Marc Ginsburg, a former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, is claiming that Egypt’s military leadership has been secretly providing financial, food, and security support to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and its allied Salafist parties. According to a report in the Huffington Post:
Posted: 11/23/11 06:49 Despite protestations of its purported political neutrality Egypt’s besieged military leadership has been secretly funneling financial, food, and security support to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and its allied Salafist parties in the run up to next week’s parliamentary elections.The assistance takes the form of “walk around” money, clothing and food giveaways secretly funneled to the coffers of the Brotherhood’s front party — the Freedom and Justice Party, the Construction and Development Party, as well as to allied Salafist Parties, including Al Nour, Al-Asalah, Al-Fadilah, Al Islah and others — in a bid to buy votes and provide Islamist parties a military supported upper hand in the upcoming parliamentary elections..The military leadership has not only channeled financial support to the Islamists, it has also secretly collaborated with Salafists who have attacked Copts throughout Egypt in a show of support for more punitive discriminatory acts against Egypt’s Coptic minority to curry further favor with Salafists.Hundreds of Copts were attacked by unknown assailants en route to Cairo’s Tahrir Square on November 18th the second night of demonstrations this month while security forces stood by. This latest attack comes in the wake of October’s attack by the army which used live fire and drove military vehicles into a crowd of Copts protesting a rash of attacks on Copts and Coptic churches, killing 25 innocent protestors.According to information obtained from a reliable European military intelligence source with whom I met in Turkey a few days ago, an emissary of The Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) met secretly with representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist oriented political movements last April to establish local political “action committee” bank accounts to funnel an underground supply chain of financial and commodity support to local Islamist political organizations throughout Egypt outside the prying eyes of Cairo-based media. Hundreds of local Islamist political organization chapters throughout Egypt have been buying votes courtesy of military provided financial and food handouts.
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In what might be considered a related development, Egyptian media is reporting that the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s political party issued a statement on Monday announcing that it will not participate “in any sit-in or protest that may lead to more confrontations and congestion.” According to a report in Al-Masry Al-Youm:
21/11/2011 lThe Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party issued a statement on Monday announcing that it will not participate “in any sit-in or protest that may lead to more confrontations and congestion,” the party wrote in a statement it issued to reporters.”In the meantime, we will be striving along with other parties to abort the sedition that the interior ministry has instigated in the country,” the statement said.
The New York Times reported yesterday that the ruling Egyptian military council had reached a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups to speed up the transition to civilian rule.