Tuesday morning the state’s flagship paper, Al-Ahram, leads with, “Presidency denies putting Tantawi and Anan under house arrest.” The government mouthpiece stated that Yasser Ali, the presidency’s spokesperson, said both generals are completely respected; and added that these decisions aim at pumping new blood into the army institution. He concluded that both generals were appointed to the president's staff. Ali said that both Tantawi and Anan were informed of the decision on Saturday before it was aired to the public.
President Morsy, in a meeting with new Defense Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at Ettehadiya Presidential Palace in Heliopolis stressed the importance of improving soldiers' living conditions and morale. The president also praised the armed forces and its role in the current democratic transformation.
On a different note, Al-Ahram writes, “Rafah assailants are ex-convicts and fugitives;” Minister of Interior Ahmed Gamal Eddin announced the identity of some of the Rafah gunmen arrested recently. He said that one was released from jail and the others escaped prison during the revolution. Gamal Eddin denied that any were among political prisoners released by President Morsy. He added that security checkpoints on the border were able to target two groups of assailants, the first in Kharrouba and the second near Shabana. Five of the gunmen were killed during the attack. Al-Ahram listed their names as Hatem from Cairo, Yehia from Gharbiya, Mohamed from Sinai, Mohamed S. from Mahalla and Mohamed M. from Palestine.
Al-Shorouk newspaper writes, “Mubarak’s generals fall,” and another headline says “The details of Morsy's revolution on SCAF.” After President Morsy decided to send Field Marshal Tantawi and General Sami Anan into early retirement and cancel the supplement to the Constitutional Declaration, many Egyptian and foreign sources stated that this decision was suggested by the US and was discussed between Hilary Clinton and Morsy. The same sources quote Clinton saying that Tantawi offered a lot to Egypt, especially in hardship, and now is time for him to rest as a soldier. The newspaper also quoted White House Spokesperson Jay Carney saying that now is the time for the military and civilians to work together to solve all economical and security problems facing Egypt at the moment.
In other news, the independent newspaper writes that, “The new Constitutional Declaration was ready three weeks ago.” Al-Shorouk states that sources closely affiliated to President Morsy have stated that he refrained from announcing the new Constitutional Amendments dated 11 August 2012, and preferred to wait until the early retirement of the Army General is out of the way. The newspaper states that the president expected a lot of social and political commotion after the decision. The source added that the recent incident in Sinai has shown the president the need for some new blood in the armed forces in addition to some changes in the SCAF.
The mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood, Freedom and Justice, runs two stories with the headlines, “Aftershocks of the president’s decision” and “Political forces align to build the new civil country.” Seif Eddin Abdel Fattah, a professor of political science at Cairo University stated that this is the beginning of a number of decisions to reform the civil-military relations. He added that the Rafah incident has shown that the army has to concentrate on its main duty, protecting national security. Abdel Fattah adds that canceling the supplement to the Constitutional Declaration is a reinforcement of the revolution and its goals. "It is time for political forces to know that no one is higher than the people and the law," he concludes.
Finally, Freedom and Justice writes on page 3, “Morsy decision causes a LE1.6 billion gain for the stock market,” reporting that Egyptian and Arab investors started purchasing stocks, which lead to the gain.
Egypt’s papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhurriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Watan: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Youm7: Daily, privately owned
Al-Tahrir: Daily, privately owned
Freedom and Justice: Daily, published by the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Nasserist Party
Al-Nour: Official paper of the Salafi Nour Party
