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Egypt Revolts: Morsi appoints violent extremists as governors

Posted by Olog-hai on Fri Jun 21 00:26:00 2013, in response to Egypt Revolts!, posted by JayZeeBMT on Fri Jan 28 16:01:55 2011.

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Morsi governor appointments frighten some Egyptians

Sarah Lynch , Special for USA Today
1:18 p.m. EDT June 19, 2013

Morsi appointed a member of a United States-designated terrorist group as governor

CAIRO — Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi appointed a member of a United States-designated terrorist group as governor of a major tourist city this week, propelling more unrest in the deeply troubled and divided country.

The appointment risks further damage to tourism in Luxor, home to popular ancient sites including the prized Valley of the Kings, as some in the area have risen up in protest over new governor Adel Asaad Al-Khayat.

Al-Khayat comes from the political wing of Gamaa Islamiya, which carried out a horrifying attack on a morning in November 1997 at Luxor's Temple of Hatshepsut, killing more than 60 people, many of them tourists.

The attack, one of many vicious assaults the group carried out in the 1990s, devastated the tourism industry for months afterward.

"The person appointed as governor to Luxor is very controversial," said Egyptian political expert Khalil Al-Anani, who is currently in Cairo.

"How can you appoint someone with this bloody history in a very important and strategic governorate like Luxor, which is one of the main (tourist) destinations in Egypt?" he said. "This can worsen the tourism industry."

On Wednesday, Egypt's Tourism Minister Hesham Zazou resigned in protest over the Luxor appointment.

The uprising that ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011 prompted many radical groups that had previously rejected political involvement to reconsider their position. Gamaa Islamiya renounced violence in 2003 and created the Building and Development Party, which won 13 out of 498 elected seats in the new parliament. The parliament was dissolved by court order.

Analysts said they expected Morsi, who rose from the Brotherhood, to appoint a number of Brotherhood figures as a continuation of its policy to expand its control over the country. But the reaction nationwide underscores the problems of a system where local officials are not elected but appointed, a system under Mubarak that Morsi has retained.

"This is the exact pattern of appointments to these positions that used to be adopted by Mubarak," said Khaled Fahmy, professor and chair of the history department at the American University in Cairo.

"What the government is doing is changing faces rather than changing policies," he said. "We had this revolution to have new rules of the game, not new players."

Protests began on Monday in Luxor outside the new governor's office and continued Tuesday and Wednesday. Demonstrations also erupted elsewhere in the country over Morsi's other recent appointments — 17 in total. Seven of Egypt's new regional governors are from the Muslim Brotherhood, which means 11 out of 27 governors total across the country are now from the once-banned movement. Six new governors are from the military and police.

Gamaa Islamiya members follow a rigid interpretation of Islam whose origins are rooted in 7th century Islam as practiced by the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. They reject contemporary clothing for women and alcohol, which some Western tourists see as vacation staples. Other hardliners have no respect for ancient sites that were built for ancient gods under the Egyptian pharaohs, saying they are heretical to the tenets of Islam.

The appointments threaten to fuel more widespread unrest. Mass demonstrations are planned for the end of the month and could turn violent. Egypt's new Tamarod, or rebel, movement has been calling for protests on June 30 — one year after Morsi's inauguration — in an effort to oust the president. Many criticize Morsi for failing to fix a severely fraught economy that has led to fuel shortages, increased costs of food and widespread power outages.

But support for Morsi elsewhere holds strong. In recent weeks Gemaa Islamiya's Building and Development Party has counter-campaigned in favor of the president and demands he remain in power through the end of his term. The Muslim Brotherhood and those who support the group are planning to hold a rally this Friday to renounce violence.

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