Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Egypt’s new military rulers have signaled their intent to share power with civilians and amend the constitution rapidly by popular referendum, opposition activists and a British minister said Monday.
Wael Ghonim, a Google executive detained, then released, for his part in the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak, said members of the military council had told him a plebiscite would be held on constitutional amendments in two months.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Prime Minister Ahmad Shafiq had told him he would reshuffle his Cabinet in the coming week to bring opposition figures into the line-up appointed by Mubarak last month.
Earlier, the ruling Higher Military Council urged workers to return to their jobs and help restart an economy damaged by the uprising, which ended Mubarak’s 30-year rule but also sparked a growing wave of strikes.
In a televised address, a military spokesman appealed for national unity.

In “Communiqué No. 5” read out on state television, the spokesman said: “Noble Egyptians see that these strikes, at this delicate time, lead to negative results.” It added that work stoppages were harming security and economic production.

The council called on “citizens and professional unions and the labor unions to play their role fully.”
Monday’s communiqué appeared to be a final warning to protest organizers in labor and professional unions before the army intervenes and imposes an outright ban on gatherings, strikes and sit-ins.

Using their new-found freedom of expression and protest, angry employees rallied Monday in Cairo and other cities to complain about low pay and poor working conditions.
Political analysts questioned how long it would take to amend the constitution, stage a referendum and hold polls to the legislature and executive.

The comments by Ghonim and Hague indicated a willingness to move swiftly, though skeptics will want to see real action. Hague also said Britain had received a request from Egypt to freeze the assets of Mubarak.

Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s ambassador to the U.S., said Mubarak was “possibly in somewhat of bad health,” providing the first word about the ousted president since Friday. Speaking Monday on NBC’s “Today” show, the envoy said he had received the information about Mubarak but could not be more specific.
In a communiqué Sunday, the military suspended the Constitution and dissolved Parliament, moves welcomed by those who saw both as tailored to reinforcing Mubarak’s iron rule.

The top U.S. military officer voiced admiration Monday for the way Egypt’s army had peacefully handled the power shift.
“I think they have handled this situation exceptionally well … it’s been done peacefully, and we have every expectation that that will continue,” Admiral Mike Mullen said in Israel.

U.S. President Barack Obama, in his budget for the 2012 fiscal year, proposes $1.3 billion in military help for Egypt.
Mullen was dispatched to Israel and Jordan to reassure them Mubarak’s fall would not affect the U.S. alliance system in the region. “The strength of this relationship [with the Israeli army] is something we both depend on, and it’s particularly relevant in these very difficult times,” Mullen said, alluding to the events in Egypt and Tunisia.
Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the Israeli military is “ready for all eventualities” as the Arab and Muslim world experiences “an earthquake.”

Free and fair elections will be held under a revised constitution, the military said. But it gave no timetable beyond saying it would be in charge “for a temporary period of six months or until the end of elections to the upper and lower houses of Parliament, and presidential elections.”
Existing registered parties are mostly small, weak and fragmented. The Muslim Brotherhood, which under the now suspended constitution could not form a party, may be the best organized group but its true popularity has yet to be tested.

Other parties need at least a year for an election, said a politician who struggled to found a party under Mubarak.
“If parliamentary elections happen now, the only party ready to go into elections are the Muslim Brotherhood, as for the rest, they are not ready,” said Abou Elela Mady, who broke away from the Brotherhood in the 1990s and tried four times to get official approval for his Wasat Party.

“Parliamentary elections need time so that there is a chance for all parties to reform themselves, to rebuild,” Mady said.
“At that point, a balanced parliament will emerge representing all parties without a single party forming a majority that causes concern to anyone,” he said.

Ghonim said the army wanted young Egyptians to set up new political parties for the forthcoming polls.
“The army encouraged youth to start serious steps to establish political parties that reflect their ideas and opinions,” he added. – Agencies