Egypt military apologises for bloodshed

“We will not delay elections. This is the final word,” General Mamdouh Shaheen,a member of the ruling military council told a news conference.

Major General Mukhtar el-Mallah,another council member,told the conference that the military would not relinquish power because to do so would be “a betrayal of the trust placed in our hands by the people.”

“We will not relinquish power because of a slogan-chanting crowd,” he said. “Being in power is not a blessing. It is a curse. It’s a very heavy responsibility.”

On what had been the front line of the confrontation near Tahrir,army troops in black helmets and visors replaced the police — reviled by many protesters — and a crane lowered cement barricades behind a line of coiled barbed wire to separate the protesters from the Interior Ministry building.

“The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces presents its regrets and deep apologies for the deaths of martyrs from among Egypt’s loyal sons during the recent events in Tahrir Square,” the two generals said in a statement on a Facebook page. “The council also offers its condolences to the families of the martyrs across Egypt.”

The message struck an apparently conciliatory tone as the ruling military commanders seek to defuse the crisis in time for the scheduled parliamentary elections. But thousands of people remained in Tahrir Square,many of them demanding the ouster of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi,the de facto leader and a longtime colleague of the deposed former president,Hosni Mubarak.

Reports quoting the state-owned Middle East News Agency said the commanders’ message was issued in the name Maj Gen Mohammed Al-Assar and Maj Gen Mahmoud Hijazi,subordinates to Field Marshal Tantawi. ANTHONY SHADID,

DAVID D KIRKPATRICK & ALAN COWELL