Former US President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 12 said, after meeting Egypt’s military rulers and political parties, the army was unlikely to surrender all of its powers by mid-2012, highlighting the potential for further power struggles. The military council, in power since an uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February last, has faced mounting public anger over what is widely viewed as stalling and mismanagement of the transition period. Dozens of protesters demanding an end to army rule have been killed in bouts of violence in the past 11 months. “When I talked with the Muslim Brotherhood and others, they contemplate a period extended beyond the end of June where the military might have some special privileges,” he said. “But they should be terminated at the end of a certain period, and the permanent limits on the military should be clearly expressed in a constitution to be written in the next two or three months,” Carter was reported as saying.
“A clear message has to go out that in the future for Egypt, whenever that time comes, there will be complete civilian control over all aspects of the government affairs and the military will play its role under the direction of an elected president and an elected parliament.”
Carter, 87, was in Cairo with a group from his human rights organisation, the Carter Centre, to help monitor the end of the final round of Egypt’s first parliamentary elections since Mubarak was ousted.