CAIRO: Elements of Jihadist groups escaped from prisons during the political turmoil which has spread across Egypt over the past few weeks, said Egypt's new Vice President, Omar Suleiman, to Egypt's state-run news agency MENA. Terror organizations are the primary threat to the security of Egypt, Suleiman added in his statement on Wednesday. Terror groups such as the Jihadist Organization and Al-Qaida have not agreed to stop the violence and unrest in Egypt, he said. “While I was intelligence chief I exerted huge efforts to bring these extremists from abroad, but now they are outside the prisons,” Suleiman added. Thousands of prisoners escaped from jails across Egypt after security forces disappeared from cities for several days after protests against President Hosni Mubarak began on January 25. However, anti-Mubarak protestors claim the government is keen to stir fears of chaos and Islamist resurgence in order to cling to power Egyptian security forces battled militant Sunni Islamists during the beginning of 1990s. Escapees also included a member of the Lebanese Hezbollah, Sami Chehab, accused of plotting attacks in Egypt, who managed to return to Beirut by the time news of his escape was revealed. In other statements, the Vice President said the Egyptian government will not tolerate civil disobedience and cautioned against hasty political reforms as hundreds of thousands staged the biggest protest so far in the revolt against President Hosni Mubarak's rule on Tuesday. “Dialogue and understanding are the first way to achieve stability in the country and to exit the crisis peacefully, with a program of continuous steps to solve all problems,” official media quoted him as saying. “The second, alternative way, would be a coup — and we want to avoid that — meaning uncalculated and hasty steps that produce more irrationality,” MENA quoted him as telling local editors. Suleiman said the government would continue talking with political factions and youth who triggered the protests, “affirming there will be no ending of the regime, nor a coup, because that means chaos,” MENA reported. The former intelligence chief also warned against calls for “civil disobedience,” saying, “the call is extremely dangerous for society, and we absolutely do not tolerate it.” He added that the country could not cope for a long period with “the paralysis public services have been subjected to, brought about by the closure of banks, schools, universities, and the interruption of transportation.” He blamed the large number of protesters who demonstrate in Tahrir Square along with “satellite channels that insult and belittle Egypt” for causing “citizens to hesitate to go to work.” BM
