I/II. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptpolitcsunrestusobama_20110206223249;_ylt=Ao4EighEeXi4D1wXEte4sEusOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwcWVhZjJhBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHBvbGl0Y3N1bnJlc3R1c29iYW1hBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hc2F5c2VneQ--
Obama says Egypt forever changed – Sun Feb 6, 5:32 pm ET WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama called Sunday for a "representative government" in Egypt and said that regardless of when President Hosni Mubarak<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptpolitcsunrestusobama_20110206223249;_ylt=Ao4EighEeXi4D1wXEte4sEusOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwcWVhZjJhBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHBvbGl0Y3N1bnJlc3R1c29iYW1hBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hc2F5c2VneQ--#>steps down the country had changed forever. "The Egyptian people want freedom, free and fair elections, they want a representative government, they want a responsive government. We've said, you have to start a transition now," Obama told Fox television. Pressed on whether President Hosni Mubarak<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptpolitcsunrestusobama_20110206223249;_ylt=Ao4EighEeXi4D1wXEte4sEusOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwcWVhZjJhBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHBvbGl0Y3N1bnJlc3R1c29iYW1hBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hc2F5c2VneQ--#>was going to quit now, Obama replied: "Only he knows what he's going to do. Here's what we know is that Egypt is not going to go back to what it was. "He's not running for re-election. His term is up this year," he added. Opponents of Mubarak's embattled regime on Sunday dismissed as insufficient an offer to include them in political reform plans and renewed their demand that the president step down now, rather than after elections in September. In a landmark concession, Vice President Omar Suleiman<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptpolitcsunrestusobama_20110206223249;_ylt=Ao4EighEeXi4D1wXEte4sEusOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwcWVhZjJhBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHBvbGl0Y3N1bnJlc3R1c29iYW1hBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hc2F5c2VneQ--#>agreed to sit 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<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptpolitcsunrestusobama_20110206223249;_ylt=Ao4EighEeXi4D1wXEte4sEusOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwcWVhZjJhBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHBvbGl0Y3N1bnJlc3R1c29iYW1hBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hc2F5c2VneQ--#>was still filled with thousands of anti-regime protesters, adamant that the start of dialogue will not divert them from their campaign to unseat Egypt's strongman. Some Western observers have expressed concern that the Brotherhood could sweep to power and institute an Islamist regime that would be no more democratic and might break Egypt's close alliance with Washington. There are also worries, particularly in Israel<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptpolitcsunrestusobama_20110206223249;_ylt=Ao4EighEeXi4D1wXEte4sEusOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwcWVhZjJhBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHBvbGl0Y3N1bnJlc3R1c29iYW1hBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hc2F5c2VneQ--#>, that under the Brotherhood Egypt could adopt a much more hostile stance towards the Jewish state, even tearing up their 1979 peace treaty, signed after four wars. Obama was keen to stress that Egyptian society was wider than just the Muslim Brotherhood<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptpolitcsunrestusobama_20110206223249;_ylt=Ao4EighEeXi4D1wXEte4sEusOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTMwcWVhZjJhBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHBvbGl0Y3N1bnJlc3R1c29iYW1hBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9wYWdpbmF0ZV9zdW1tYXJ5X2xpc3QEc2xrA29iYW1hc2F5c2VneQ--#>but admitted some of their positions were a concern. "I think they're one faction in Egypt," he said. "They don't have majority support in Egypt. But they're well organized. There are strains of their ideology that are anti-US. There's no doubt about it." "There are a whole bunch of secular folks in Egypt. A whole bunch of educators and civil society in Egypt that wants to come to the fore as well," Obama said. "It's important for us not the say that our only two options are the Muslim Brotherhood or a suppressed Egyptian people. I want a representative government in Egypt. I have confidence that if they move in an orderly path, we can work together." II. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptunrestpoliticsusdiplomacy_20110206224434;_ylt=AgRRKgE7UIVWPlLjM7OjLkGsOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTM1YWNzNzlnBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHVucmVzdHBvbGl0aWNzdXNkaXBsb21hY3kEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDY2xpbnRvbmhpbnRz Clinton hints at unease over early Mubarak departure by Lachlan Carmichael Lachlan Carmichael – Sun Feb 6, 5:44 pm ET WASHINGTON (AFP) – The timetable of President Hosni Mubarak's departure lies with the Egyptian people but his early departure could raise electoral complications, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptunrestpoliticsusdiplomacy_20110206224434;_ylt=AgRRKgE7UIVWPlLjM7OjLkGsOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTM1YWNzNzlnBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHVucmVzdHBvbGl0aWNzdXNkaXBsb21hY3kEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDY2xpbnRvbmhpbnRz#>said Sunday. Under pressure from mass protests<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptunrestpoliticsusdiplomacy_20110206224434;_ylt=AgRRKgE7UIVWPlLjM7OjLkGsOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTM1YWNzNzlnBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHVucmVzdHBvbGl0aWNzdXNkaXBsb21hY3kEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDY2xpbnRvbmhpbnRz#>, Mubarak has pledged to step down after September polls but many protesters demand his immediate departure and US news reports have suggested Washington was also pressuring him to quit now. However, Clinton, speaking to reporters on the way back from international talks on Egypt in Germany, stressed that Mubarak's fate was not up to the United States. "That has to be up to the Egyptian people," the chief US diplomat said when asked if reality dictated Mubarak play some role in the political transition toward free and fair elections in Egypt<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptunrestpoliticsusdiplomacy_20110206224434;_ylt=AgRRKgE7UIVWPlLjM7OjLkGsOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTM1YWNzNzlnBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHVucmVzdHBvbGl0aWNzdXNkaXBsb21hY3kEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDY2xpbnRvbmhpbnRz#> . "As I understand the constitution, if the president were to resign, he would be succeeded by the speaker of the house, and presidential elections would have to be held in 60 days," she said. "Now the Egyptians are going to have to grapple with the reality of what they must do," she said. Clinton said, for example, that she had heard a leader from the opposition Muslim Brotherhood as well as leading dissident Mohammed ElBaradei<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptunrestpoliticsusdiplomacy_20110206224434;_ylt=AgRRKgE7UIVWPlLjM7OjLkGsOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTM1YWNzNzlnBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHVucmVzdHBvbGl0aWNzdXNkaXBsb21hY3kEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDY2xpbnRvbmhpbnRz#>say "it's going to take time" to organize elections. "That's not us saying it. It's them saying it," she said. Clinton said retired diplomat Frank Wisner<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptunrestpoliticsusdiplomacy_20110206224434;_ylt=AgRRKgE7UIVWPlLjM7OjLkGsOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTM1YWNzNzlnBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHVucmVzdHBvbGl0aWNzdXNkaXBsb21hY3kEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDY2xpbnRvbmhpbnRz#>, whom President Barack Obama sent to Mubarak with a message last week, did "not speak for the administration" when he said the Egyptian leader should stay in office during the transition. She, like other members of the administration, have distanced themselves from Wisner's remarks but have not actually said he was wrong. "President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical," Wisner told the Munich Security Conference, the same one Clinton attended. "It's his opportunity to write his own legacy. He has given 60 years of his life to the service of his country, this is an ideal moment for him to show the way forward," Wisner said. Clinton also praised Mubarak for the steps he had taken toward his own political exit and to ensure that his son Gamal -- whom protesters fear is being groomed as the next president -- would not succeed him. "They have to be viewed as an important set of steps that he has taken to keep the movement" toward a transition going, she said. The chief US diplomat declined to comment on talks that Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's first vice president in three decades of rule, held Sunday with the Muslim Brotherhood. She said it was up to Egyptians to decide whether the Brotherhood's participation in the transition gave the process credibility. "There are organizations and individuals whose participation will give credibility in the eyes of some Egyptians and concerns in the eyes of other Egyptians," said Clinton. Clinton also said Egyptians will have to clear a number of hurdles in order to stage elections in September. For example, they would have to determine how to "amend the constitution to bring it more in line with the kind of democracy and political system" they seek, and set a deadline for reaching such a goal. They would have to establish an electoral system that includes voter registration rolls. She said the United States, European and other countries are ready to offer the expertise to help prepare for the elections. "We're going to try to work with a lot of like-minded countries around the world to offer whatever assistance we can," she said. "We have experts in holding credible elections, we have experts in writing constitutions." She recalled that US experts<http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110206/pl_afp/egyptunrestpoliticsusdiplomacy_20110206224434;_ylt=AgRRKgE7UIVWPlLjM7OjLkGsOrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTM1YWNzNzlnBGFzc2V0A2FmcC8yMDExMDIwNi9lZ3lwdHVucmVzdHBvbGl0aWNzdXNkaXBsb21hY3kEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3BhZ2luYXRlX3N1bW1hcnlfbGlzdARzbGsDY2xpbnRvbmhpbnRz#>joined international efforts to hold, "against all odds," a successful referendum on independence for Sudan last month. "This is important, to look over the horizon. You don't want to get to September, have a failed election, and then people feel ... what was the point of it," he said. Asked if seven months were enough time, she replied: "It's up to them. But I think, with a concerted effort, with the kind of timelines and concrete steps I'm calling for, it could be done. "But it will take enormous cooperation, not just on the part of the government, but on the part of civil society and political actors," the secretary said. The democratic transition "is a very important moment in Egyptian history and holds great promise," Clinton said. "But like everything else in life and politics, there are downsides, and we have to see how all of that plays out." -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
