Egypt dismantles long-feared state security police

Egypt dismantles long-feared state security police

2011-03-16 03:35:27 GMT+7 (ICT)

CAIRO, EGYPT (BNO NEWS) -- Egypt's Ministry of Interior on Tuesday announced that the long-feared state security police was dismantled, the Daily al-Ahram newspaper reported.

Recently appointed Minister of Interior, Mansour El-Essawy, decided to dismantle the state security body in its entirety in all governorates. In its place, a new security agency will be established shortly.

The new security body, named by El-Essawy as National Security, is expected to be restricted to safeguarding domestic affairs and combating terrorist threats. Officers will be appointed in the coming days.

Egypt and the ruling military council is preparing for the referendum on March 19. The voting process is scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m. local time and will end at 7:00 p.m. Egyptian citizens will vote on the proposed amendments to the constitution's articles.

The military council took control of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak, who led Egypt as president for three decades, stepped down after weeks of anti-government protests by crowds calling for greater democracy and respect of human rights.

So far, the Army has also dissolved the parliament and suspended the constitution. In addition, military authorities appointed a panel of legal experts to propose constitutional amendments to address demands of the people.

The proposed constitutional amendments include reducing presidency to two terms, each one running for four years, and regulating legislative elections as well as parliamentary and presidential jurisdictions.

Despite the advances in Egypt, the United Nations announced the deployment of a human rights mission to the African nation in order to asses the human rights situation following the change of leadership.

The European Union said that the transition to democracy could take at least a year and not six months as planned by the transitional government as the planned period is not enough to have fair and competitive parliamentary and presidential elections.

So far, many factions have announced their intentions to join the presidential election campaign, including the Muslim Brotherhood, banned since 1954 and recently authorized as political party.

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