Egypt VP should oversee reform: Nobel laureate Zuwail
Monday, 07 February 2011
President Hosni Mubarak's government will hold its first full meeting of a new cabinet on Monday since protests erupted against his rule with no sign yet of progress in talks with an opposition which wants him out, as Egyptian Nobel laureate Ahmed Zuwail urged the Vice President to oversee reforms in the country leading to free polls.
Mubarak, who has refused calls to step down before September polls, has tried to focus on restoring order.
But protesters, camped out in Tahrir Sqaure in the heart of Cairo for the 14th day, have vowed to stay until Mubarak quits, and hope to take their campaign to the streets on Tuesday and Friday.
Muslim Brotherhood
Suleiman should oversee the task of reforms 
The banned Muslim Brotherhood were among the groups who met with officials over the weekend, a sign of how much has already changed in 13 days that have rocked the Arab world and alarmed Western powers.
But opposition figures said their core demand that Mubarak must go immediately was not met. Some expressed concern that the government was playing for time in the hope that Mubarak would hang on until September, when his current term expires.
People in central Tahrir Square, focal point of an uprising that has seen hundreds of thousands of protesters take to the streets and clashes in which an estimated 300 people have been killed, said they would intensify their battle to oust him.
After nightfall on Sunday, soldiers fired shots in the air to try to disperse the crowd. But the demonstrators, who on Saturday lay down in front of army tanks, remained and the troops abandoned the attempt.
Egyptian Nobel Prize winner Ahmed Zuwail, meanwhile, called on newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman to oversee reforms in the country leading to free elections.
The scientist, who won the 1999 Nobel Prize in chemistry, called at a Cairo press conference for a council of legal experts and public figures to amend the constitutional articles on presidential elections and terms.
Zuwail, a member of the so-called Elders made up of public figures and businessmen that was set up after anti-regime protests broke out on Jan. 25, also called for an end to Egypt's emergency law and for free elections.
Suleiman "should oversee the task of reforms," he said.
Back to work
The nation got back to work on Sunday and banks reopened after a week-long crisis with lines of customers seeking access to their accounts.
Government ministers will hold their first full cabinet meeting on Monday since Mubarak reshuffled his cabinet on Jan. 28 in an attempt to mollify protesters enraged by years of corruption, economic hardship and political oppression.
But it was far from certain that the situation had been defused, despite appeals from longtime Mubarak backer the United States for an "orderly transition" to more democratic rule.
The presence at the talks of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, whose members have for years been repressed by Mubarak's feared security forces, was a significant development.
The demonstrators around Tahrir Square, largely young and secular, lacked their clear organization and leadership.
The government said after the meeting, chaired by Suleiman, they agreed to draft a road map for talks, indicating Mubarak would stay in power to oversee change.
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 the opposition said the government failed to meet their demand for a complete overhaul of the political system.
"Good intentions"
Abdel Monem Aboul Fotouh, a senior Brotherhood figure, said the government statement represented "good intentions but does not include any solid changes."
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."
Opposition activists reject any compromise which would see Mubarak hand over power to Suleiman but also serve out his term -- essentially relying on the old authoritarian system to pave the way to full civilian democracy and saving his face.
Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, who has emerged as a figurehead for the opposition coalition, criticized the fledgling negotiations and said he was not invited.
"It is all managed by the military and that is part of the problem." he told NBC television in the United States.
"Regime's hesitancy"
Gamal Soltan, editor of the al-Mesryoon newspaper, said the protesters would not leave before their demands were met.
"The problem is that the regime's hesitancy in taking serious steps will lead to complications and the increase of the popular demonstrations and possibly force an army intervention," he said.
However, former cabinet member Rachid Mohamed Rachid, said: "I believe the presence of Mubarak in the next phase of transition for the next few months is very critical."
The United States, which had bankrolled Mubarak and the army to the tune of $1.3 billion a year, was taken by surprise by the uprising against a ruler it saw as a bastion against Islamic militancy and a friend, albeit a reluctant one, of Israel.
It has called for gradual change and an orderly transition but has given confused messages about when exactly it thought Mubarak should step down.
Thousands of people gathered in Tahrir Square again on Sunday but in the evening, soldiers fired shots in the air in a failed attempt to disperse the crowd.
Some of the undaunted protesters celebrated Christian prayers in the central Cairo square, the epicenter and symbol of the revolt, in memory of the estimated 300 people killed since demonstrations against Mubarak broke out.
"The coward is a coward"
Anti-government protesters swarmed over army trucks and armored vehicles on Sunday to stop a move by troops to squeeze the area.
The army wants to persuade protesters to leave Tahrir Square and the surrounding area, a traffic hub in downtown Cairo, to allow life to get back to normal after near economic paralysis.
Witnesses said soldiers fired in the air after protesters, angered by the move after a day marked by a mostly festival atmosphere, crowded around the vehicles near the Egyptian Museum.
"The coward is a coward and the brave are brave and we will not leave the square," Sameh Ali, a protester in his 20s, said.
Gasser, a 35-year-old protester, said: "The army fired to force us to move back. They want us to be in the square only ... This is our land, we can stand wherever we want."
But many Egyptians, even some who joined the demonstrations, say they are desperate for a return to normal life.
Shops have been closed, making it hard for people to stock up on basic goods. Some prices have risen.
The currency could face pressure on Monday when banks outside the Middle East reopen after the weekend. The pound fell on Sunday when trade resumed in Egypt but the drop was less sharp than many traders had expected as the central bank appeared to support the currency.
Another confidence test will be a central bank auction of 15 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) of short-term Treasury bills, postponed from last week. The stock market is still closed.
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