Muslim Brotherhood Warns Against Involving Egyptian Army in Libyan Quagmire

Muslim Brotherhood Warns Against Involving Egyptian Army in Libyan Quagmire
After the Libyan people rose in revolt against despot Gaddafi’s repressive regime, regional and international powers pushed toward a painful abortion of the Libyan revolution. They pushed the criminal Haftar to crush the revolution, dragging the Libyan people and the Libyan army in a most ruinous civil war.

When Haftar’s efforts showed signs of failure in the face of the Libyan people’s persistence and resolve, we started hearing repeated reports about support and solidarity from Al-Sisi’s military junta and their Gulf masters for the counter-revolution in Libya. We, therefore, address the people and the army of Egypt with a warning of the disastrous consequences of interfering in Libya:

First: Forcing the Egyptian army into this war to achieve foreign powers’ goals and agendas represents the biggest threat to Egypt’s national security, and tarnishes the reputation of the Egyptian army, making it look like a group of mercenaries. It also weakens its capabilities when it comes to face real enemies, which brings to mind painful memories of the intervention of the Egyptian army in the war in Yemen, which later led to a disastrous defeat in 1967 in the war against the Zionist entity.

Second: We emphasize the sanctity of the blood of Arab and Muslim people, and strongly condemn rumors about foreign war planes (said to be Egyptian) killing innocent people, civilians in Libya. We call on Egypt and all Arab states to declare total rejection of foreign intervention to kill our brothers and sisters in Libya in violation of our principles and our religious beliefs. This aggression will also break the bonds of Arab and Islamic unity and brotherhood.

Third: Egyptian workers in Libya number almost two million. Each worker has a whole family to support. All those workers and their families will certainly suffer tremendously due to the military junta’s reckless actions and short-sighted stances. Their chaotic return is a disaster for the Egyptian economy which is already on the brink of collapse. This new crisis will add several millions to the ranks of the unemployed, thus exacerbating an already complex problem in Egypt.

Fourth: The historic Egyptian role and Egypt’s relationship with neighboring countries condemn and criminalize supporting any party against the popular revolution in Libya, and also necessitate the expulsion of the criminal Haftar from Egypt so he should get a fair trial and punishment for the crimes he committed against the Libyan people.

Fifth: We call on the Arab League to do its duty by finalizing the reconciliation between Libyans in order to maintain the unity of the country and to bring about security.

The Muslim Brotherhood

Cairo: August 24, 2014