CAIRO: United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday evening called on Egypt's rulers to make a full transfer of power to elected civilian bodies in Egypt. Her statements came after the country's Supreme Constitutional Court ruled parliament was to be dissolved, paying the way for the military junta, in power since the end of the 2011 uprising, to take complete power over the country's legislative system. Activists and political leaders in Egypt have called the court's ruling a “coup” and many activists have taken to Tahrir Square in Cairo and other main squares across the country to protest the ruling and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Clinton said the United States was still assessing the court decision but called on the ruling military council to ensure that landmark presidential elections just two days away are “peaceful, fair and free.” “There can be no going back on the democratic transition called for by the Egyptian people,” Clinton told a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and their counterparts from South Korea. “In keeping with the commitments that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces made to the Egyptian people, we expect to see a full transfer of power to a democratically elected government,” Clinton said. Clinton said that Egyptians who waged mass protests last year “made it clear that they want a president, a parliament and a constitutional order that will reflect their will and advance their aspirations for political and economic reform. “That is exactly what they deserve to have,” she said. Clinton also voiced concern about recent decrees by military authorities for the election period, which come just weeks after a decades-old emergency law ended. Earlier in the week, Egypt's ministry of justice decreed that citizens could be arrested, without charge, in what many told Bikyamasr.com was a return to the emergency laws that ruled the country for over three decades and allowed police to arrest and detain citizens without need for cause.
