Egypt’s army commander and President Mohamed Mursi each pledged his life to defy the other as a deadline approached on Wednesday that will trigger a military takeover backed by protesters, Reuters reports.
The military chiefs, wanting to restore order in a country racked by protests over Mursi’s Islamist policies, issued a call to battle in a statement headlined “The Final Hours”. They said they were willing to shed blood against “terrorists and fools” after Mursi refused to give up his elected office.
Mursi said, “The price … is my life.”
A report in Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram newspaper said it expected Mursi to either step down or be removed from office and that the army would set up a three-member presidential council to be chaired by the head of the Supreme Constitutional Court.
A military source denied several local press reports on the details of the army’s “political roadmap” to resolve the standoff and said he expected the army to first call political, social and economic figures for talks to decide what to do next.
