Defiant president refuses to quit; offers consensus govt to end standoff
Press Trust of India
Cairo, 3 July
Beleaguered Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi today refused to quit and offered a consensus government to end a standoff with the powerful military, as the 48-hour deadline for him to meet people’s demands expired with both sides pledging to sacrifice their lives to defend the country.
“The presidency envisions the formation of a consensus coalition government to oversee the next parliamentary election,” the President’s office said in a statement posted on Facebook. Mr Mursi reaffirmed his call for a national dialogue and the formation of a panel to amend the country’s controversial Islamist-drafted constitution. He insisted on continuing as the President. There was a “clear roadmap which is based on constitutional legitimacy… and includes the formation of a temporary coalition government based on national participation to oversee the coming phase,” 61-year-old Mr Mursi, Egypt’s first democratically elected President, said. “There would be an agreement from all political trends over the (choice of) prime minister,” his office said.
Egypt edged closer to a return to rule by the army generals as both sides refused to back down with the 48-hour military deadline for Mr Mursi to resolve the ongoing political crisis coming to an end.
Mr Mursi, who looked increasingly isolated as many of his Cabinet colleagues abandoned him, earlier said he had been elected in a free and fair poll to lead the nation and intended to stick to his task.
Meanwhile, the health ministry said 23 people were killed and 200 others injured in violence between pro-and anti-Mursi supporters at Cairo University in the Giza district in the capital since last night, taking the toll to 39 since Sunday.
Mr Mursi, in a 46-minute emotional address televised live across the country late last night, had warned that the only alternative to respecting the constitutional legitimacy of the office was further bloodshed on the streets.
Mr Mursi said he would give his life for Egypt and insisted he is the legitimate leader and will not give in to “violence and thuggery” by resigning. “The general commander of the armed forces said it was more honourable for us to die than to have the people of Egypt terrorised or threatened,” the army said in a statement headlined “The Final Hours”.  Hours after Mr Mursi rejected the military ultimatum, the army today assured the people that it would shed its blood to defend Egypt against “any terrorist, radical or fool”.