Egypt’s SCAF warns against plots to topple government

Soldiers surround Ministry of Defence in Cairo Cairo – Akram Ali Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) warned on Friday that the country faces conspiracies seeking to topple the state and spread chaos, in a message intended to undermine activists plan to mark the anniversary of President Hosni Mubarak's overthrow with anti-army protests.
In a statement read on Egypt’s state TV on Friday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said it would not bow to pressures to accelerate the transition.
"Never will we bow to threats, nor succumb to pressures, nor accept ultimatums," the statement said.
The message said the army had played an essential role in Egypt's transition and warned of plots that seek to strike "a mortal blow" to the revolution by sewing discord between the army and the people.
Without naming any culprits, it said Egypt was facing great threats.
"We face conspiracies hatched against our homeland, whose goal is to undermine the institutions of the Egyptian state and to topple the state itself, so that chaos reigns and destruction spreads," the statement read.
Egyptian officials and military leaders have often blamed unnamed actors and "foreign hands" for fomenting unrest.
In the statement, the generals said they remained bound by the plan to pass executive power to an elected president before June 30.
The generals and the military-backed Cabinet have been critical of the strike call, casting it as another example of foreign attempts to weaken Egypt. The state media and a Facebook page affiliated with the ruling generals accused the US of using local institutions to agitate for the strike.
Dozens of Egyptian youth movements and universities have called for civil disobedience on Saturday, to mark the first anniversary of the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak. However, several political parties, including Muslim Brotherhood's political wing Freedom and Justice party and Salafists' Al-Nour party, have rejected the calls.
Egypt will begin presidential nominations on March 10. The military council has said it will transfer power on June 30.
The action is intended to put pressure on the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces SCAF to hand over power to a civilian authority.