Egypt's new Islamist president and his old military foes have come out swinging in a struggle for political power, but their countrymen need them to find a way to work together to avert economic chaos.
In the two weeks since his inauguration, President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood has openly defied the entrenched military by summoning the Islamist-led parliament the generals dismissed on the eve of his election.
The political confrontation risks paralyzing the government, and the first casualty could be Egypt's fragile economy, fast heading towards a balance of payments and budget crisis.
The past year and a half of turmoil has frightened away tourists, sent investors packing and wrecked economic growth. Egyptians need their leaders to set aside their political quarrel fast.
"Both the military and the Brotherhood are here to stay for the foreseeable future and neither side is strong enough to defeat the other, so there has to be some compromise," said Shadi Hamid of the Brookings Doha Center.
The army, in power for six decades, moved to limit the power of the new civilian president even as voters were lining up to elect him. On the first day of a two-day run-off election last month, generals dissolved the parliament. On the second day, they issued a decree restricting the president's powers.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/13/us-egypt-crisis-economy-idUSBRE86C08320120713
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