OnIslam.net

WASHINGTON – A top Egyptian military official has dispelled Western worries about the rising political role of the Muslim Brotherhood, saying the group does not pose a threat to Egypt’s democracy, Bloomberg reported Tuesday, July 26.

“They are not seeking to have a religious country,” assistant defense minister Major General Mohamed Said Elassar, a member of the ruling military council, told a meeting at the US Institute of Peace, a government-funded organization in Washington, on Monday.

“They have to have the same rights as all Egyptians.”

Established in 1928 in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is the most powerful opposition force in the country.

For years, the Muslim Brotherhood was banned and its leaders were repressed by governments since the 1950s.

But the group has emerged as the most powerful group since the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak in February.

The Brotherhood has an overwhelmingly lay leadership of professionals with modern educations -- engineers, doctors, lawyers, academics and teachers.

The core membership is middle-class or lower middle-class.

The growing political role of the Muslim Brotherhood has sent off alarm bells in the West, particularly the United States.

The Muslim Brotherhood has denied that it was seeking power in post-Mubarak Egypt.

The group has pledged that it would not field a presidential candidate in next presidential elections.

Power Handover

Elassar has dismissed accusations by protestors that the military council was procrastinating on fulfilling the goals of the January revolution.

“It is not slow,” said Elassar, who is leading a military delegation in Washington for semi-annual meetings at the Pentagon, the State Department and on Capitol Hill.

He said that “big achievements” have been made in the past six months since Mubarak’s ouster.

The military council, which took over from Mubarak, has been under fire over the slow pace of reforms.

The criticism has escalated into an open sit-in by protestors at Tahrir Square, the epicenter of mass protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster.

Hundreds of protestors were injured in clashes in downtown Cairo Saturday between opponents and supporters of the military council.

The military council has accused the 6th April Group, one of the groups that led protests against Mubarak, of sowing strife.

Elassar reiterated that the ruling military council will hand over authority to civilian parliament and president to be elected later this year.

Earlier this month, the military rulers have postponed parliamentary elections to November. The ballot was originally scheduled for September.

Elassar blamed revolutionist groups were making contradictory demands.

“Every group and every person has his agenda and has his demands,” he said.

“No government in the world can respond to all these contradictory demands,” he said.