Egypt backs off dissolving Muslim Brotherhood amid new calls for protests

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Egypt should not ban the Muslim Brotherhood or exclude it from politics, the interim prime minister has said, reversing his previously stated view.

The apparent about-turn after the army's overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi fuelled speculation that the military-installed government may now seek a political settlement to the crisis.

But also coincided with a new call for protests by Mr Morsi's supporters.

Hazem el-Beblawi, the interim prime minister, had proposed on August 17 that the Brotherhood, the Arab world's oldest and arguably most influential Islamist group, should be dissolved, and said the government was studying the idea.

But in an interview with state media this week, Mr Beblawi appeared to row back.

He says the government would instead monitor the group and its political wing and that the actions of its members would determine its fate.

"Dissolving the party or the group is not the solution and it is wrong to make decisions in turbulent situations," the state news agency MENA quoted Mr Beblawi as saying.

"It is better for us to monitor parties and groups in the framework of political action without dissolving them or having them act in secret."

Brotherhood's decades of operating in the shadows

But he tempered his comments in a separate interview with the newspaper al-Shorouk, saying parts of Egyptian society "think that the Brotherhood does not truly desire reconciliation", and urging it to "face up to reality".

The government has portrayed its attack on the Brotherhood as a fight against terrorism, and Mr Beblawi said ordinary citizens were "afraid of reconciliation with people who use force".

There has been no sign from the Brotherhood, most of whose leaders are now in jail or on the run, that it wants to engage with the army establishment that bulldozed it out.

Founded in 1928, the Brotherhood was banned by Egypt's then military rulers in 1954.

Though still outlawed during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak, it ran a large welfare network and its members ran as independents in limited elections.

After decades of operating in the shadows and winning support with its charities and preaching, the Brotherhood registered itself as a non-governmental organisation in March in response to a court challenge by people contesting its legality.

It also has a registered political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), set up in 2011 after Mr Mubarak's overthrow in an uprising.

Protests for 'peaceful civil disobedience'

The Brotherhood won all five national votes held since 2011, including Mr Morsi's election as president last year.

But Mr Morsi alienated swathes of Egyptians during his year in power and, after mass protests, the army removed him on July 3.

With the Brotherhood in shock, protests that it called last Friday mostly failed to materialise.

The National Coalition to Support Legitimacy and Reject the Coup, which includes the Brotherhood and demands Mr Morsi's reinstatement, promised protests in the streets and squares of all of Egypt's 27 provinces this Friday.

It wants to "activate a plan of peaceful civil disobedience".

Meanwhile, Egypt's cabinet approved an additional 22.3 billion Egyptian pounds (AUD$3.58 billion) in spending on investment projects to boost the economy over the coming 10 months.

The army-backed interim government is keen to improve conditions for a deeply polarised population battered by more than two years of political and economic turmoil.

Despite a mushrooming budget deficit, it is under intense pressure to avoid unpopular austerity measures.

Reuters

Topics: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, egypt