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Mubarak Forms Committees to Oversee Reforms

   VOA News  February 08, 2011
   A boy holds an Egyptian flag next to anti-Mubarak protesters at Tahrir
   Square in Cairo, Egypt, February 6, 2011

Photo: AP

   A boy holds an Egyptian flag next to anti-Mubarak protesters at Tahrir
   Square in Cairo, Egypt, February 6, 2011

   Egypt says its embattled President Hosni Mubarak has formed committees
   to  oversee  democratic  reforms, as mass protests against his near-30
   year rule enter a third week.
   In  a  brief  televised  address Tuesday, Vice President Omar Suleiman
   said Tuesday Mr. Mubarak has issued decrees establishing one committee
   to  draft  constitutional  reforms  and  a second committee to monitor
   their  implementation.  The  reforms are aimed at relaxing eligibility
   rules  for  the  presidency and imposing term limits -- key demands of
   Egypt's opposition.
   Suleiman  said  Mr.  Mubarak  has  also  formed  a  third committee to
   investigate  deadly  fighting  last  week  between  his supporters and
   anti-government  activists in Cairo's Tahrir Square. There was no word
   on who will sit on the committees or how they will be chosen.
   Protests continue 
   Thousands of anti-Mubarak activists occupied the square for a 15th day
   Tuesday,  in  their  campaign to force an immediate resignation of the
   president. Mr. Mubarak has responded to the protests by declaring that
   he will not run for a sixth term in a September election.
   Many   protesters  have  dismissed  the  government's  concessions  as
   superficial,  but  fear  they  will  weaken  public  support for their
   movement. Protest leaders called for a mass demonstration later in the
   day to maintain pressure on Mr. Mubarak to quit.
   Cabinet meeting 
   In  another  gesture,  Egypt's  newly-appointed Cabinet held its first
   meeting  with  Mr.  Mubarak  Monday  and  approved a 15-percent salary
   increase for millions of civil servants, beginning in April.
   Vice  President  Suleiman  discussed the government's proposed reforms
   with  members  of  Egypt's  Muslim  Brotherhood  and  other opposition
   figures  on  Sunday,  the first time a senior official has held such a
   dialogue with the opposition.
   But,  Suleiman  has  rejected their demand for Mr. Mubarak's immediate
   resignation,  saying  the  president  must  remain in office until the
   September election to facilitate preparations for the vote.
   Wikileaks 
   U.S.  diplomatic  cables  leaked  by the WikiLeaks websites say Israel
   views  Suleiman as its preferred successor to Mr. Mubarak. A 2008 memo
   provided  by  WikiLeaks  to Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper quotes
   U.S.  diplomats  as saying there is "no question" that Israel is "most
   comfortable" with the prospect of a Suleiman presidency.
   Mr. Mubarak appointed Suleiman as his first-ever deputy on January 29.
   Suleiman  had  served  for years as the president's intelligence chief
   and   has  been  Israel's  main  point  of  contact  in  the  Egyptian
   government.  Egypt  is  one  of  only two Arab nations to have a peace
   treaty with the Jewish state.
   The  United  Nations says protest-related violence in Egypt has killed
   more than 300 people since January 25.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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