State TV says the top leadership body of Egypt's ruling party, including the president's son Gamal Mubarak and the party secretary-general Safwat el-Sharif, resigned Saturday in a new gesture apparently aimed at convincing anti-government protesters that the regime is serious about reform.
Protesters have shrugged off other concessions by the regime in the past 12 days of unprecedented street demonstrations, saying they will settle for nothing less than the immediate ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's ruler for nearly 30 years.
State TV said the ruling party's six-member Steering Committee of the General Secretariat stepped down and was replaced. The council was the party's highest decision-making body, and el-Sharif and other outgoing members were some of the most powerful -- and to many Egyptians, unpopular -- political figures in the regime.
El-Sharif was replaced by Hossam Badrawi, a party figure who had been sidelined within its ranks in recent years because of his sharp criticisms of some policies.
The new appointments to the body were largely young figures, one of the replacements Mohammed Kamal told The Associated Press. "It's a good change. It reflects the mood of change that is sweeping the country," he said.
Gamal Mubarak, who was a member of the Steering Committee, was widely seen as being groomed by his father Hosni Mubarak to succeed him as president. But Vice President Omar Suleiman promised earlier in the week that Gamal would not run for president in elections due in September.
The younger Mubarak was also head of the party's powerful policies committee, where for the past decade he led a campaign of economic liberalization. State TV said Gamal was also removed from that post and replaced by Badrawi.
The announcement was greeted with scorn by some of the tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Wael Khalil, a 45-year-old activist, said it would "reinforce their (protesters') resolve and increase their confidence because it shows that they are winning, and the regime is retreating inch by inch."
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Today 3:13 AM The Media And Mubarak
Over at Nieman Watchdog, HuffPost's Dan Froomkin warns the media against casting Mubarak as the last bulwark against chaos and Islamist theocracy in Egypt.
There is no reason for American journalists to accept the premise that President Hosni Mubarak is the only thing standing between chaos and/or Islamic theocracy in Egypt.So says Bruce Rutherford, an Egyptologist at Colgate University. Everyone seems to be imagining what post-Mubarak Egypt will look like these days, but Rutherford was gaming it out years ago for his 2008 book, Egypt after Mubarak: Liberalism, Islam, and Democracy in the Arab World.
Read more here.
Today 2:59 AM European Nations Support Gradual Transition
Leading European nations join the U.S. in backing a gradual transition of power in Egypt.
Today 2:51 AM Mubarak Holds Meeting With Economic Team
Ap reports: President Hosni Mubarak assembled his economy team on Saturday in an effort to project calm as the country’s turmoil triggered global economic jitters and the standoff continued, with thousands of anti-government protesters remaining camped out on Cairo’s Tahrir, or Liberation, Square.
The political crisis that engulfed Egypt since Jan. 25 has cost the country an estimated $3.1 billion, with the ensuing violence driving a nation once seen as a pillar of stability to the brink of chaos.
The state MENA news agency said Mubarak’s meetings took place Saturday morning in the presidential palace in Heliopolis, a Cairo suburb miles away from the events in the city center. The report said the oil minister, the financial minister, the Central Bank governor and other top economy officials were present.
By noon Saturday, the mood among the crowd in Tahrir was calm, a marked contrast to clashes earlier in the week between anti-government protesters and Mubarak supporters.
Egyptian troops, deployed on the square’s periphery, controlled access and checked IDs of those entering. Security forces also tried to clear some of the entrance roads, remove charred hulks of cars and other debris, remnants of the pitched street battles earlier in the week.
Today 2:13 AM After Mubarak, Who Will Lead Egypt?
Check out our slideshow on Mubarak's potential successors here.
Today 2:11 AM Hillary Clinton: 'Perfect Storm' Brewing In Middle East
AP reports: A "perfect storm" of economic woes, repression and popular discontent could destabilize the Middle East, said Clinton, lending strong backing for Vice President Omar Suleiman's efforts.
"We have to send a consistent message supporting the orderly transition that has begun," Clinton told government officials, politicians, security experts and policy analysts.
Suleiman, appointed as Egypt's first vice president during Mubarak's three-decade reign, has begun to reach out to long-ignored opposition figures and aims to make constitutional and other changes before the elections are held. Suleiman was elevated from intelligence chief amid violent anti-government protests seeking to topple Mubarak.
"There are forces at work in any society and particularly one that is facing these kinds of challenges that will try to derail or overtake the process to pursue their own specific agenda," she said. "It's important to support the transition process announced by the Egyptian government actually headed by now-Vice President Omar Suleiman."
More info here.
Today 1:59 AM Bomb Detonated In Empty Church
AP reports: Assailants detonated a bomb Saturday in an empty church in a small town in northern Egypt, causing little damage and no injuries, security officials said.
Smoke billowed from the windows of the church and the assailants also snatched a cross from outside the building, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the incident with reporters. They said the assailants escaped. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
The attack in the town of Rafah, on the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, comes amid unprecedented political unrest sweeping Egypt. For nearly two weeks, protesters have staged mass rallies to demand the ouster of longtime Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
More info here.
Today 1:47 AM Obama Administration Views Leadership Resignations As 'Positive Step'
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor sent out this statement regarding Mubarak's son, Gamal, resigning as head of Egypt's ruling party, the NDP: “As the President has repeatedly said, Egyptians will be the ones that decide how this transition occurs. We welcome any step that provides credibility to that process.”
Meanwhile an Obama administration official emails HuffPost: “We view this as a positive step toward the political change that will be necessary, and look forward to additional steps.”
Today 1:14 AM More Info On Talks Between Egyptian PM And Protesters
Washington Post reports on the opposition's talks with the government:
Suleiman met Saturday with representatives from several opposition parties, although it was not clear whether the largest - the Muslim Brotherhood - had participated.Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, secretary general of the liberal Wafd Party, said he and other party officials had presented Suleiman with their proposals for constitutional change. Nour said that Suleiman mostly listened but at one point told the Wafd officials that "we need to go ahead with this as soon as possible."Although the opposition had earlier vowed to present a united front to the government and not begin talks until Mubarak left office, the meetings Saturday suggested it has abandoned that pledge and might be divided over how to proceed.
More details here.
Today 0:19 AM Obama Backs Suleiman-Led Transition
The New York Times reports:
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking to a conference here, said it was important to support Mr. Suleiman as he seeks to defuse street protests and promises to reach out to opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Administration officials said earlier that Mr. Suleiman and other military-backed leaders in Egypt are also considering ways to provide President Hosni Mubarak with a graceful exit from power.Now, the United States and other Western powers appear to have concluded that the best path for Egypt — and certainly the safest one, to avoid further chaos — is a gradual transition, managed by Mr. Suleiman, a pillar of Egypt’s existing establishment, and backed by the military.Whether such a process is acceptable to the crowds on the streets of Cairo is far from clear: there is little evidence that Mr. Suleiman, a former head of Egyptian intelligence and trusted confidant of Mr. Mubarak, would be seen as an acceptable choice, even temporarily. Opposition groups have refused to speak to him, saying that Mr. Mubarak must leave first.
More details here.
02/05/2011 11:47 PM Leadership Of Egypt's Ruling Party Resigns
Al Jazeera English reports: "The leadership of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party resigns, including Gamal Mubarak, the son of Hosni Mubarak. The new secretary general of the party is Hossam Badrawi, seen as a member of the liberal wing of the party."
02/05/2011 11:13 PM Mubarak's Men Key To U.S. Reform Hopes In Egypt
AP reports: Seeking reform in Egypt, the U.S. increasingly is counting on a small cadre of President Hosni Mubarak's closest advisers to guide a hoped-for transition from autocracy to democracy.
It's a plan that relies on long relationships with military men and bureaucrats who owe their professional success to Mubarak's iron rule. To the regret of some U.S. diplomats, it's also a plan that steers around the Muslim Brotherhood, the powerful Islamist political movement that almost surely would play a central role in any future popularly chosen government.
Not that Washington has much choice.
Read more here.
02/05/2011 10:32 PM Witness: Egyptian Police Keep Firm Grip On Cairo Slums
Reuters correspondent Alexander Dziadosz has a report from the slums of Cairo where the police are operating in full force.
Men wielding sticks, machetes and knives now block many of Cairo's roads, searching cars and checking the identification cards of passers-by. Their loyalties are not always clear, but many are clearly coordinating with uniformed policemen.The officers who stopped us, like the knife-wielding boy, said they were trying to protect us. But this was slim reassurance after they allowed a man armed with a switchblade to squeeze into the front seat alongside me.
Full report here.
02/05/2011 10:27 PM Egyptian Prime Minister Says Stability Returning
AP reports: Egypt's prime minister says stability is returning after 12 days of anti-government protests, appearing confident a resolution to the crisis can be reached without the immediate removal of President Hosni Mubarak.
The comments by Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq on state TV suggest the government may calculate it can ride out protests and reach a deal with its opponents without Mubarak's ouster.
Protesters say they will continue their rallies until the 82-year-old president goes. Tens of thousands gathered in central Tahrir Square Saturday.
Shafiq said a 100,000-strong demonstration Friday failed to force Mubarak out as protesters hoped. "We haven't been affected and God willing next Friday we won't be affected," he said. "All this leads to stability."
02/05/2011 10:18 PM Close American Ties With Egyptian Military Offer Limited Benefits
AP reports: The Pentagon has often boasted of close ties to the Egyptian military, but in the current crisis the payoff from billions in military aid and three decades of U.S. mentorship isn't direct leverage.
Mostly, it's meant an ability to get Cairo's top defense officials on the phone.U.S. military officers argue that deeper, more subtle benefits have derived from 30 years of cooperation between the two militaries, including a degree of discipline and professionalism by the Egyptian army that has helped keep its soldiers from attacking protesters seeking to topple President Hosni Mubarak. But other factors, including political direction, also influence the army's behavior.
Mullen on Friday cautioned Congress against rushing to halt U.S. military aid, reflecting the long-held view that it provides important leverage. He told ABC's "Good Morning America" that he would "caution against doing anything until we know what's really going on." And in an appearance Thursday on Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, the Joint Chiefs chairman said Egyptian officials had assured him the military would not fire on protesters.
Haim Malka, a senior Mideast expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, was even more forceful about not cutting off military aid, predicting that the Egyptian military will play a central role in shaping the contours of a post-Mubarak government.
"The United States' ability to influence that system is already limited," Malka wrote in a commentary Friday. "Freezing military aid now undermines what leverage the U.S. government does have to promote a post-Mubarak system that is more than just a reconfiguration of the status quo."
02/05/2011 9:41 PM Egypt Officials Seek To Push Mubarak Out
President Hosni Mubarak appeared increasingly isolated on Saturday, with protests entering their 12th day and the Obama administration and some members of the Egyptian military and civilian elite pursuing plans to nudge him from power.The country’s newly named vice president, Omar Suleiman, and other top military leaders were discussing steps to limit Mr. Mubarak’s decision-making authority and possibly remove him from the presidential palace in Cairo — though not to strip him of his presidency immediately, Egyptian and American officials said. A transitional government headed by Mr. Suleiman would then negotiate with opposition figures to amend Egypt’s Constitution and begin a process of democratic changes.On Friday, administration officials said that among the political ideas that had been discussed were suggesting to Mr. Mubarak that he move to his home at Sharm el Sheik, the seaside resort, or that he embark on one of his annual medical leaves to Germany for an extended checkup. Such steps would provide him with a graceful exit and effectively remove him as the central political player, going partway toward addressing a central demand of protesters on the streets of Cairo.
02/05/2011 9:34 PM Egyptian Turmoil Pushing Up Food, Oil Prices
AP reports: The standoff in Egypt and uncertainty about where it will lead is causing global economic jitters. It's already pushing up the price of oil and food, and there's no telling how long the turmoil will last.
The big worry is that popular uprisings and revolution will spread to Egypt's rich autocratic neighbors who control much of the world's oil supply.
Instability in the Middle East, if prolonged, could jeopardize fragile recoveries in the United States and Europe. It could limit job creation and fuel inflation.
"If the turmoil is contained largely to Egypt, then the broader economic fallout will be marginal," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "Now, obviously, if it spills out of Egypt to other parts of the Middle East, the concern goes to a whole other darker level."
"The real worry, I think is if these protests continue indefinitely and there isn't more reassurance about stability in Egypt and in the broader region," said Shadi Hamid, a researcher on Gulf affairs at the Brookings Institution's Doha Center in Qatar. "We're going to see a continued decline in the regional economy and that will, of course, have an effect on the U.S. economy."
02/05/2011 2:22 PM Trains Moving Again In Cairo
From Anderson Cooper's Twitter feed:
"Looks like trains are moving again in Cairo."
02/05/2011 12:31 PM Two Amnesty International Staffers Freed From Detention
Al Jazeera English reported via Twitter that two Amnesty International staffers, detained since Thursday, have been freed.
02/05/2011 12:27 PM Anderson Cooper: 'Security Improved A Lot'
Tweeting live from Egypt, Anderson Cooper reported that his situation in Cairo has gotten safer. "Feels good to be live outside broadcasting from Cairo using lights. Security in my location improved a lot today," he wrote.
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