Banned Brotherhood joins crisis talks
Political arrangements and constitutional and
legislative measures:
Cyril Almeida in Cairo
Egyptian anti-Mubarak protesters chant as they wave Egyptian
flags during their protest in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, February 6.
AP
|
Leaders of the banned Muslim Brotherhood met Egyptian Vice President
Omar Suleiman for landmark discussions on a second day of talks between
the government and opposition figures.
According to state television and a statement issued by Suleiman`s
office, the “participants in the national dialogue agreed on a number of
political arrangements and constitutional and legislative measures”.
These included the creation of a committee of judicial and political
figures “to study and recommend constitutional amendments…by the first
week of March”, lifting state-imposed restrictions on the use of the
Internet; and ending the Government`s harassment of media personnel.
However, opposition figures involved in the talks responded warily to
the Government`s offer, which did not include a pledge to bring an
immediate end to the 30-year-old rule of President Hosni Mubarak.
The offer also appeared to leave the protesters camped out in Tahrir
Square unimpressed. On a day where the military further limited access
to the square, thousands more lined up and patiently waited their turn
to be allowed through the narrow entry point beside a row of tanks and
barbed wire. By nightfall, Tahrir Square was once again full of
protesters. Elsewhere, however, Cairo limped back to some semblance of
normality. Sunday, start of the workweek in Egypt, began cautiously,
with early morning traffic thin. But as banks and a few other shops
opened, the activity in downtown Cairo began to pick up. Small queues
formed outside banks, delivery vans and garbage trucks appeared on the
roads, and the staff at restaurants and stores shuttered for days began
to prepare for business.
In the historic Khan al-Khalili bazaar, a tourist magnet, a majority
of the shops were still closed at noon and shopkeepers outnumbered
tourists. But within a couple of hours, business picked up as small
groups of tourists appeared. By evening, the notorious Cairo traffic was
at full cry. Traffic on the October 6 Bridge slowed to a crawl, weaving
its way through the tanks, armoured personnel carriers and soldiers
stationed near the area overlooking Tahrir Square.
But the ordinariness of a partial return to normal life in Cairo
could not overshadow the extraordinariness of Vice President Suleiman`s
meeting with leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. As noted by a diplomat,
Suleiman, for two decades President Mubarak`s intelligence chief, would
have directly been responsible for dealing with the banned Muslim
Brotherhood until his appointment as vice president last week.
“It`s mind-blowing,” the diplomat said, speaking on the condition of
anonymity because of official restrictions. However, the Muslim
Brotherhood`s U-turn - it had earlier declined to participate in the
Government-opposition talks which began on Saturday - does not signal
that an end to the crisis in Egypt may be at hand.
The central demand of the `Jan 25 youth movement`, the name given to
the youthful protests in Tahrir Square, remains for Mubarak to step down
immediately. But the statement issued by Vice President Suleiman`s
office yesterday called first and foremost for “implementing the
commitments announced by the President in speech to the nation on 1
February, 2011” - a speech in which Mubarak appeared to rule out
resigning.
So almost immediately, on foreign media and through translators to
reporters in Tahrir Square, the protesters appeared unwilling to accept
the concessions announced by the Government on Sunday. “What we are
seeing is a tug of war,” claimed Tariq Youssef, a lecturer at a
university in Cairo who supports the anti-Mubarak protesters. “It’s
still not clear if (the protesters) can win outright.” The Cairo-based
diplomat, though, appeared to suggest otherwise: “This can’t go on
forever.
The protesters can hang on, but the Government has to run things, the
economy has to be taken care of.” Day 13 of the protests, then, was like
most of the 12 before it. New developments, unimaginable even two weeks
ago, occurred, but still there is one constant: uncertainty over Egypt`s
future.
The Dawn |