The White House reiterated its call for immediate reforms in Egypt Wednesday, Feb. 9, saying that the reforms had not been sufficient so far. The demonstrations that do not weaken after more than two weeks of revolt mean that progress in the political transition promised by the authorities does not meet the "minimum" of expectations of the Egyptians, "said the spokesman of President Barack Obama, Robert Gibbs.
In Cairo, where tensions are still living, hundreds of protesters tried Wednesday to block access to the Parliament and government headquarters, protected by soldiers and tanks. The protests also hit El Kharga, a town 400 kilometers south of Cairo, where five people injured yesterday in clashes between demonstrators and police who used live bullets, died Wednesday, according to medical sources.
There was also a hundred injured. A political protest have been compounded by strikes over wages or working conditions in the arsenals of Port Said, in private companies working on the Suez Canal or the Cairo airport. This new U.S. statement was strongly criticized by the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
"When you talk about quick and immediate change to a great country like Egypt, with which you have always maintained the best relationships, you impose your will," he said in an interview with U.S. television network PBS. Hosni Mubarak assured last week that he would leave office, but he refused to do so for fear of "chaos" to settle in his country.
"Try to understand sensitivity Egyptian and better encourage the Egyptians to move forward and do what is necessary. That's what I recommend," said Gheit against the United States, but considered that there would be no hitch sustainable relationship between the two allies. "Egypt is one of the largest Arab country, if not the most important.
We must help Egypt to regain its position and continue to work together to stabilize the region," he pleaded . Mr. Gheit acknowledged that the Egyptian government had been taken by surprise by the protest, but rejected the parallel with Tunisia, where President Ben Ali went into exile in early January.
Tunisia was "a smaller company subject to a strict behavior" while Egypt "has for decades been an open society" as regards the media, the minister said. The United States has also encouraged the Egyptian army to "continue to exercise the same restraint it has shown in recent days," in the words of spokesman for the State Department, Philip Crowley.
The British daily The Guardian reported testimony accusing the military of having been held incommunicado hundreds of demonstrators and to have tortured some. Shortly before, Ahmed Aboul Gheit had been threatening, ensuring that the Egyptian army could intervene in case of chaos "to take things in hand", while the tension is still very alive in the country.
"Aboul Gheit called for the preservation of the Constitution to prevent the country from descending into chaos," recounts an interview with the Minister to Al-Arabiya. His statements follow on the speech of Vice-President, Omar Suleiman. Tuesday night, he warned that if the demonstrators did not sit at the negotiating table, the country could be a thank you to the coup, leading to chaos.
To add to this confusion, the new Minister of Culture, Gaber Asfour, announced Wednesday, Feb. 9 that he had resigned, days after his appointment during a cabinet reshuffle carried out under the pressure of events. Faced with pressure from the street, President Hosni Mubarak announced on Monday 31 January, the formation of a new government, very similar to the previous.
Only the departure of Interior Minister, claimed by the protesters, had been a remarkable change. 
In Cairo, where tensions are still living, hundreds of protesters tried Wednesday to block access to the Parliament and government headquarters, protected by soldiers and tanks. The protests also hit El Kharga, a town 400 kilometers south of Cairo, where five people injured yesterday in clashes between demonstrators and police who used live bullets, died Wednesday, according to medical sources.
There was also a hundred injured. A political protest have been compounded by strikes over wages or working conditions in the arsenals of Port Said, in private companies working on the Suez Canal or the Cairo airport. This new U.S. statement was strongly criticized by the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
"When you talk about quick and immediate change to a great country like Egypt, with which you have always maintained the best relationships, you impose your will," he said in an interview with U.S. television network PBS. Hosni Mubarak assured last week that he would leave office, but he refused to do so for fear of "chaos" to settle in his country.
"Try to understand sensitivity Egyptian and better encourage the Egyptians to move forward and do what is necessary. That's what I recommend," said Gheit against the United States, but considered that there would be no hitch sustainable relationship between the two allies. "Egypt is one of the largest Arab country, if not the most important.
We must help Egypt to regain its position and continue to work together to stabilize the region," he pleaded . Mr. Gheit acknowledged that the Egyptian government had been taken by surprise by the protest, but rejected the parallel with Tunisia, where President Ben Ali went into exile in early January.
Tunisia was "a smaller company subject to a strict behavior" while Egypt "has for decades been an open society" as regards the media, the minister said. The United States has also encouraged the Egyptian army to "continue to exercise the same restraint it has shown in recent days," in the words of spokesman for the State Department, Philip Crowley.
The British daily The Guardian reported testimony accusing the military of having been held incommunicado hundreds of demonstrators and to have tortured some. Shortly before, Ahmed Aboul Gheit had been threatening, ensuring that the Egyptian army could intervene in case of chaos "to take things in hand", while the tension is still very alive in the country.
"Aboul Gheit called for the preservation of the Constitution to prevent the country from descending into chaos," recounts an interview with the Minister to Al-Arabiya. His statements follow on the speech of Vice-President, Omar Suleiman. Tuesday night, he warned that if the demonstrators did not sit at the negotiating table, the country could be a thank you to the coup, leading to chaos.
To add to this confusion, the new Minister of Culture, Gaber Asfour, announced Wednesday, Feb. 9 that he had resigned, days after his appointment during a cabinet reshuffle carried out under the pressure of events. Faced with pressure from the street, President Hosni Mubarak announced on Monday 31 January, the formation of a new government, very similar to the previous.
Only the departure of Interior Minister, claimed by the protesters, had been a remarkable change.
- Analysis: Mubarak defies crowd, pushes Egypt to the brink (11/02/2011)
- Egypt, WAR or Peace? (07/02/2011)
- 'A Soft Military Coup Takes Place In Egypt' (10/02/2011)
- The One Person Who May Know What Egypt's Generals Will Do - TIME (31/01/2011)
- The One Person Who May Know What Egypt's Generals Will Do (30/01/2011)
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