The people rallied in Tahrir Square, the dictator was overthrown, and Egypt has its first democratically elected president. But problems are far from over in this test of a post-Arab Spring transition. From the Associated Press:
Egypt's top general on Sunday raised the stakes in the military's political standoff with the Muslim Brotherhood, saying the armed forces will not allow a "certain group" to dominate the country.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi's tough comments came only hours after he met with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who urged him to work with President Mohammed Morsi, of the Brotherhood, on a full transition to civilian rule.
The military, which ruled after the fall last year of Hosni Mubarak, and the Brotherhood, the country's strongest political force, are in a competition over power that has intensified with Morsi's winning of the presidency last month. Days before Morsi was sworn in on June 30, the Brotherhood-led parliament was dissolved and the generals gave themselves legislative and budgetary authority and control over the process of drafting a new constitution, put severe limits on the president's authority.
In his comments Sunday, Tantawi did not specify the Brotherhood, but his reference that the military would not allow the group to hold sway was clear.
"Egypt will never fall. It belongs to all Egyptians and not to a certain group ... the armed forces will not allow it," Tantawi told reporters after a handover ceremony for the transfer of command of the armed forces' 2nd Army in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia.
"The armed forces will not allow anyone, especially those pushed from outside, to distract it from its role as the protector of Egypt," he said. "The army will never commit treason and will continue to perform its duties until Egypt reaches the shores of safety."
Learn more about Egypt's new president, Mohamed Morsi.
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