Sisi praises himself and accuses Egyptians of harming themselves

Coup leader Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi has praised his regime, his honour and his achievements, which he claimed were unprecedented over the past 20 years. He defended his parliament, his police and his intelligence services and hailed his agreement with Saudi Arabia over the re-demarcation of naval boundaries. He also praised the way he handled the crisis of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and accused the Egyptians of harming themselves by being sceptical about everything.

He avoided talking about any mistake made by his security agencies following the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni. “We are the ones who have created this problem for ourselves,” he said, resorting to his impassioned methods of attracting Egyptians to sympathise with him reminding them that they were the ones who entrusted him to keep their land and their honour and that he received a blow to his chest. He continued that was an honest Egyptian who could not be sold or bought.

Al-Sisi reiterated his usual warnings, cautioning against “the people of evil who are inside us and within us,” and from the attempts to isolate the Egyptian state and tighten the siege around it and from committing national suicide by disbelieving anything.

“You do yourselves harm” by talking about the border agreement, he said.

Al-Sisi began his speech, which he delivered yesterday, by addressing a number of media professionals and editors-in-chief as well as post-coup parliament members and those who are described as representatives of society and public figures by talking about the naval borders demarcation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, allocating a big portion of his speech for it.

He addressed Egyptians saying: “Please, let us not talk about this issue anymore. You are doing yourselves harm. There is already a parliament you chose and who will discuss the issue and will form a committee or two and summon whoever it desires.”

“It does not make sense that we doubt ourselves, our institutions, our parliament, our trade unions and everything else.”

“There is a parliament that will discuss this agreement… it may pass it or may not pass it… it will form committees as it desires, and will be reassured, and through its reassurance you will be reassured.”

He stressed the necessity of the existence of what he considered to be “a separation between our own practices and performance and the practices and performance of the state.”

“In one sentence… We have not abandoned something that belonged to us; we simply gave people what was theirs. Egypt has not abandoned a single atom of sand to others, and given it to the Saudis.”

He added: “In demarking the borders we never exceeded the Republican Decree that was issued 26 years ago and that was filed with the United Nations in 1990.”

“We have been working on this subject since 1990 upon demands from Saudi Arabia regarding the importance of regaining the islands… now the matter has been finalised in terms of procedures… reactions will not result in repercussions for the Egyptian-Saudi relations.”

“I received the blow in my own chest… The manner in which we are discussing the subject and dealing with it is harming us and is weakening our stance.”

“The question: should we address the matter immediately or afterwards? Should we manage a crisis with Saudi Arabia or should we hand over to it its own land and enter into quarrels? No, we shall not quarrel because the objective is to isolate the Egyptian state and complete its siege. When the issue is raised it creates a big problem for Egypt,” he stressed.

He disclosed that he “requested a memo about this issue in June 2014 and the matter was obvious,” he said. “The paperwork coming from the state institutions confirmed this.”

Beware of scepticism

Al-Sisi criticised journalists for discussing the border demarcation agreement from a political perspective. One of them urged him to “ask the people,” to which he replied: “I swear I have asked all the people.”

He warned Egyptians against scepticism. “This is your country and these are your people. The matter is being dealt with within the context of the state and not the individual.” He then looked over at the former minister of legal affairs, Mufid Shihab, who nodded in agreement.

“Rest assured not just with regards to the two islands, be reassured about the man whom you trusted with the safekeeping of your country, your honour and your land and be careful, you are harming yourselves.”

He stressed that “this topic is one that we should never ever discuss again… You are doing ill to yourselves.”

‘Not serving our interests’

Shifting abruptly to talk about the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Al-Sisi addressed the audience claiming that “the public treatment of the Renaissance Dam has negatively impacted our stance regarding this issue… Our manner of addressing the issue has weakened our stance.”

“Think well… Do you really think that the way you handled the issue of the Renaissance Dam was in our interest? Never. But you are in Egypt… in this situation you Egyptians… you do not know the extent of the harm that is being inflicted upon us as a result of the limitless discussion of any topic, and without restraints. We talk without limits and without restraints. You are harming yourselves and are harming your own country. I swear.”

‘You are the ones who created the crisis’

Al-Sisi brushed away the responsibility of the state’s security apparatuses in the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni and accused Egyptians, in particular the journalists among them, of fuelling the crisis. He said that when it was announced that a young Italian man had been killed, many Egyptians speculated that those responsible for his murder were the security agencies.

He added: “It is we, the media people, who do this to ourselves… it is we who created the problem… bring here all that was published… there are among us and within us evil people who are just sitting doing this kind of work… we announce a project or a decision and then they cast doubt on it and they accuse the state.”

‘The allegations come from within us, Egyptians’

Reading from a piece of paper, he went on to say: “We should be aware of the lies and the allegations made by people from within us, and from among us, we Egyptians then, we go on by means of reiterating these allegations and lies… we simply exchange them and propagate them… so, we are the ones who do this to ourselves… we are the ones who created the problem for Egypt… we are the ones who created for Egypt the problem of the murder of the Italian young man.”

“My mother taught me and said to me ‘do not crave for what others have in their possession… even if what is in their possession is your own father… do not seek it… He who gave the people will give you… He who provided people with sustenance will provide you… We do not sell our land to anyone and we do not take anyone’s land… We do not take other people’s possessions… Pay attention to something that is very serious indeed: national suicide,’” he said.

“We do not sell our land to anyone, and we do not take anyone’s land.” He claimed that the objective of what was going on lately in Egypt was to deal a blow to willpower and to frustrate Egyptians.

Some people desire to hate Egyptians and to steal hope from them and make them suspect everything and never believe each other, he warned. The reason behind this is a group of persons who have presented themselves as being better than Egyptians, and that their prayers, fasting and deeds are better than those of the rest of the people, he explained in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

‘What we achieved had not been achieved in 20 years’

Hailing his accomplishments, he said: “The work we achieved had not been achieved in 20 years. Counteraction and negative work could cost you your happiness. Your zeal about your country and your fear for it is something that makes me happy and that pleases every patriot. Such zeal, I need to put straight and say how we should change and when we should change.”

Al-Sisi explained that liberties and human rights “not elude me”. Liberties in Egypt are linked to the notion of sincerity, adding that the country will not advance solely through the freedom of expression.

“We are trying to establish balance between the security measures and human rights, but the powers of evil that live in our midst are hampering this.”

‘I am neither a Muslim Brotherhood member nor a Salafist’

Al-Sisi said he wanted to re-introduce himself to the people, pointing out that some people still don’t know him and don’t know his traits.

“I am not a Muslim Brotherhood (member) and I shall never be. I am not a Salafist and I shall never be… I am just a Muslim human being.”

He claimed that he told ousted President Mohamed Morsi: “I am only a Muslim, and the army represents the Egyptians, not the Salafists and not the Muslim Brotherhood.” H

“I told him the people have chosen you and we shall assist you for the sake of the people and for the sake of the country, not like they are doing hurting the country and destroying it.”

“I trust in our Lord… I am introducing myself so that you know, I am an honest Egyptian who can neither be sold nor bought.”

He then addressed media professionals saying: “Oh people of the media, you are part of the equation, be careful not to restrict your resources to the social networks alone, this is just an indicator.”

He warned Egyptians against using the information and the sources provided by social networks and said: “I can, with the use of just two battalions, enter the net and turn it into a closed circle, and the journalists would then be taking news and work from it.”

Prices will not rise

The Egyptian public is not in its best shape, Al-Sisi warned. “We are not in our best situation. This means we have many problems in all the state institutions, and this will take time.”

“There will not be a rise in the price of basic commodities no matter how high the dollar rises,” he said.

Announcing a number of projects, he said: “We are not working on a project to develop the axis of the Suez Canal and the new administrative capital as well as the project of sewage drainage. Fifty per cent of the project will be completed within months.”

Libya and the alliances

Alluding to Libya, he said: “We are in the most difficult of circumstances. We hear lots of things and we could have been thinking evil things, many politicians are thinking about them, to jump into a country and take its resources… the conditions are available, and we seek retribution for our martyrs in Sirte, and this is still on. But we say: Never will we go on and ravish their territory in order to take something from there.”

He claimed that Egypt does not manage its relations in an opportunistic fashion. “We do not forge alliances against anyone, and we are keen on values and principles.”

Translated from Arabi21, 13 April 2016.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.