Egypt to deploy troops ahead of strike as PM paints grim picture

More soldiers and tanks will be deployed across Egypt as a warning to activists planning a national strike on the anniversary of the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s ruling generals said on Wednesday.

Protesters are planning mass walkouts and civil disobedience on Feb. 11 to demand a swifter transition to civilian rule.

Egypt’s ruling military council issued a statement saying it would send patrols across the country to “maintain the security ... of public, private and state buildings.”

Lieutenant General Sami Enan, chief of staff of Egypt’s armed forces, urged Egyptians to “protect the security and stability of the country through work and production,” according to a report by state news agency MENA.

But Egypt’s prestigious seat of Sunni Muslim learning, al-Azhar, criticized the calls for civil disobedience, the state-owned al-Ahram news portal reported.

Egypt’s Pope Shenouda, head of the Orthodox Coptic church, said civil disobedience was against religion, MENA said.

The head of the military council, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, called earlier this week for a quick completion of plans for a presidential election, currently scheduled for June.

Some Egyptians accuse the army of blocking real reform of the security forces that enjoyed virtual impunity under Mubarak.

The move to deploy more troops also comes in the wake of a deadly soccer riot last week that sparked days of clashes between the police and protesters. At least 89 people were killed in a week of violence.

Egypt ‘worse than 1967’ Israel defeat

Addressing the rising calls for the military to step down, Egypt’s military-backed Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri said the generals will not leave office before the end of June as currently planned.

He warned against calls for the speedy end of military rule, recalling the fall of the Iraqi army after the U.S. invasion in 2003. He said the Iraqi army’s demise pushed the country down the path to civil war.

In an attempt to rally public support, Ganzouri appealed to nationalist sentiment and urged Egyptians to unite in the of face tough times ahead. He argued that the current conditions in Egypt are worse than after the country’s crushing military defeat in 1967 when Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

“What we are seeing now is worse than after the 1967 defeat, which was a military one,” he said. “What is happening is a call to defeat the whole people, not only a military defeat. If we unite, we will get through this.”

Ganzouri also warned that Egypt was the backbone of the Middle East, a region in flux at the moment, and that “if it (Egypt) falls, the whole region will follow.”