Egypt declares war on African despots
Uganda Media Center Executive Director Fred Opolot talks to Mr. Essam El-Arian the Chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee and representative of the Muslim brotherhood and Party of Freedom and Equality as he addressed the press on Monday. PHOTO BY STEPHEN OTAGE
Egyptians are ready to support any political pressure group using democratic means within Africa, to push for regime change of dictators.
The comments were made by the Mr Essam El-Arian, the chairperson of the Foreign Relations Committee representing the Muslim Brotherhood and Party of Freedom and Equality in the newly formed Egyptian Parliament at a press conference in Kampala on Monday. He is in the country together with a delegation of Egyptian legislators currently attending the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Kampala.
“To us we will support transitions for democracies through democratic means because a democratic world means a lot to us,” Mr El-Arian said. “We are building a new model of democracy and we are concerned about African democracies. We are concerned about the bi-lateral cooperation between Uganda and Egypt and our meeting with the Speaker of Parliament is because we are keen on our joint cooperation between Egypt and Uganda,” he said.
According to Mr El-Arian, today, Egyptians have the right to protest on any street, have freedom of assembly, expression and speech.
“Nobody can ever suppress Egyptians again because they now see themselves as equals. Future leaders of Egypt must learn from ex-president Hosni Mubarak’s mistakes,” he said.
Asked about his thoughts on the activities of Action for Change (A4C) a local pressure group, Mr El-Arian said it is an internal problem within Uganda he could not comment about. But overall, were ready to support removal of dictators.
“We have experience we can share with the people of Uganda. Egypt as a democracy, will support transitions for democracies,” he said.
He said Egyptians have elected a constituent assembly which is representing the interests of all Egyptians, adding that Egyptians have learnt that the quarrels and mistrust which previously existed before, was a creation of the past regime to keep the country divided.
So far 10 presidential hopefuls have registered for the presidential elections to be conducted in May this year.
