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CAIRO (AFP) - Opponents of
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's embattled regime
on Sunday dismissed as insufficient an offer to
include them in political reform plans and renewed
their demand that he step down.
In a landmark concession, Vice
President Omar Suleiman sat down with the groups,
which included the banned Muslim Brotherhood, but
the talks produced no immediate breakthrough in the
two-week-old standoff.
As night fell, central Cairo's now
iconic Tahrir Square was still filled with thousands
of anti-regime protesters adamant that the start of
dialogue would not divert them from their campaign
to unseat Egypt's strongman.
After two weeks of mass street
protests and more than 300 deaths -- and with global
pressure mounting on Suleiman to negotiate a
peaceful transition to more democratic rule -- the
government met its most powerful foes.
Analysis: Torture 'business as usual'
in Egypt amid revolt
Government spokesman Magdi Radi said
the parties had agreed to form a committee of judges
and politicians "to study and propose constitutional
amendments and required legislative amendments ...
by the first week of March."
Negotiators also agreed to open an
office for complaints about the treatment of
political prisoners, loosen media curbs, lift an
emergency law "depending on the security situation,"
and reject foreign interference.
But Suleiman refused another key
demand of the opposition, saying he would not assume
Mubarak's powers and rule in his stead during the
transition.
Not all of the opposition movements
involved in the 13-day-old uprising against
Mubarak's rule were present at the talks. Former UN
nuclear watchdog head and leading dissident Mohamed
ElBaradei was not invited.
Other opposition leaders met Suleiman
in a palatial government hall under a huge portrait
of the absent Mubarak. The Muslim Brotherhood,
although represented despite the ban, left
unsatisfied by the outcome.
Mahmud Ezzat, the Brotherhood's
number two leader, told AFP by telephone that the
group had not pulled out of the talks because it
felt it had made progress, but warned that street
protests would continue.
He argued that the regime, by sitting
down with the opposition, had tacitly "admitted that
this is a popular revolution and its demands are
legitimate. And one of our demands is that the
president must leave."
As to whether Mubarak would step
down, Ezzat said: "That hinges on popular pressure,
and we support the popular pressure. It must
continue."
Another senior Brotherhood figure,
Essam al-Erian, told reporters: "They didn't respond
to most of our demands. They only responded to some
of our demands, but in a superficial way."
Some of the undaunted protesters
celebrated Christian prayers in the central Cairo
square, the epicentre and symbol of the revolt, in
memory of the estimated 300 people killed since
demonstrations against Mubarak broke out.
"God bless the dead. God bless the
dead," recited a Christian preacher wearing a
crucifix. Beside him, a Muslim cleric stood holding
a Koran, as the faithful chanted, "A single hand. A
single hand," in inter-faith solidarity.
Related article: Talks give Egypt's
Muslim Brothers new role
Meanwhile, a measure of normal life
began to return to the biggest city in the Arab
world. Queues formed in front of banks that had been
shut for more than a week and workmen scrubbed down
shopfronts.
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
representative Essam el-Arian
Mubarak has thus far refused demands
to step down immediately.
While he insists that he is "fed up"
with leadership, he feels he must stay on until a
promised September presidential election in order to
ensure stability.
The crisis has tested US President
Barack Obama's administration, forcing it to
confront the consequences of Washington's long-term
support for Middle East autocrats in exchange for
security guarantees.
Obama reiterated his call Sunday for
an "orderly" and "meaningful" transition in Egypt
and said he wanted to see a "representative
government" emerge. He did not press for Mubarak to
stand down.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
cautiously welcomed the latest talks, despite the
participation of the Muslim Brotherhood, which some
Western observers fear would like to set up an
Islamist regime
Egyptian anti-government
demonstrators pray next to army tanks in Cairo's
Tahrir Square
But at least this meant they were
engaged in dialogue, Clinton told National Public
Radio.
"We're going to wait and see how this
develops, but we've been very clear about what we
expect," she said.
Focus: US anxious to retain Egypt in
fight against terror
Al-Jazeera journalist Ayman Mohyeldin
was released on Sunday after spending nine hours in
custody, the Qatar-based satellite television
channel reported.
Mohyeldin, a US citizen, works for
the network's English channel, which reported his
release |
