was holding the enlarged pictures of the killed protesters along with the pharaonic ship with the names of the victims written on its sails. The names of the Maspero victims were pronounced over the loudspeakers, the Coptic hymns were also sang during the demonstration. A video footage of the last year’s protests was also shown today.

Today’s march was like a copy of the last year’s one resembling the same route and it was called to commemorate the memory of the Maspero victims and to demand the justice and those responsible for the deadly clashes to face trials.

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UN Council for Human Rights adopted the resolution on Syria

On Friday 28 September 2012 UN Council for Human Rights adopted the resolution on Syrian condemning the actions of Syrian regime with massacring its own people and urging Bashar Al-Assad to stop the bloodshed and killing of Syrians.

The resolution also stated that the mandate of the UN International Mission for investigation of Syrian events will be prolonged till the March 2013.

41 member of the Council voted for the resolution while three members voted against it (China, Russia and Cuba) and three other members refrained.

Russia opposed the resolution on Syria sponsored by the Arab League and urged the other countries to vote against it too.

“Moscow isn’t agree with the conclusions of the mission regarding the massacres in Syrian cities including in the city of Hula and calls to conduct the new investigations of all those tragic vents”, said the statement of the Russian side.

It’s worth mentioning here that Russia together with China used to veto all the previous resolutions and block the decisions taken by UN Security Council during more than a year since the crisis started in Syria.

The Secretary General of the Arab Leage Nabil Al-Araby in his turn commented on those vetoes and described the position of Russia as dual and controversial. It is extremely important on the current stage to take all the active and decisive measures to stop the bloodshed in Syria and to resolve the crisis, but there are no attempts to intervene in Syria and the Libyan scenario which scares Russia so much couldn’t be repeated in Syria, said Al-Araby.

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Egypt’s Presidency: There is no need to amend Camp David peace treaty with Israel

Yasser Ali, an official spokesperson of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy, said that there is no need to amend Camp David peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel. His statement came while Mohamed Morsy attended UN General Assembly meeting in New York.

Yasser Ali added that the peace accords with Israel don’t need any changes on the current stage, as Egypt has everything it needs to extend its authority over Sinai peninsula and to restore peace, security and stability in the region. That’s why there are no plans to renegotiate Camp David.

He also said that security operation named “Operation Eagle” conducted in Sinai is ongoing and will continue till the terrorist activity will be eliminated and security will be restored. The additional military troops and weapons along with the tanks were deployed in Sinai, and the operation is carried out in accordance with the terms of Camp David peace treaty and in coordination with the neighboring Israel.

This statement came after Mohamed Essmat Seif El-Dawla, Morsy’s legal adviser, suggested the plan of revisal the peace accords and making some amendments to ensure Egypt more sovereignty .

Yasser Ali said that this statement reflected the personal views of Mr. El-Dawla as a legal adviser but not the official position of Mohamed Morsy, as the decisions taken by Egypt’s President and his official position is expressed either by the President or by his official spokesperson.

It’s worth mentioning here too that Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated on Sunday that Israel will not accept any amendments of the peace treaty with Egypt as this document guarantees the peace and stability in the whole region.

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Egyptian President Mohamed Mosry urged to not allow military intervention in Syria

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy stated during his speech at the UNO Assembly today that Egypt is strongly against the possibility of military intervention in Syria and called for the diplomatic measures of resolving the crisis.

Mr. Morsy announced that Egyptian authorities will take all the possible measures on the regional and international level in attempt to regulate the crisis in Syria and to prevent the catastrophe in the country as the current situation in Syria is a threat to the security and stability of the Middle Eastern countries. But Egypt urges to use only peaceful and diplomatic measures which exclude international military intervention.

“We speak against the possibility of military intervention in resolving of the Syrian crisis”, stressed Egyptian President.

France in its turn proposed the idea of creating the so called “safe zones” in the regions controlled by the Syrian opposition.

On Wednesday, 26 September 2012, Secretary General of the Arab League Nabil El-Araby stated that the calls to intervene in the situation in Syria outside UN do not provide the use of military forces to overthrow the Syrian regime. Nabil El-Arabi added that everybody understands that any military conflict in Syria could lead to the terrible consequences with the more victims. In addition to that he expressed his regrets that some resolutions of the Security Council of UN have been signed but not carried out, and some of the resolutions have been constantly blocked by some Security Council’s members, and it prevents the international community from the resolving the Syrian crisis.

UN Secretary Ban Ki-Moon called the Syrian conflict during his speech the regional catastrophe with the global consequences.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy in his turn urged the international community to use all the possible diplomatic measures to resolve the Syrian crisis and stressed again that Egypt is against the military intervention in the region.

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Israel is willing to keep Camp David peace treaty with Egypt unchanged

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday, 23 September, in his interview to Associated Press that Israel is not going to change any terms of the Camp David peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979. This peace accords consider being a source of stability in the whole region, added Israeli official, so there is no need to make changes in it.

This statement of Avigdor Lieberman followed the recent calls of Egyptian politicians to review and renegotiate the terms of the unpopular among the Egyptians peace treaty with the neighboring state.

It is worth mentioning here that the peace treaty which was signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979 was supported by Egypt’s long standing and now ousted President Hosni Mubarak. But after Mubarak has stepped down the calls for changing of the peace treaty and even the calls for cancelling it were very common in Egypt, especially after the Islamist political powers have got the majority.

Muslim Brotherhood members and representatives have been also calling for the revision of the terms of Camp David as this peace treaty is serving Israeli interests more than defending Egyptian sovereignty, think Islamists.

Israeli official Avigdor Lieberman in his turn have been spoken regarding the issue of Camp David peace treaty two days after the new attack happened on the border between Egypt and Israel in Sinai. This attack was a part of the series of the ongoing attacks and clashes of extremist and terrorist forces operating in Sinai and responsible for the tragic and terrible August attack on the border checkpoint which took the lives of several Egyptian soldiers and was the real shock for the state’s Armed Forces since long time.

Read the full story on http://proudukrainian.blogspot.com/2012/09/israel-is-willing-to-keep-camp-david.html 

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WHERE WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO VISIT ON YOUR PLANET?

At this moment - Havana :-)

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France temporarily closes its diplomatic missions in Egypt and in Middle East over an anti-Islam cartoons scandal

French Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday, 19 September 2012, that the country will temporarily close the Embassy and the consulates in Egypt and in other nineteen countries in Middle East as well. Such a move was caused by the recent scandalous publication of the offensive caricatures depicting Muslim Prophet Mohamed which appeared in one of the French magazines today.

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo have published recently the nude cartoons of Prophet Mohamed which are extremely offensive and could hurt the religious feelings of millions of Muslims in Middle East and all over the world. The editors of the magazine and the author of those cartoons refused to remove the provocative materials. French authorities also stated France is the country with the freedom of expression, so there is no law which could forbid publishing such information.

The representatives of the editorial board of the magazine also added that if the feelings of some people were hurt and the people feel themselves insulted over those cartoons, they can file the lawsuit and appeal to the Court in this case, but there could be restrictions in freedom of expression in France.

Read the full story on  http://proudukrainian.blogspot.com/2012/09/france-temporarily-closes-its.html

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Egyptian Armed Forces reported about Sinai military operation during their official press-conference

Egypt’s Armed Forces held on Saturday, 8 September 2012, their special press-conference regarding the issues of the ongoing military “Operation Eagle” launched in Sinai.

After deadly attack on the border with Gaza which took place on 5 August and left 16 Egyptian border guards dead and 7 wounded and was one of the deadliest since the times of Arab-Israeli war Egyptian Armed Forces started launching a massive military offensive in Sinai region in order to fight the militants operating there and to eliminate the terrorist network. The operation is headed by Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsy and by Egypt’s Defense Minister and current head of SCAF Abdel Fatah El-Sissi.

The ongoing “Operation Eagle” is of the most massive military operations conducted by Egyptian military and security forces in Sinai during last times. The additional troops, tanks, heavy weapons and armored vehicles were deployed in the region, with the using of air force as well. During the operation the military representatives reported about the killings and arrests of those suspected of the 5 August border attack and of the following series of clashes between armed militants and Egyptian security forces happened in different cities located in Sinai.

According to the statements of Egyptian military the operation in Sinai will continue, and the Armed Forces are willing to ensure that the information about the ongoing operation is fully available for media, thus they are planning to hold such press-conferences reporting about the latest developments of the offensive in Sinai, said Colonel Ahmed Mohamed Ali, official spokesperson of Egyptian Armed Forces.

Ahmed Mohamed Ali announced during the press-conference that Egypt’s Armed Forces have killed 32 suspected militants since the beginning of the military operation and arrested 38 people accused of preparing and conducting the armed attacks in Sinai. 20 of them were released later.

In addition to that Egyptian Army has also found and confiscated a huge amount of guns and different weapons, along with the boxes with Israeli made ammunition and the armored vehicle. The Security Forces are also trying to cooperate with the local Bedouins, and some of them gave their weapons to the military too.

The network of underground tunnels connecting Egyptian Sinai desert with the neighboring Gaza and used for smuggling during the long time was also demolished in the framework of the ongoing military operation in Sinai. The terrorists and extremist elements were allegedly using those tunnels to infiltrate Egyptian territory, so the order came to start the operation of destroying the tunnels. The order was given by Mohamed Hussein Tantawy, Egypt’s ex-Defense Minister and ex-Head of SCAF, now retired. The official spokesperson of Egypt’s Military Forces announced during the press-conference that 31 tunnels were demolished during the operation.

It’s also worth mentioning that Egypt was accused by the neighboring Israel of violating the terms of Camp David peace treaty due to Egyptian military maneuvers conducted in Sinai, especially deploying the tanks and heavy weapons what is forbidden according to the peace treaty. There were reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent a sharp official letter to Cairo calling for immediate removal of Egyptian tanks deployed in the Northern Sinai. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in his turn said on 30 August that he expected that Egyptian Armed Forces will withdraw all the additional troops and tanks from Sinai territory after the operation will be finished.

Israel generally welcomed the move of Egypt to fight the terrorists and criminal activity in Sinai, especially in the light of current events, when the security situation in Sinai worsened significantly after the fall of Hosni Mubarak. But the Jewish state is concerned with the deployment of Egyptian heavy weapons in the region; as such moves should be considered and coordinated with the Israeli side according to the terms of Camp David peace treaty.

But Colonel Ahmed Mohamed Ali, Egypt’s Army’s spokesperson, assured that there are no violations of the peace treaty, as the deployment of the additional troops to the territory in Sinai are necessary for restoring the security and stability there. Egyptian side claims the deployment of the troops and tanks were coordinated with Israel, and Egypt received an approval from IDF. The ongoing military operation is launched for the defending of the rights of Sinai inhabitants, Egyptian citizens.

According to the statements of Army’s official spokesperson the “Operation Eagle” will continue in Sinai until the situation will become stable in the region and the security will be restored and maintained. Egyptian Armed Forces will also hold the press-conferences in the future to make sure that the military operation is covered by media.

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Aleppo, Syria: a man walks through the the partially destroyed Salaheddin neighbourhood, which is controlled by government forces. [Photograph: Joseph Eid/AFP/Getty Images via the Guardian]

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Egypt’s Army to withdraw its tanks from Sinai

Egypt’s Armed Forces will withdraw nearly 20 tanks from the territory of Sinai Peninsula, according to the statement of security official.

Egypt has already removed its tanks from the “Zone A” to the “Zone B” which is about 50 km far from the border between Egypt, Israel and Gaza. Under the terms of Camp David peace accords signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, the number of military troops situated in Sinai and the number and the types of the weapons as well should be considered with Israel. In addition to that the border zones close to Israeli border should remain demilitarized, with only light military and police presence. Any military operation conducted by Egyptian side should be also consulted with Israel.

So some observers think the decision of Egyptian Armed Forces do withdraw its heavy weapons from the Sinai territories is connected to those concerns of the Jewish state.

Egypt’s security source in his turn stated that it is a planned action conducted by the country’s military. The Armed Forces are working currently on the long-term plan to permanently hand over security in North Sinai to the police. The tanks were withdrawn from Sinai due to conducting of this plan as there is no need in them anymore.

Fighting terrorists, criminals and thugs is the responsibility of the police, not the army, that’s why the security will be handed over to the policemen. From another hand, the specific of Sinai landscapes and its terrain creates a lot of difficulties in maneuvering of the tanks and heavy armored vehicles used in the military. It makes the military operations in the region difficult, according to the military source.

The security authority in Sinai is expected to be handed over to Egyptian police step-by-step, and army will gradually withdraw its additional forces in order to giving the space for the police to fulfill its duties and carry on its responsibilities in attempt to restore security and stable situation in Sinai.

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Three major sociological offices will conduct the joint exit-polls during Ukrainian parliamentary election

On the day of Ukrainian parliamentary election, on 28 October 2012, three major Ukrainian sociologist offices will conduct the joint exit-polls. There will be Democratic Initiatives Fund, Kyiv International Institute of Sociology and Ukrainian Razumkov Center of economic and political research among them.

According to the statement of Iryna Bekeshkina, Director of the Democratic Initiatives Fund, the management of project and financial and media management of the exit-poll as well will be conducted by the Democratic Initiatives Fund. The interviews will be held by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology and Ukrainian Razumkov Center of economic and political research.

It is planned to announce the results of those exit-polls three times. First announcement is expected to be made right after the polling stations will be closed at 8 p.m. Kyiv time. It will be the information collected two hours before the polls will be closed. The next announcement will be made at 11 p.m., three hours after the closure of the polling stations. The new details from the stations where the work will continue before the polling stations’ closure will be added to the previous information. The third announcement together with detailed report is planned to be made after a week, when the data of the paper questionnaires will be received.

The conducting of exit-polls will cost nearly $ 130,000. The National exit-poll-2012 will be supported by the International Fund Renaissance, the Matra Program of Netherlands’ embassy in Ukraine, the National Fund for Democracy Support, European Union and others.

Vladimir Paniotto, Director of Kyiv International Institute of Sociology stated that exit-polls are planned to be held at nearly 300 polling stations. 16,500 respondents are planned to be interviewed. It is expected that two-three persons will work at every polling station; their total number will be about 700. All of them will pass the special training before.

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Sunday rally of Egyptian intellectuals to demand ensuring of civil rights and freedoms in Egypt’s Constitution

The campaign “Constitution for All Egyptian” which consists of Egyptian intellectuals and prominent figures and includes some political parties and professional organizations planned a rally to demand the civil Constitution today, on 2 September.

The campaign “Constitution for All Egyptians” was established in March 2012 and demands representative Constitutions which will represent all the factions of Egyptian society and ensure civil rights, freedoms and equality for the citizens. This group includes several political parties (such as Al-Tagammu Party, Free Egyptians and Democratic Front), some organizations and professional syndicates, farmers’ and workers’ unions and also some individuals, prominent Egyptian figures, thinkers, artists etc.

The members of this campaign, writers, artists, intellectuals gathered today in front of Shura Council building (which is the Upper House of Egypt’s parliament) and protested against what they call the attempt to restrict civil freedoms and rights in the future Constitution. Egypt’s new Constitution has to guarantee the country’s citizens public freedoms and rights, not to restrict them. Another demand voiced by them is that the future Constitution has to represent all Egyptians, not only some groups of them. They insist the civil nature of the country must be ensured by the Constitution.

Thus protesters demanded that the Constitution will guarantee the rights and freedoms. They also demanded the Constitution’s articles to be written clearly in order to avoid their possible misinterpretations and the problems which Egyptians faced during the transitional period, when the country was governed by SCAF with their Constitutional Declaration. This document issued by SCAF as often criticized by politicians and analysts for being unbalanced and not clear. This mistake doesn’t have to repeat, stress the demonstrators.

Coordination and cooperation between all the entities of Egyptian society are needed now for achieving the revolutionary goals which are basic public rights and freedoms, human rights, freedom of expression etc. One of the main revolutionary goals, freedom, is currently under threat.

Regarding the recent events, especially with the new judiciary actions and restrictions put on Egyptian media (for example, the case of Islam Afify, Al-Dostour editor-in-chief, and of Tawfiq Okasha, TV-host and owner of Faraeen private satellite channel, both standing the trial) the campaign members claim they will take strong and decisive actions against those threats to Egyptian citizens’ and their rights and freedoms.

Today’s action was supported by Writers’ Union, Egyptian Creativity Front, Egypt’s Society of Writers, Journalists’ Syndicate, film and acting associations and by other groups and organizations representing Egyptian intellectuals. The protest was also attended by prominent Egyptian figures and intellectuals; among them are Saeed Kafrawy, Youssef El-Qaeed, Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, Fatima Kandil, Sabry Hafez, Ghada Nabil, Gamal Al-Gitani, Bahaa Taher, Yahya Qalash and others.