CAIRO – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s embattled regime struck a landmark deal on Sunday with opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, agreeing to jointly pursue democratic reform. After two weeks of mass street protests and with global pressure mounting for the regime to negotiate a peaceful transition to a more democratic rule, the government met its most powerful foes.
Government spokesman Magdi Radi said the parties 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 over the treatment of political prisoners, loosen media curbs, to lift an emergency law “depending on the security situation” and reject foreign interference.
But Vice President Omar Suleiman, who was named by the president, refused an opposition demand that he assume Mubarak’s powers, as allowed by the constitution, an opposition participant said. “We asked him for the president to delegate his powers to the vice president as allowed by Article 139 of the constitution but he refused,” the talks participant told AFP.
Not all of the opposition movements waging the 13-day-old uprising against Mubarak’s rule were present at the talks, and there was no sign that protesters were ready to end their occupation of Cairo’s Tahrir (Liberation) Square. Earlier, as new avenues of dialogue opened up on the political front, army troops stepped up pressure on the demonstrators, tightening a cordon around the area, but there was no repeat of last week’s violence.
Some of the undaunted protesters celebrated Christian prayers in the square, the epicentre and symbol of the revolt, to remember the estimated 300 people who have been killed since anti-Mubarak demonstrations erupted on January 25.”God bless the dead. God bless the dead,” recited a Christian preacher wearing a crucifix. By his side, a Muslim sheikh stood holding a Koran, as the faithful chanted “A single hand. A single hand,” in inter-faith solidarity.
Meanwhile, a measure of normal life began to return to the biggest city in the Arab world, with queues forming in front of banks that had been shut for more than a week and workmen scrubbing down shopfronts. The Brotherhood, a highly organised Islamist movement, has long been banned from Egyptian politics and Sunday’s talks were the first in half a century at which it was officially represented. The state-run MENA news agency said the talks included the Brotherhood, the liberal Wafd party, the left-leaning Tagammu and members of a committee picked by the youth groups holding the square.
“All present at the meeting held a minute’s silence for the martyrs who died during the protests,” MENA said. Mubarak has thus far refused demands he step down immediately, insisting that while 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 given US President Barack Obama’s administration a policy headache, forcing it to confront the consequences of Washington’s long-term support for Middle East autocrats in exchange for security guarantees.
Some Western observers have expressed concern the Brotherhood could sweep to power and institute an Islamist regime that would be no more democratic than Mubarak’s and might break Egypt’s close alliance with Washington. But US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautiously welcomed the talks. “Today we learned the Muslim Brotherhood decided to participate, which suggests they at least are now involved in the dialogue that we have encouraged,” Clinton told National Public Radio from Germany.
“We’re going to wait and see how this develops, but we’ve been very clear about what we expect,” she said. Obama spoke Saturday to several foreign leaders about the unrest in Egypt and called for “an orderly, peaceful transition, beginning now.” Citing unnamed US and Egyptian officials, the New York Times reported that Suleiman and Egyptian military leaders want Mubarak to make a graceful exit.
Under the US-backed plan, Mubarak’s powers would be scaled back enabling the creation of a transitional government headed by Suleiman to negotiate reforms with the opposition, the paper reported.
