Egypt's SCAF reiterates promise to hand over power to civilian government

Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on 10 February reiterated its promise to hand the power over to a civilian government after the end of the presidential polls.

In a statement read by a state TV announcer, SCAF said it had taken over the power "thanks to the support of those great people and the legitimacy imposed by the January revolution".

The statement said the Armed Forced had participated in the revolution "without hesitation". "It [the military] protected the revolution in its most serious moments," it said. It added that the army had supported the people's legitimate demands.

"O free Egyptians, over a year we together faced unprecedented huge challenges and your army supported the people," it said.

"Sometimes we face obstacles, but they never affected our determination, nor did they affect our persistence to pass the transitional period peacefully and our promise for the people to hand the power over to an elected civil authority," SCAF statement said.

"Days ago, we fulfilled our promise and handed the legislative power to the [newly elected] People's Assembly," it said.

"We are ready to complete our promise, as it was announced that candidacy for the presidential election will open on 10 March, and the presidency will be handed over to the president of the republic after holding the [presidential] polls," the statement said.

However, the statement did not mention the date of presidential polls.

SCAF said after the transitional period ends it would resume its "main task", namely "defending the borders, lands and airspace".

It said that Egypt "is exposed to schemes aiming to hit the revolution in the heart by fomenting sedition among the people and driving a wedge between them and their Armed Forces".

"We are facing conspiracies [plotted] against the country aiming to undermine the Egyptian institutions and bring down Egypt itself so that chaos and destruction will prevail, thus making the country's enemies happy, something which will never happen, God willing," the statement said.