Tuesday, February 08, 2011

CAIRO: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood said it could pull out of talks with the government if opposition demands were not met, including the immediate exit of President Hosni Mubarak who chaired a Cabinet meeting Monday.

Protesters, barricaded in a tent camp in Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo, have vowed to stay until Mubarak quits and hope to take their campaign to the streets with more mass demonstrations Tuesday and Friday.

The opposition has called for the Constitution to be rewritten to allow free and fair presidential elections, a limit on presidential terms, the dissolution of Parliament, the release of political detainees and lifting of emergency law.

“We are assessing the situation. We are going to reconsider the whole question of dialogue,” the Brotherhood’s Essam al-Erian told Reuters Monday. “We will reconsider according to the results. Some of our demands have been met but there has been no response to our principal demands that Mubarak leave.”

But in a sign that Mubarak could yet yield to calls for his exit, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported that plans are being devised for the Egyptian dictator to travel to Germany for a “prolonged health check” that would allow him a dignified departure from his country.

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that the scenario was being devised through secret talks between the U.S. government and Egyptian military officials.
Der Spiegel said that talks are already being held with suitable hospitals in Germany.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that the crisis talks in Cairo were making progress.

But opposition figures said that they had achieved few results from the talks. Protesters worry that when Mubarak does leave, he will be replaced not with the democracy they seek but with another authoritarian ruler.
The government issued a statement after a first round of talks Sunday and said there was agreement on a road map for talks, which gave little ground on many opposition demands.

It suggested reforms would be implemented with Mubarak staying in power until September. It also put conditions on lifting emergency law, which has been used to stifle dissent.
The powerful army’s role in the next weeks is considered critical to the future of Egypt.

“The army is getting restless and so are the protesters. The army wants to squeeze us into a small circle in the middle of the square to get the traffic moving again,” protester Mohammad Shalaby, 27, told Reuters by telephone.
The uprising, which some activists have called the “Nile Revolution,” has cost 297 lives so far, according to Human Rights Watch.

Mubarak’s new Cabinet pledged Monday to keep subsidies and draw in foreign investment in its first meeting since the uprising against poverty, high prices and an end to Mubarak’s rule.

With a government pledging to reform, an opposition with limited political experience, a constitutional process that mitigates against haste, and a key strategic role, Egypt’s next steps must be considered carefully, U.S. officials say.
The opposition has recorded some gains in the past two weeks.

For instance, protesters now take to the streets almost with impunity in their hundreds of thousands. Before Jan. 25, a few hundred would have met a crushing police response.

Appearing to soften her position for Mubarak to step down, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said her policy on Egypt looks “over the horizon” to its possible democratic future – a future that must be carefully planned.
The cautious U.S. approach to the unrest shaking its strategic Middle East partner has come at a cost, putting the Obama administration out of step with the protesters who say Mubarak must quit now for serious political talks to take place.

As allies coalesced around the U.S. position, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said it was clear that the Mubarak era was in its final phase and there would be other leaders.
“That is what’s important for us, that this new direction is clear and irreversible,” he said.

Egypt’s government tried to get the country back to normal when the working week began Sunday. Banks reopened after a weeklong closure with lines of customers accessing accounts but hours, and withdrawals, were limited. Schools remained shut.Several major Egyptian business concerns resumed business.

In another move to restore normality, authorities shortened the curfew, largely ignored by the hardcore protesters, to start at 8 p.m. and end at 6 a.m.

Many Egyptians, including those who took part in nationwide demonstrations last week against Mubarak, are keen to get back to work and are worried about the effects of the crisis on stability, the economy and the important tourism sector.

Egypt’s pound weakened to a six-year low on the second day of trade after the closure. State-controlled banks seemed to be selling dollars to support the pound.

“Things are stable. I can’t say they’re good, but they’re not collapsing,” said a trader at a Cairo-based bank. 
Elsewhere in the country Monday, four rocket-propelled grenades were fired at a barracks belonging to Egyptian state security forces in the town of Rafah in the Sinai Peninsula, wounding one officer, security sources said.
The attack by unknown assailants also damaged the building.

It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack or whether it was linked to the protests against Mubarak that are raging around Egypt. – Agencies with The Daily Star