CAIRO: Chief of Staff, Sami Anan, said the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) denied the existence of any political deal with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) or any other Islamic movement or political party. Ana stressed the trials of the figures of the former regime will be carried out in accordance with the law and without intervention from the SCAF or any other government body, saying no one is above the law. Anan denied any members of SCAF tortured detainees and denied the existence of detainees, stressing the military trials are held only for thugs. He added there are many challenges the SCAF is facing at the moment, including security challenges and filling the vacuum of lack of police. In a six hour meeting with ten of Egyptian scholars, Anan said the Minister of Interior, Mansour el-Issawi, is currently striving to boost the morale of the security forces to maintain security in Egypt. Annan said the second challenge is overcoming the economic crisis and rising prices. He warned of deteriorating economic conditions in Egypt because of security conditions, noting the SCAF and the government are working to ease the burden of the crisis on citizens. He said it is necessary to meet the citizens' demands. He warned the constant deterioration of economic conditions could lead to a violent uprising, especially since Cairo is surrounded by a belt of slums. Annan called upon the protestors to stop sit-ins in Tahrir, because they would create more social and economic problems in Egypt. He warned against the sensationalism and exaggeration of the media. He suggested in a meeting with SCAF to establish traditional councils in all provinces to solve and end any problem that could arise between Muslims and Christians. Anan assured the SCAF is determined to pass its power to an elected civilian authority. "We are making effort to conduct transparent and fair elections," he said adding it is agreed upon the People's Assembly and Shura Council will come first and then hold elections for presidency. "We do not want to stay long in power." Annan denied the existence of differences with Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, and said, "We gave the Prime Minister full power to form a new government without SCAF interference."
