Tuesday, February 08, 2011

Egypt News Update: Protests Swell at Tahrir Square

Protests swell at Tahrir Square

Tens of thousands pour into central Cairo seeking President Mubarak's ouster, despite a slew of government concessions

Last Modified: 08 Feb 2011 15:03 GMT

Lawyers have petitioned Egypt's prosecutor general to try Mubarak for
allegedly stealing state funds

Thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators have poured into Cairo's
Tahrir (Liberation) Square as protests against Hosni Mubarak, the
Egyptian president, entered the fifteenth day despite a slew of
concessions announced by the government.

Tens of thousands of protesters have also come out on the streets in
Alexandria, Egypt's second largest city.

According to Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the
Egyptian capital, the crowd at the square grew rapidly on Tuesday
afternoon, with even many first-timers joining protesters seeking
Mubarak's immediate ouster.

The newcomers said they had been inspired in part by the release of
Wael Ghonim, the Google executive, after what he said was two weeks of detention by state security authorities.

"I came here for the first time today because this cabinet is a
failure, Mubarak is still meeting the same ugly faces ...he can't
believe it is over. He is a very stubborn man," Afaf Naged, a former
member of the board of directors of the state-owned National Bank of
Egypt, said.

"I am also here because of Wael Ghonim. He was right when he said the NDP [ruling National Democratic Party] is finished. There is no party left, but they don't want to admit it," she said.

Amr Fatouh, a surgeon, said he too had joined the protests for the first time.

"I hope people will continue and more people will come. At first,
people did not believe the regime would fall but that is changing," he
said.

Ghonim was the person behind a page ["We are all Khaled Said”] on the social networking site Facebook that is being credited for helping
spark the uprising in Egypt.

Another Al Jazeera journalist, reporting from the square, said the
protesters' resolve seemed very high. Many said they would not leave
until their demands are met.

Meanwhile, about 20 lawyers have petitioned Abdel Meguid Mahmoud, the country's prosecutor general, to try Mubarak and his family for allegedly stealing state wealth.

Interestingly, Ibrahim Yosri, a lawyer and a former deputy foreign
minister, has drafted the petition.

Constitutional reforms

But Mubarak's message has thus far been that he will not leave until
his term expires in September.

However, in a statement made on Egyptian state television Omar
Suleiman, the country's vice-president, said that a plan was in place
for the peaceful transfer of power.

The newly appointed vice-president, announced on Tuesday that Mubarak would set up a committee that would carry out constitutional and legislative amendments to enable a shift of power.

Suleiman also said that a separate committee will be set up to monitor
the implementation of all proposed reforms. The two committees will
start working immediately, he said.

Suleiman stressed that demonstrators will not be prosecuted.

The government had offered on Monday a pay rise to public-sector
workers, but the pro-democracy camp said the government had conceded little ground in trying to end the current crisis.

"[The pay rise] doesn't mean anything," Sherif Zein, a protester at
Tahrir Square told Al Jazeera on Tuesday. "Maybe it will be a
short-term release for the workers ... but most of the people will
realise what this is, it's just a tablet of asprin, but it's nothing
meaningful."

Beyond Tahrir Square, life has been slowly getting back to normal in
other parts of Cairo with some shops and banks reopening.

Tourism sector affected

However, the country's tourism sector is still suffering, with the
area around the famed pyramids remaining closed. The Credit Agricole
bank says the protests are costing Egypt more than $300m a day.

"There is a lot of popular public sentiments in Cairo and wider Egypt
regarding what those protesters are trying to achieve but at the same
time, people are trying to get back to live as normal lives as
possible," our correspondent said.

Another correspondent, also in Cairo, said: "There are divisions. On
one side, people do agree with the messages coming out of Tahrir
Square, but on the other, Egypt is a country where about 40 per cent
of the population lives on daily wages."

Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons, reporting from Cairo, said that a
so-called battle for hearts and minds is going on.

"Anti-government demonstrators are pushing to convince the country
that Mubarak needs to go, but some also don't want the country to
plunge into chaos," he said.

"There is also a struggle to get back to normality. Many want to get
back to normal lives, but at the same time want this campaign to
continue."

Tanks continue to guard government buildings, embassies and other
important institutions in the capital.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies


Cables say Israel favours Suleiman

Preference for Egypt's new vice-president to succeed Mubarak disclosed by leaked documents obtained by WikiLeaks

Last Modified: 08 Feb 2011 10:02 GMT

Mounting protests against Mubarak's rule prompted the Egyptian leader to appoint Suleiman as vice-president

Omar Suleiman, Egypt's recently appointed vice-president, has long
long seen by Israel as the favoured successor to Hosni Mubarak, the
current president, according to a leaked diplomatic cable obtained by
WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website, and published by the UK daily,
The Telegraph.

The August 2008 cable said David Hacham, a senior adviser at the
Israeli ministry of defence (MoD), told US officials the Israelis
expected Suleiman, spelt Soliman in some cables, to take over.

"Hacham noted that the Israelis believe Soliman is likely to serve as
at least an interim president if Mubarak dies or is incapacitated,"
the cable sent from the US embassy in Tel Aviv said.

"We defer to Embassy Cairo for analysis of Egyptian succession
scenarios, but there is no question that Israel is most comfortable
with the prospect of Omar Soliman," the memo cited US diplomats as
saying.

The cable said Hacham was full of praise for Suleiman, even noting
that "a 'hot line' set up between the MoD and Egyptian General
Intelligence Service is now in daily use".

Suleiman was Egypt's intelligence chief since 1993 and had been a
frequent visitor to Israel and a mediator in its conflict with the
Palestinians.

He was appointed Egypt's vice-president late last month following
pressure by mass demonstrators in the country calling for an immediate end to Mubarak's 30-year rule.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, backed Suleiman on
Saturday as the best candidate to lead a "transition" government as
Mubarak continues to cling to power.

Mubarak has said he only intends to leave office in September at the
end of his current term. But on Tuesday Suleiman announced that
Mubarak would set up a committee that would carry out constitutional
and legislative amendments to enable a shift of power.

Questions raised

The Telegraph's report followed an earlier one by Reuters news agency on Monday, which also received leaked diplomatic cables via WikiLeaks.

Reuters reported that Suleiman had previously harshly criticised
Egypt's opposition Muslim Brotherhood in his communications with US
officials.

Significantly, Suleiman held a meeting with opposition leaders,
including the Muslim Brotherhood, on Sunday in a bid to end a
political crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of people take to
the streets in opposition to Mubarak's rule.

The leaked cables raised questions over whether Suleiman could be seen as an honest broker in any negotiations regarding the next steps for Egypt.

In the cables obtained by Reuters, Suleiman is reported to have told
US officials that the Muslim Brotherhood was creating armed groups,
most notably "the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Gama'a Islamiya
[Islamic Group]" it said.

He is also said to take "an especially hard line on Tehran", and in
one dated January 2, 2008, Suleiman is quoted as saying that Iran
remained "a significant threat to Egypt".

'Technically illegal'

The cable obtained by Reuters went on to say: "The principal danger,
in Soliman's view, was the [Muslim Brotherhood] group's exploitation
of religion to influence and mobilise the public."

It continues: "Soliman termed the MB's recent success in the
parliamentary elections as 'unfortunate', adding his view that
although the group was technically illegal, existing Egyptian laws
were insufficient to keep the MB in check."

The elections referred to were those in November and December in 2005, in which the Muslim Brotherhood made substantial gains.

The inclusion of the Brotherhood in the opposition's talks with
Suleiman are considered significant as the group is formally banned in
Egypt, although its activities are tolerated.

The document's obtained by the Telegraph also disclosed that Suleiman explored the idea of allowing Israeli troops into the Egyptian border area of Philadelphi in a bid to stop arms being smuggled to
Palestinian fighters in Gaza.

Mubarak has long attempted to paint his rule of Egypt as a
counterbalance to an "Islamist threat".

"In their moments of greatest frustration, (Egypt Defence Minister)
Tantawi and Soliman each have claimed that the IDF (Israel Defence
Forces) would be 'welcome' to re-invade Philadelphi, if the IDF
thought that would stop the smuggling," the cable said.

The memo later revealed that Suleiman wanted Gaza to "go hungry but
not starve" and for Hamas, the Palestinian group which governs the
besieged enclave, to be "isolated".

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

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