On July 1, Egyptian Armed Forces issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the country’s politicians. Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, rejected the ultimatum, despite most of his cabinet resigning.
His rejection led to military action and a number of riots. Morsi resigned as president on July 3, after vowing to stay in office the day before. Anti-Morsi protesters celebrated with fireworks while supporters of the ousted Morsi filled the streets as a sign of solidarity and perseverance.
As a lead member of the Muslim Brotherhood — a Sunni Islamist, religious, political and social movement — Morsi has many supporters despite his removal from office. Since Morsi’s resignation, the army has suspended the nation’s constitution and the Muslim Brotherhood has pushed back against military authority by organizing sit-ins and riots. On Aug. 14, security forces cleared two pro-Morsi protest camps in the capital city of Cairo, leaving at least 235 dead, including 43 police, and 2,000 wounded, according to an article on reuters.com.
Mike James, director of Harding University Greece, cancelled the group’s trip to Egypt during the fall semester. He has been in correspondence with Khaled Osman, the group’s tour guide and an Egyptian citizen, who shared his perspective on the matter.
“It appears that Morsi’s removal was in the best interest of the Egyptian people,” James said. “The Muslim Brotherhood was making sweeping Islamic changes that were destructive to a secular democracy.”
President Barack Obama has cancelled the United States’ participation in Operation Bright Star, a series of joint training exercises in Egypt led by American and Egyptian military forces. Born out of the Camp David Accords of 1978, Operation Bright Star is designed to strengthen ties between the two militaries. Additionally, the U.S. aids Egyptian Armed Forces $1.3 billion in annual military assistance in exchange for access to the Suez Canal, according to an article on reuters.com.
Mark Elrod, professor of political science, has been teaching international relations and courses concerning American foreign policy at Harding since 1987. He said that the decision to back out of the operation is “symbolic more than anything.”
“Egypt has no serious external threats to its security, and the cancellation had to be something that was anticipated by the military before they seized power,” Elrod said.
Additionally, U.S. efforts have been criticized as minimal and ineffective. Some critics offer that the U.S. should suspend the annual $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt.
“The cancellation of foreign aid is more significant because it’s the nuclear option,” Elrod said. “It can only be done once and if the U.S. ends military assistance, it removes the one remaining leverage the U.S. has on the generals.”
Mounting pressure to act on international diplomacy and a historically controversial presence in the Middle East have proven difficult tasks in the decision-making process for a post-Afghanistan, post-Iraq United States. Elrod suggests that the U.S. is temporarily out of the “intervention business” in the Middle East unless “vital security interests such as oil coming out of the Persian Gulf, closing of the Suez Canal or an act of aggression against Israel are threatened.”
“All of this demonstrates how messy the business of establishing pluralist democracy in regions of the world that have never experienced it can be,” Elrod said. “In the case of Egypt, the military removed a democratically-elected government after it proved to be a threat to their position in Egyptian society. In democracies, the military does not play that kind of political role. It’s unfortunate that the United States has played a role in increasing the prestige of the Egyptian military since 1978 and we are now seeing the result of making it the most powerful institution in that country.”
