Egypt’s Historic Vote is Underway!

At long last, voting is underway in Egypt!!! Citizens queued from early hours to vote for the first president since overthrowing Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. It’s been a tumultuous road to get to this day, but even from thousands of miles away I can sense the excitement of my Egyptian friends and family, many of whom voted today for the first time in their lives. I happen to be a junkie of political cartoons and have been collecting many along the way to Election Day.

Here are a couple I wanted to share. (I will be writing an editorial on the election in a few days when we have a better indication of how the people voted).

Which one is your favorite?!! (I think the one of Obama is my favorite!)

 

Al Jazeera’s (R)Evolution?

Here’s a study I was pleased to contribute to a new-ish e-zine called Jadaliyya which focuses on Arab affairs.

by Vivian Salama

Jadaliyya (click here for original link)

In March of 2011, an unusually forthright editorial by an anonymous writer made its way into The Peninsula Qatar, an English language daily bankrolled by a member of the emirate’s ruling family. At the time of publication, protesters had already toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, uprisings were in full swing in Libya and Yemen, and in the Persian Gulf, Bahrainis were gearing up for what would prove to be a bloody battle, only days after the op-ed ran.

“Businesses and institutions are treated as ‘holy cows,’” the author wrote in the editorial, entitled “Why are we so timid?”

“What essentially ails the Qatari media (English and Arabic-language newspapers) is the absence of a comprehensive law that specifies its role in a clear-cut way and seeks to protect it against the people and interests opposed to free expression or those who cannot appreciate criticism,” the op-ed read.

It was at about the same time that this editorial ran that Al-Jazeera Arabic, the renowned television network that essentially put Qatar on the map, started facing a dilemma. The network has found it increasingly difficult to distance itself from the growing political ambitions of its patron, Qatar, particularly as it is kept alive by the one hundred million dollars it receives annually from the Qatari government. Moreover, the wave of information now available to the masses via the Internet and satellite television has exposed the gaps in its reporting of issues that do not fall in line with the government’s agenda, while also highlighting its biases in the various uprisings. (more…)

Greetings from Algeria

I’ve had a fascinating week in Algeria, learning about the culture and political climate. Many saw Algeria as an inevitable candidate for an “Arab Spring,” but on the ground, I found the people to be experiencing major war fatigue and would prefer a diplomatic approach to their issues. I will post some photos in the coming days, but here is one of my articles:

Why Algeria’s Grievances Don’t Spark a Revolution

By Vivian Salama

Time.com (Click here for original link)

Earlier this month, a policeman offering no explanation simply confiscated the cigarettes that Rachak Hamza, 25, had been vending in a desperate effort to make ends meet. Local papers in the easter Algerian port city of Jijel, say Hamza erupted in a “fit of rage,” returning to the scene with a tank of gas which he used to drench his body before lighting a match. But unlike the similar act of outrage by vegetable vendor Mohammed Bouazizi that triggered last year’s revolution in neighboring Tunisia, Hamza’s story was quickly forgotten. Indeed, it was just one of at least 50 acts of self-immolation as protest reported across Algeria since January last year, according to local health authorities. None of them has, thus far, inspired a revolt.

“We want freedom” — in Ain Taya, Algeria/Photo by Vivian Salama

Closer to the capital, the words “we want freedom” are spray-painted in Arabic alongside mobile homes in the suburb of Ain Taya. Down the road, in French, the words “On Vuet Vivre” — we want to live — decorate another building.

Algeria’s ruling party took nearly half the seats in parliamentary elections last week, a stunning deviation from previous votes that saw significant opposition victories, particularly among Islamist parties. The ruling National Liberation Front said Wednesday the vote confirmed the electorate’s desire “to safeguard national stability,” but opposition groups have cried fraud. If the wave of religious conservatism sweeping this North African country is any indication, Islamists are far more influential in Algeria than its election results reflect.

On the street, beleaguered citizens believe change is beyond reach. Unemployment is too high; youth activism is too low; and memories are still seared by the decade-long bloodbath that followed the military’s overturning of the 1991 election that looked set to bring the Islamists to power. Corruption is rampant, draining the country of much of the wealth generated by its oil exports. “The issue here, very simple, is democracy,” says Makri Abderrazak, a former member of parliament and vice president of the Movement for the Society of Peace, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, which swept elections in Tunisia and Egypt. “People want jobs, people want basic rights, people want to benefit from the country’s resources, but this government is not giving them the chance and this fraudulent election means things will only get worse.”  (more…)

Centre Ville Algiers/By Vivian Salama

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Woos Washington

Look who’s visiting Washington!!

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Woos Washington

By Vivian Salama

The Daily Beast

Click here for original story

There was once a time when U.S. officials shunned Arab Islamist parties, frowned on their election victories, and denied them U.S. visas. But times are changing.

Delegates from Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party, a group affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, are in   Washington for their first official visit since Hosni Mubarak was toppled last year. Only days after announcing their party’s candidate in the first presidential election since the revolution, the visiting delegates have met with members of Congress and White House officials and held public discussions at Georgetown University and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Outlawed under the Mubarak regime, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and more hard-line Salafist parties have emerged, not surprisingly, as a powerful force in the Egyptian elections, thwarting the secular groups that are believed to have been the drivers of last year’s revolution. As a group that founded itself on the principles of grassroots activism, the Muslim Brotherhood has long resonated with the people of Egypt, where at many as 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to the United Nations.

The delegates sent to Washington were all articulate English speakers, two of whom hold doctorates from U.S. institutions. They were non-evasive, answering impassioned questions from the Georgetown audience about religious persecution and Sharia law. The message was not specifically linked to Islam. They did not criticize—or even mention—Israel. They stressed that Egypt is open for business and encouraged free trade and foreign direct investment. (more…)

Nip and Tuck Not Welcomed in Egyptian Parliament

Ay yay yay… it seems Egypt has nothing better to worry about given news of the big scandal gripping parliament this week. Anwar el-Balkimy, who belonged to Al Nour, part of the ultra-conservative Salafi group, reportedly faked a near-deadly attack to hide the fact that he went under the knife for vanity, and that those bandages in fact concealed a fresh nose job. This story, written by NY Times Cairo correspondent David Kirkpatrick, made my day. No, my week. But common people!!!! Can we PLEEEEASE remember that the country is falling apart at the seams? A large portion of the population is living under $2 a day, and the government has a lot of work to do ahead of the upcoming presidential election. I get that a politician needs to look good, but for the love of God, can you please save your surgeries for AFTER the presidential elections???

“The Protester”: A Photo Journal of the Egyptian Revolution

Thanks to TIME Magazine for recognizing the revolutionaries all over the world… I’ve been meaning to write this for quite some time but only finding the chance to do it now.

A year ago when Mohammed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor in Tunisia, burned himself out of frustration from a political system that neglected him, I was en route to Beirut ahead of the Christmas holiday and writing, mainly, about the credit crunch in the Arab Gulf states and mounting concerns that the banking system would not soon recover from the blow. Days after I returned from Beirut, my host, Rania Abouzeid, came to stay with me in Dubai in a desperate attempt to fly to Tunisia, where flights were almost entirely grounded amid an uprising across the country. It was hard to imagine then that the desperate act of this young man not only set in motion a revolution in his country, but around across the region.

Jan. 27, 2011: me and Rania Abouzeid heading to Cairo (at 3am -- ughhh!!!)

On January 14, 2011, following a month of violent protests against his rule, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali – Tunisia’s president since 1987 — was forced to flee to Saudi Arabia along with his wife and their three children.  A week later, Rania and I were on a flight to Cairo where calls for a revolution had begun to circulate on social media websites. They were days I will never forget, and with TIME Magazine’s 2011 Person of the Year issue being dedicated this year to The Protester, I want to share with you all a few memories and photos of the protesters I met in Cairo this year. (Click here to read some of my stories on the Arab Spring)

On January 27, two days after the protests officially begun, Internet and mobile phone service was completely cut off in Egypt and we were left guessing where crowds were gathering. After trying a few spots around town, Rania and I decided to go toward the Mohendiseen neighborhood near the Moustafa Mahmoud mosque. It was a good guess! About 500 protesters had gathered after Friday prayers where they came face to face with riot police chanting slogans like “The people want the end of the regime” and “Hosni Mubarak: illegitimate.”

We began to march, with the intention of going toward Tahrir Square. (Rania and I were quickly separated in the crowd and were each forced to continue reporting on our own). Weaving through side streets and alleys in the Cairo neighborhood, people watched us from balconies, throwing bottles of water, garlic and onions, and bottles of vinegar – all simply remedies for tear gas inhalation, because everyone knew what lie ahead.  The longer we marched, the more the crowd swelled, with protesters called on those people in their homes not to be afraid.

Cairo, January 27, 2011/Photo by Vivian Salama

Cairo, January 27, 2011/Photo by Vivian Salama

Jan 27: Protesters Near Moustafa Mahmoud Mosque/Photo by Vivian SalamaS

Sure enough, we were quickly confronted by tanks and soldiers firing tear gas at the crowd. I’ve never seen so much camaraderie in my life. Soldiers at a nearby military hospital threw medical masks at the protesters and pharmacists handed them out to the crowds. At one point I felt quite ill from the tear gas. A man approached from behind me and pressed a vinegar-covered mask against my mouth and nose. A nearby vendor (who probably struggles to feed his own family with the pennies he earns) emptied his refrigerator, handing out water bottles and cans of soda to the fatigued protesters.

Every where I looked, people were helping each other, helping strangers tie their masks, sharing water bottles, aiding those who were most affected by the gas.

There was one point, marching with the crowd from Mohendiseen, when we approached a major intersection and I heard roaring cheers. I jumped up on a car to see what had happened and was personally overcome by emotion. From three different directions, massive groups of protesters were approaching the intersection – the other groups coming from as far as Giza and the Nasr City. They did this without Internet or mobile phones.

Cairo, January 27, 2011/Photo by Vivian Salama

Groups of young men pushed to the front of the crowd and began to battle riot police, taking over their vehicles and chasing them away. Our group, now numbered in the hundreds of thousands, pushed slowly across the historic Qasr El Nil bridge in an attempt to move into Tahrir. There were moments when I worried that an attack by the military would trigger a stampede – we were stuffed tightly onto the bridge. But every time protesters began to push back, the young men in the crowd would grab the women in the crowd and push them against the bridge railing so to protect them from being knocked down.

Some were more prepared than others!! Cairo Jan. 27, 2011/Photo by Vivian Salama

It was a long night with protesters burning the ruling National Democratic Party headquarters and battling with soldiers in Tahrir. Riot police trucks were set on fire (and the Semiramis Hotel, where many journalists took refuge) was partially on fire for part of the evening. I was trapped in Tahrir for the night and forced to take a last minute room at the Semiramis. I woke up early the next morning to a different Cairo, where charred military tanks stood in the middle of Tahrir Square and smoke billowed from the NDP headquarters and, sadly, from the adjacent National Museum. It would take another two weeks (only!) to overthrow Hosni Mubarak but that first Friday was by far the most memorable. There is an Arabic expression that often refers to the Egyptian people as being “light blooded” (light hearted/good senses of humor). They definitely showed their spirit throughout the frustrating 19 days (and 30 years) it took to shake up their political system.

Tahrir Square, January 28, 2011/Photo by Vivian Salama

Tahrir Square, January 28, 2011/Photo by Vivian Salama

me in Tahrir (late January 2011)

I visited Bahrain in the weeks that followed and I spent a lot of time covering the uprisings in Yemen and, less so, the ongoing crisis in Syria. After years of battling misguided stereotypes of terrorism and violence, these protesters have showed the world that they desire freedom and a decent standard of living and they have the right to demand it just as those in Europe and the US demand of their governments.

The Tunisians, Egyptians and all the other citizens around the world fighting for democracy have a very long and bumpy road ahead.  The TIME Magazine Person of the Year issue questions whether there is a global tipping point for frustration. I believe what happened this year is, in large part, because of overpopulation and because of the global economic slowdown touched societies rich and poor – but toppled those that were already on the brink before markets crash. The world is smaller than ever thanks to the Internet and various technologies that allow us to share experiences with people on opposite corners of the world. As we continue to get closer, and the world, smaller, it will become impossible to distance ourselves from even the most seemingly remote events.

Cairo, January 27, 2011/Photo by Vivian Salama

Jailbreak to Gaza Fuels Israeli Hamas Fear in Post-Mubarak Era

By Jonathan Ferziger and Vivian Salama

Click here to view original story.

The Cairo protests that dislodged President Hosni Mubarak from power had an unexpected side effect: They also helped Hassan Weshah break out of an Egyptian prison, return to his home in the Gaza Strip and prepare for fresh attacks against Israel.

“Resisting occupation is the obligation of every Palestinian,” said Weshah, 28, a member of the so-called Army of Islam who had been arrested by Egyptian forces in October for planning to infiltrate Israel’s Sinai border. “I would not abandon the resistance.”

Palestinians such as Weshah are one reason why Egypt’s newly unstable border has become a headache for Israel. A pipeline that brings in 60 percent of Israel’s gas consumption looks more vulnerable after a Feb. 5 explosion from unknown causes shut it down for at least a month. The Sinai desert, a buffer for three decades between Egypt and Israel, may require a greater Israeli military presence.

“Our preparedness along the length of the border is high,” Defense Minister Ehud Barak said after viewing military exercises at a southern military base March 1. Israel has accelerated defensive operations “so that we can be as protected as possible” on the Egyptian frontier.

Security concerns are putting downward pressure on Israeli stocks. The TA-25 benchmark index has declined 4.1 percent since the start of the year while the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is down 1.6 percent. The yield on the benchmark Mimshal Shiklit bond maturing in January 2020 rose 46 basis points to 5.15 percent as the shekel declined 3.5 percent against the dollar to 3.62 in the period.

Abandoned Checkpoints

Checkpoints and security posts across Egypt were abandoned last month following a withdrawal by the police. Civilians took security into their own hands for several days before the military was deployed to restore order.

Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer said last month that the government will probably need to raise defense spending. The country spent 7 percent of gross domestic product on defense in 2008, according to a database maintained by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, while the U.S. spent 4.3 percent and Egypt 2.3 percent.

“Let’s remember that this is a region that can change completely from today to tomorrow, not necessarily in our favor,” said retired Major-General Yaakov Amidror, former head of Israel’s National Defense College. “As a state we must look at the worst-case scenario, not just the optimistic scenarios.”

Hamas Control

The greatest security threat may be in Gaza, where Hamas seized control in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian elections, defeating forces loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S. and the European Union.

Hamas, which rejects peace talks with Israel and opposes the 32-year-old peace treaty between the two nations, was founded in 1987 as an offshoot from Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, the strongest opposition group during Mubarak’s presidency.

Israel and Egypt both sealed off Gaza’s borders after Hamas took over, cutting off most civilian traffic and restricting trade with the territory. Israel has maintained a ground and sea blockade around Gaza ever since.

Egypt also enforced the blockade and occasionally cracked down on tunnel smugglers from its own side of the border, though limited exports and imports have been allowed in the past year.

Open Border?

Now the Muslim Brotherhood, banned in Egypt since 1954, hopes to open Egypt’s border with Gaza and raise the price Israel pays for Egyptian gas if it enters a coalition, said Essam El-Erian, a senior member of the group.

“The whole region is about to change,” he said in an interview. “We hope that the stupid policies that neglected the fact that Hamas ran and won a democratic election will also change. It’s time to see a real assimilation of what people want.”

Candidates from the Brotherhood won 20 percent of seats in Egypt’s parliamentary elections in 2005 even though the party was officially banned and the government closed polling stations in towns were it had widespread support. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to Cairo’s Tahrir Square a week after Mubarak’s fall to hear Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a cleric who aligns himself with the Brotherhood.

Hamas expects Egyptian policy toward Gaza to soften after the new elections, said Mustawa Sawaf, a professor of media studies at the Islamic University in Gaza who is affiliated with the group. Egypt’s ruling army council said Feb. 14 it will hand power to a democratically elected government within six months.

Free Passage Hopes

“These changes will have great influence in supporting the rights of the Palestinian people,” Sawaf said. “We hope, as residents of the Gaza Strip who are blockaded by Israel, to have free commercial passage with Egypt.”

Weshah learned about the Cairo protests from watching Egyptian television in a group room in the prison. He described a scene that night, 14 days before Mubarak’s ouster, in which inmates started banging on the walls and bars of their cells and then overpowered guards who responded to the uproar.

“It was very scary, with intensive gunfire and prisoners shot dead on the floor,” Weshah said. “We just kept running and followed some Egyptian prisoners who took us to a safe place.”

Weshah was one of nine Palestinians who made their way to Gaza after the jail break, according to interviews with them all. Another was Ayman Noufal, one of the top commanders of the Hamas militia known as the Al-Qassam Brigades. He had been held for three years. A Hamas spokesman declined to comment.

Rockets From Gaza

Palestinian militants have fired at least 30 rockets from Gaza since Feb. 1, said an Israeli army spokesman, speaking anonymously under military rules. Israeli forces have killed seven Palestinians in Gaza during the period, said Adham Abu Selmeya, emergency-services chief in the Gaza Health Ministry.

After a taxi ride from Cairo, Weshah continued north through the Sinai desert, dodging police roadblocks by walking around the barriers and then switching to a new cab. At the border town of Rafah, a smuggler guided him to a tunnel.

The desert he crossed, the demilitarized Sinai on Israel’s southern border, is becoming more dangerous. Restoration of the gas supply cut by the Feb. 5 explosion at a pipeline metering station, planned for March 4, was postponed after a shootout between “suspected terrorists” and Egyptian security forces that delayed testing on the repaired system, according to a March 3 report to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange by Ampal-American Israel (AMPL) Corp. Ampal has a 12.5 percent stake in pipeline owner East Mediterranean Gas Co.

Ampal Chairman Yosef Maiman in a March 1 interview called the explosion a terrorist attack.

Soldiers in Sinai

The Egyptian Oil Ministry said the blast appeared to have been set off by a gas leak. Israeli National Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau said the country must have energy security” and declined to speculate about who caused the explosion, said spokesman Chen Ben-Lulu.

The metering station is outside El-Arish, before the spot where the 100-kilometer (62-mile) pipeline splits into two branches bringing gas separately to Israel and to Jordan, Maiman spokesman Zeev Feiner said. He said the explosion was apparently set off by unidentified “terrorist elements,” declining to say how it was detonated.

The pipeline currently provides Israel with 2.5 billion cubic meters of gas a year, about $400 million worth, according to Israel Electric Corp. That is expected to rise to 7 billion cubic meters in 2014, Feiner said.

“Let’s not forget that the most important economic arrangement signed with Egypt since the peace agreement is the agreement on gas,” Landau said March 6 in an interview with Israel’s Army Radio. “When events in Egypt settle down, we hope and certainly want the supply of gas to resume.”

Egyptians Return to Cairo’s Tahrir Square to Underline Protests

By Vivian Salama and Maram Mazen

Bloomberg (Click here for original story)

CAIRO – Tens of thousands of Egyptians gathered in central Cairo today to reassert demands for change, one week after street protests led to the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, fueling similar demonstrations throughout the Middle East.

Salesmen offered souvenir t-shirts commemorating the protests that started on Jan. 25 to the crowds who packed into Tahrir square. Some carried photographs of people killed during the unrest and others followed regular Friday religious ceremonies with prayers for the dead.

Photo by Vivian Salama

The Health Ministry said yesterday that 365 people were killed during the demonstrations. The Egyptian army on Feb. 13 dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution, meeting demands made by the opposition movement that forced Mubarak from office two days earlier, and said it will rule Egypt until elections are held.

“I’m sure our demands will be met, but it’s better that we all come together again to show them that we’re serious,” said Mahmoud el Hady, a 23-year-old commerce student at Benha University, north of Cairo, who was wrapped in a red, white and black Egyptian flag. “Some people need to go from the old regime. We need to dismantle the national security forces.”

Demonstrations continued today in Bahrain, where people called for democracy and the fall of the government during a funeral procession for two men killed by security forces.

The dissent in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, follows the toppling of autocratic rulers by popular movements in Egypt and Tunisia and marks the spread of dissent into thePersian Gulf, where most of the Middle East’s oil is produced.

Libya, Yemen

The past week has also seen anti-government protests and clashes in Libya, Africa’s biggest holder of crude oil reserves, and Yemen, a producer of liquefied natural gas. Brent crude futures this week rose to the highest level since 2008.

The Egyptian Exchange has been closed since Jan. 27 after the biggest stock selloff in more than two years.

“We want the army to rule temporarily and then never to rule us again,” said Ali Bassam, 45, a physical education teacher. “We want anyone chosen by Hosni Mubarak to leave his position. This country has been a big prison for 30 years.”

Cairo Protesters Converge in Message Aimed at Defiant Mubarak

By Mariam Fam, Vivian Salama and Ahmed A Namatalla

Bloomberg (Click here for original story)

CAIRO – Egyptians converged on the presidential palace and Tahrir Square in Cairo vowing to topple President Hosni Mubarak after he yesterday defied calls for his resignation for the second time this month.

Military helicopters flew over the palace before dusk, in the suburb of Heliopolis, after state television said the presidency would issue an urgent message “soon.” Earlier, the army beefed up its deployment downtown as tens of thousands of demonstrators poured out of Friday prayers and into the square downtown, swelling the ranks of those who camped there overnight. State television said Mubarak had left the capital.

Photo by Vivian Salama

With the army today reiterating its support for Mubarak, attention is shifting to how far it will go as the protests gather momentum. The violence has already claimed more than 300 lives, Human Rights Watch says, and has sparked concern that further unrest will grip a region that holds more than 50 percent of the world’s known oil reserves. The protests were inspired by the revolt that ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on Jan. 14.

“The nightmare of a coup is very bad for everybody, for the young people, for the economy, and that’s the scenario we would like to avoid,” Finance Minister Samir Radwan said on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” program. “The military is highly disciplined, they have taken a decision not to fire at the young people, but of course this stalemate cannot continue forever.”

Emergency Law

A group of demonstrators gathered near the presidential palace and protests were also under way in the cities of Suez and Alexandria. Mubarak and his family left Cairo and arrived in the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, Al Arabiya television reported today.

The Supreme Military Council said today it will guarantee the implementation of the measures announced late yesterday in Mubarak’s televised speech, including constitutional changes and an eventual end to an emergency law that has marked his 30-year rule. In a sign the government may offer further concessions, the head of the ruling National Democratic Party, Hossam Badrawi, said today in an interview that an early presidential election may be possible.

Mubarak, 82, reiterated his intention to stay in office until the vote in September, while handing day-to-day powers to Vice President Omar Suleiman in a bid to placate opponents. Protesters erupted in a roar of disapproval as they listened to Mubarak’s evening address in Tahrir Square.

“In Cairo alone today it will be millions,” demonstrator Abdel Rahman Sabry, a 24-year-old engineering student, said in an interview. “Yesterday’s speech has really angered people. We tell him to go, he tells us: ‘I won’t go, you love me.’ Either he is crazy or we are crazy.”

Photo by Vivian Salama

‘Not Worthy’

As Muslims gathered in a mosque near Tahrir Square, the imam leading today’s prayers told them over a loudspeaker, “You are bringing down a corrupt regime that is not worthy of ruling you.”

The Supreme Military Council gathered yesterday before Mubarak’s speech to “safeguard the interests” of the nation, sparking speculation that a military takeover was in progress. The panel is now in permanent session, the first since the October 1973 war with Israel.

Global stocks fell for a third day, U.S. index futures declined, and the dollar and oil rose, after Mubarak spoke. The cost of insuring Egyptian government debt soared 42 basis points to 379, the biggest increase in two weeks, according to CMA prices. Egypt’s 10-year bond yield jumped 29 basis points. The global depositary receipts of Commercial International Bank Egypt SAE, Egypt’s largest publicly traded lender, fell the most this month, dropping 7.2 percent to $5.65.

“We were all hoping that the statement by the president yesterday should calm things down, but obviously it hasn’t,” Radwan told the BBC. “That makes for a very difficult situation where things continue to deteriorate.”

Mubarak Divides Egypt Opposition to Retain Hold on Power as Protests Fade

By Vivian Salama and Glen Carey

Bloomberg (click here for original story)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who may have won concessions yesterday allowing him to serve the rest of his mandate, did so with the same tactics that kept him in office since 1981: Divide and conquer the opposition.

“The regime is really good at what it does,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center. “It’s very good at dividing the opposition. That’s its skill and we’ve been seeing it for 30 years.”

Vice President Omar Suleiman and opposition groups agreed to conclude studying constitutional amendments by the first week of March and form a committee to oversee progress, according to a statement distributed in Cairo yesterday.

The opposition, which ranges from the Muslim Brotherhood, to the socialist Tagammu party, may struggle to gain a foothold in Egypt’s political system as years of government marginalization and internal divisions weakened them. The Wafd party, billionaire Naguib Sawiris and some representatives of the country’s youth also attended the meeting.

Concern that turmoil in Egypt would spread sent the Dubai Financial Market General Index down 4.3 percent on Jan. 30. Since then, the measure has recovered and was little changed today at 1,605.72 at 12:48 p.m. The cost of insuring Egypt’s debt for five years with credit-default swaps closed at 380 basis points on Feb. 4 after hitting 430 on Jan. 28, the highest since April 2009, CMA prices in London show.

‘Gaining Momentum’

Mubarak appointed Suleiman on Jan. 29, his first vice president since he came to power. Mubarak’s declaration Feb. 1 that he will step down later this year failed to appease protesters who want him to quit immediately, and prompted a call from President Barack Obama for the transition to “begin now.” Mubarak said he’ll stay on to ensure “stability.”

The protests, which grew from Jan. 25 to Feb. 1, were shaken on Feb. 2 after the army didn’t move to prevent Mubarak supporters from battling demonstrators, some of them charging into Tahrir Square on horseback. The two sides spent the next two days hurling rocks, bottles and concrete chunks at each other. About 300 people have died in the clashes, according to the United Nations.

Police last year detained hundreds of supporters campaigning for the Muslim Brotherhood in the run-up to a parliamentary election, in what the movement said was part of an effort to drive it out of politics. The Brotherhood said Nov. 22 that police had detained more than 1,200 of its supporters.

“Suleiman is gaining political momentum and enjoys a clear advantage in terms of his ability to negotiate favorable terms,” Hani Sabra, a Middle East analyst at Eurasia Group in New York, said in a note to clients. He’s “already been successful in splitting off the soft Mubarak opponents.”

Armchair Interview

Sabra said Suleiman’s Feb. 3 interview with Egyptian state television, in which he sat in an armchair and said he had heard the protesters demands, may have led some to believe the government is serious about making changes.

“The protesters are amorphous,” Sabra said. “Suleiman is pursuing a divide-and-conquer strategy.”

In the same Feb. 3 address, Suleiman split the opposition by saying that talks would be held with willing parties and not the Muslim Brotherhood because of its reluctance to negotiate. The group later changed its stance and attended the talks.

Fragmented Opposition

Photo by Vivian Salama

Diluting the opposition’s influence are the many voices with which it speaks. On some occasions, the same party has held different views. Yesterday, for example, Mohamed Saad El- Katatni, a member of Muslim Brotherhood’s top executive body, said keeping Mubarak in power while changes are made is a “safer option” to win implementation.

Three hours later, Mohammed Morsey, another spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood, said they still wanted Mubarak gone. “We’re in the field, and we’re in the dialogue, there’s no contradiction,” he said.

Youth organizations, including a group called the April 6, initiated the original Jan. 25 demonstration that started the uprising. The speed with which the rally grew in size blurred party lines so that no single group speaks for the all.

“The opposition is fragmented,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a professor of politics at the United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain. “The opposition is not the one who speaks for the Y2K generation.”

The agreement forged yesterday may not represent some of those who packed into Tahrir Square for a 13th day of protests.

No Alternative

“We all insist that there is no alternative to Mubarak stepping down,” said Ahmed Maher, who led a group of youth gathering in the square. “Those meeting with the regime do not represent us and they cannot move the people.”

In the last presidential election in 2005, Mubarak won 88 percent of the votes. Ayman Nour, who ran a distant second, was jailed in December 2005 for four years on fraud charges.

Mohamed ElBaradei, 68, the Nobel Prize winner who formerly ran the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency, has emerged as a surprise face of the opposition. Still, having spent most of his adult life outside of the country, he has none of the organizational structure that other groups have.

“The opposition’s weakness was greatly caused by their inability to be united,” said Samer S. Shehata, assistant professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University in Washington. “The only thing that united them is that Mubarak must leave. Once they abandon that they risk basic goals that they want to realize.”