CNN.com Muslim Brotherhood to meet Egyptian vice president; protests continue
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- As Egyptians began a 13th day of protests Sunday under what appears to be a cracking regime, the Muslim Brotherhood said it will meet with the country's vice president -- days after the group said it would not negotiate until President Hosni Mubarak leaves office. "We did not change our stance. We decided to take the people's demands to the negotiation table," Essam el-Erian, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, told CNN. The meeting with Vice President Omar Suleiman is scheduled to begin late Sunday morning. It's the latest development in national political talks after key members of the embattled ruling party resigned Saturday. In the strongest gesture yet to satisfy angry Egyptians who have been protesting for almost two weeks, party leaders of the ruling National Democratic Party stepped down, state television reported. Meanwhile, Christians and Muslims are preparing for a Mass in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday afternoon, anti-government protesters in the square said. Muslim protesters said they will form a ring around the Christians to protect them during the service. The Mass will take place at 2 p.m. (7 a.m. ET), and participants are expected to pray for those have died during clashes. Anti-government protesters have said they will continue demonstrating until Mubarak steps down. But the embattled Mubarak, however, remained in his position as head of the party's higher council and as head of state despite popular demands that he relinquish power immediately. Mubarak's son, Gamal, the once presumptive heir, was among those who resigned from party posts, meaning that he is no longer eligible to take over after his father. Mubarak has already announced he will not seek re-election in a September vote. Gamal Mubarak's resignation effectively puts to rest a widespread belief that the embattled president was preparing for a dynastic handover. The United States has been mounting pressure on Mubarak to step aside. On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at a security conference in Germany, said it is "important to follow the transition process announced by the Egyptian government, actually headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman." U.S. President Barack Obama, in phone calls with foreign leaders Saturday, emphasized the importance of an "orderly, peaceful transition" to a government that is "responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people." The diplomatic official who delivered a message from the Obama administration to Egypt's leadership this week, however, said Mubarak "remains utterly critical in the days ahead as we sort our way toward the future" and must stay in office. Changes are needed in Egypt to pave the way for a smooth transition, and "the president must stay in office in order to steer those changes through," said Frank Wisner, a former ambassador to Egypt. "It's his opportunity to write his own legacy." U.S. officials emphasized that Wisner was speaking for himself, as an expert on the region, and not for the Obama administration. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden spoke with Suleiman by phone Saturday and asked about negotiations he had with several opposition leaders and intellectuals about Egypt's future. "He stressed the need for a concrete reform agenda, a clear timeline, and immediate steps that demonstrate to the public and the opposition that the Egyptian government is committed to reform," according to the White House. Biden also called for the immediate release of journalists and activists who have been detained without cause, the White House said. Read what Egypt's prime minister says about journalists The restructuring of Egypt's ruling party Saturday included the elevation of Hossam Badrawi, a more liberal-minded politician who is taking over as the ruling party's secretary-general. The U.S.-educated physician could add a reformist flavor to the party's direction. Mubarak's foes questioned whether the moves are meaningful or merely cosmetic. Leading opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei dismissed the resignations as another in a series of small, hiccupping reforms. Mubarak, he said, has shown no sign he understands the people want a complete overhaul. "It's about the whole shift to democracy," said ElBaradei, a Nobel laureate whose National Association for Change wants to see an immediate change in power. "I'm ready to engage when we believe that Mr. Mubarak is ready to step down," he told CNN. "We do not want to be part of a ploy." Demonstrators on the streets also felt Mubarak was just trying to appease the people. One even called the moves a "sedative." "This is just one silly attempt to calm down the street, but the regime is still there," said Sameh Bakri in the city of Suez. "They don't want to get straight to the point and resolve the real problem." "This is just part of the drama that the regime is playing, a maneuver, just a sedative to calm down the masses," said Mohammed Mahmoud in the coastal city of Alexandria. "We need a peaceful transition and we know very well what the regime is trying to do. They are trying to buy time, so they can smuggle their money out of the country, the money that they robbed from the Egyptian people all these years." The shakeup was announced almost two weeks into Egypt's tumult as thousands of demonstrators held their ground. It was was unclear what would happen next and what role Egypt's powerful military would play in resolving the crisis. Among the opposition proposals under discussion is Article 139 of the constitution, which allows for the vice president to assume control if the president is no longer able to serve. At least one opposition group, the leftist Tagammu party, is asking the government to activate the article's powers so that Suleiman can take charge immediately and allow Mubarak to make a graceful exit. Tagammu and the liberal Wafd party met with Suleiman on Saturday, but Wafd party leader Munir Fakhri said the talks are in a stalemate. "As long as the protesters are not ready to lower the level of their demands -- very bluntly their demand is that President Mubarak leaves, quits -- and as long as the regime refuses to take steps towards meeting at least part of those demands I think it's very difficult to reach a compromise." A group of independent elites calling themselves the Committee of the Wise -- intellectuals, artists, diplomats and businessmen -- wants to be at the table during crucial government transition talks. They called on protests to continue at Tahrir Square every Tuesday and Friday until Mubarak "resigns and makes true the demands of the people." Mubarak may remain as a symbolic leader, they said, but should delegate responsibility to Suleiman for the transition period. Some opposition groups, however, are refusing to come to the table until Mubarak steps down. "The so-called dialogue is the first step to exhaust this revolution. The president must go," said Mohammed Habib, deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood, an opposition Islamist umbrella group that is officially banned but tolerated in Egypt. Saturday's talks took place, as crowds massed again in downtown Cairo's Tahrir Square for protests demanding an end to Mubarak's 30-year authoritarian rule over the Arab world's most populous nation. The justice minister announced that courts would reopen Sunday and the government eased its daily curfew, making the hours 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. "We're in better shape," Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said on state television. "And we can sense that day by day." Interior Ministry spokesman Ismail Othman said the army would remain neutral, working only to prevent clashes and chaos between opposing groups. ElBaradei's National Association for Change and the Tagammu party's leader announced Saturday a newly formed opposition group of 10 people, including ElBaradei, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Beltagy and liberal Ghad party leader Ayman Nour. They called for Mubarak's immediate resignation and the right for peaceful demonstration. "We have been in agreement right now that we'd probably have a presidential council of three members including somebody from the army," ElBaradei told CNN. "We have a caretaker government ... who would then run the country for a year, prepare the grounds for the necessary changes in the electoral process to ensure that we will have all that we need for a free and fair election," he said. CNN's Amir Ahmed, Frederik Pleitgen, Ivan Watson and Tommy Evans contributed to this report. Links referenced within this article Egyptians http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Egypt Mubarak http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Hosni_Mubarak Read what Egypt's prime minister says about journalists http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/05/egypt.journalists/index.html Muslim Brotherhood http://topics.edition.cnn.com/topics/Muslim_Brotherhood Find this article at: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/06/egypt.protests/index.html?hpt=T1 Click Here to Print SAVE THIS | EMAIL THIS | Close Uncheck the box to remove the list of links referenced in the article. © 2008 Cable News Network. ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
