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Egypt advisory council to convene amid controversy over powers Hours before council's first scheduled meeting on Sunday, SCAF refutes claims it would play role in appointment of constituent assembly members
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF)'s newly formed advisory council is scheduled to convene for the first time on Sunday. The meeting, expected to include the advisory council's 30 appointed members, will take place amid considerable controversy over the new body's precise role and authority. Only hours before the advisory council's first scheduled meeting, SCAF member Major-General Mamdouh Shahin denied on national television what has been rumoured for days – namely, that the council would play a role in picking the members of the assembly that would be mandated with drafting a new national constitution. On Sunday morning, Shahin assured the public that the only body with authority to appoint constituent assembly members would be the incoming parliament. He also pointed out that parliament's ten appointed members would not have this authority. The idea of establishing an advisory council to “assist” the SCAF was first floated following last month's clashes between security forces and anti-SCAF protesters in which more than 40 of the latter were killed. The incident triggered an enormous demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square on 19 November to demand an end to military rule. The proposed council was initially presented as one that would include revolutionary political figures to “advise” the SCAF until executive power could be handed over to an elected, civilian authority. Shortly after the initial proposal, however, statements by SCAF spokesmen suggested the advisory council might aspire to more than just an advisory role. Days after the advisory council was announced, the SCAF's Major-General Mukhtar Mulla hinted to journalists that the council would have the authority to “coordinate” with the incoming parliament in choosing members of the constituent assembly – an authority originally reserved for parliament alone. Mulla asserted that this would make the constituent assembly “more representative” and limit the impact of recent Islamist electoral successes. Many critics, however, took Mulla's words as meaning that the military would maintain effective control over the constitution-drafting process. One day after Mulla's statements, the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) withdrew its representatives – Mohamed Morsi and Mohamed Yassin – from the proposed council. According to FJP member Amr Zaky, their withdrawal came as a response to the new, extra authorities granted the advisory council. Zaky explained that the advisory council's authorities had been amended to allow the SCAF to infringe upon powers that should only belong to the incoming parliament. Such a move, he asserted, would be widely considered “a circumvention of the people's will.” Islamist thinker and advisory council member Selim El-Awa, however, challenged this assertion, noting that the SCAF would soon release an official statement refuting such claims – a contention later confirmed by Shahin's televised statements on Sunday. But El-Awa differentiated between the notion of choosing constituent assembly members and simply laying out the criteria for their selection. The advisory council, he insisted, would merely set the criteria by which parliamentarians would choose constituent assembly members. Several political figures, meanwhile, have turned down offers to join the nascent advisory council, arguing that the council only serves to lend legitimacy to the ruling SCAF. Ahmed Bahaa El-Din Shaaban, member of both the National Association for Change reform movement and Egypt's Socialist Party, issued a statement late last week in which he cited eight reasons why political figures should not join the advisory council. According to Shaaban, the SCAF is a “counter-revolutionary” force “responsible for all those killed and injured during the past months.” Shaaban stressed that joining the advisory council would only serve to legitimise the SCAF and thus prolong military rule. Along with Shaaban, several other young revolutionary activists – citing similar reasons – have also turned down formal offers to join the council. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/29052.aspx
