GENERAL AL-SISI PUSHING EGYPT INTO CIVIL WAR: ANALYST

     Tehran, 22 Ramadan 1434/29 July 2013 (MINA) – A prominent expert in international affairs based in Ireland, Finian Cunningham, said that Egypt’s military chief General Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi’s wrong policies are likely to trigger “civil war” in the North African country.

     The statement Cunningham wrote in a column for Press TV as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA), Monday (29/7).

      Cunningham said the general’s inflammatory tone in dealing with supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi “is tantamount to pushing Egypt – the Arab region’s most populous country – into a civil war.”

     “Egypt’s military strongman General Al Sisi is playing with fire that may engulf the North African country with even more internecine bloodshed,” Cunningham stated.

      Tension has intensified in Egypt since General al-Sisi announced on July 3 that Morsi was no longer in office. He also suspended the constitution and dissolved the parliament.

       On July 27, at least 150 people were killed and scores of others injured in clashes during rival demonstrations by supporters and opponents of Morsi across the country.

       Supporters of Morsi have called for a million-man march on Tuesday, despite warnings of decisive action by authorities.

       “The reprehensible thing about this is that al-Sisi is indulging in reckless demagoguery to incite violence in order to cover up the fact that it is he who violated the law and constitution of his country,” wrote Cunningham.

       According to observers who frequently writes on various international media, a general legal duty to protect the nation from harm.

      “But what he appears to be doing is plunging the nation into chaos and conflict by way of concealing his own selfish ambitions,” Cunningham said, the author and media commentator was expelled from Bahrain in June 2011 for his critical journalism in which he highlighted human rights violations by the Western-backed regime.

      “This is the politics of fascism, conducted with the imprimatur of Western so-called democratic governments,” Cunningham added, that is also a guest speaker on Bandung Radio. (T/P09/P03).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)