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Friday, February 11, 2011

India, Pakistan Agree to Resume Peace Talks - Salt Lake Tribune

India, Pakistan Agree to Resume Peace Talks The Washington Post

First published 1 hour ago
Updated 38 minutes ago Updated Feb 10, 2011 07:19PM New Delhi • India and Pakistan agreed Thursday to resume formal peace talks that were broken off after the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which were blamed on Pakistan-based militants. The decision could ease tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals and was welcomed by the Obama administration.

The United States has urged the Indian government to resume the dialogue with Pakistan, in part because their rivalry undermines efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. There has been a string of meetings in the past year between officials from both sides, but Thursday’s announcement of a dialogue “on all issues” marks a significant step forward, regional experts said.

It also represents something of a concession by India, which had been pressing Pakistan to bring to justice those responsible for the November 2008 attack on Mumbai, India’s financial hub, when gunmen stormed luxury hotels and a Jewish center, killing 166 people.

Retired Indian Maj. Gen. Ashok Mehta, who has convened informal talks involving retired military and foreign service officials, as well as opinion leaders, from both countries, said India had realized how hard it was for Pakistan to comply with that demand, given the reluctance of judges there to prosecute suspected militants and the reluctance of witnesses to come forward.

“The conditions India imposed in the aftermath of Mumbai were dictated by domestic political compulsions,” Mehta said. “Now that more than two years have passed, we ourselves have realized the conditions have to be watered down, and that is precisely what we have done.”

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Korean Talks End Without Agreement - Wall Street Journal

SEOUL—Midlevel military officials from South and North Korea ended two days of talks Wednesday without agreeing to higher-level discussions, closing for now a slim opening they had created to discuss a flare-up of tensions over the past year.

The outcome wasn't surprising. Statements from the two countries over the past month showed they held vastly different goals for the meeting, and they took several weeks just to negotiate its particulars.

Kim Tae-Hyung/European Pressphoto Agency South Korean Col. Moon Sang-Kyun, left, and North Korean Col. Ri Seon-Kwon walking briskly to their meeting Wednesday

But the prospect of no further talks leaves the U.S., China and other countries in a quandary over how to proceed with North Korea.

The U.S. watched the proceedings for signs that North Korea was willing to discuss difficult issues, which could make it worthwhile for Washington to re-engage with Pyongyang diplomatically. Asked later about the development, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said, "We'll just continue to evaluate what unfolds going forward, but clearly, this was an important opportunity for North Korea to demonstrate its sincerity."

China, North Korea's closest ally, is believed by many outsiders to have pressured it into talking. Beijing is thought to have become angry over Pyongyang's belligerence, most notably after its attack on a South Korean island in November.

Military talks between the rival Korea's stall, dealing a setback to efforts to restart international aid-for-disarmament talks. Video courtesy of Reuters.

North Korea's access to China's economic support may hinge on its ability to demonstrate it isn't going to engage in more tension-raising behavior, said Dan Pinkston, Korea analyst at International Crisis Group in Seoul. "The key question is will this be perceived by the Chinese as a legitimate and sincere effort by the North to reconcile with the South?" Mr. Pinkston said.

The talks, held between colonels of the two sides who had met before, most recently in September, were designed to set conditions and talking points for a meeting of higher-level officials later this month or next. But after the colonels met on Tuesday, a difference was clear. South Korea said it was seeking a ministerial-level meeting while North Korea only wanted deputy ministers to meet.

Yonhap/European Pressphoto Agency The two colonels started Wednesday's talk with a shake but ended without an agreement.

Also, South Korea wanted North Korea to acknowledge—and move toward some form of apology for—its attacks on the South last year, including the Nov. 23 artillery barrage of Yeonpyeong Island, which killed four people, and the March 26 sinking of a patrol ship, which killed 46. Both incidents happened in the area of a maritime boundary that North Korea disputes.

North Korea's representatives at the talks on Tuesday said that South Korea's insistence on talking about those matters amounted to a rejection of the importance of discussions. On Wednesday, North Korea again criticized the South for focusing on the attacks, the South said. North Korea's representative also repeated the country's oft-stated line on the attacks: that it wasn't involved in the sinking and that the island bombardment was the South's fault.

In a statement after the meeting broke up, South Korea's defense ministry said, "We kept our position that we are willing to hold a high-level military talk if North Korea accepts our agenda and level of official."

North Korea on Thursday Asia time issued a lengthy statement blaming South Korea for the collapse of the talks and said it didn't feel any need to meet again. "South Korea pretends to be interested in talk with us, but in their minds they are not," the statement said.

In early January North Korea began a campaign to promote inter-Korean talks, which it officially proposed later in the month. But from the start, its purpose for such discussions was at odds with South Korea's. North Korea's state media repeatedly stated that the talks should "promote the national reconciliation and unity and hasten independent reunification," a phrase that to Pyongyang means control of the South by the North.

That notion is considered ridiculous in the South. But because North Korean officials rarely want face-to-face discussions, South Korea grabs most opportunities, even when little is expected to be achieved. Last week, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak described this week's meeting as merely a test of North Korea's "seriousness for dialogue."

— Jaeyeon Woo contributed to this article.

Write to Evan Ramstad at evan.ramstad@wsj.com

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India, Pakistan to hold talks on all issues - The Hindu

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India, Pakistan to hold talks on all issues

Sandeep Dikshit The agreement was reached between Nirupama Rao and Salman Bashir in Thimphu

Secretary-level talks will be held on eight subjects

Issues include counter-terrorism, Kashmir and Siachen

NEW DELHI: Short of calling it composite dialogue, India and Pakistan have agreed to hold wide-ranging talks on all issues they were discussing before the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, according to a simultaneous announcement in both countries.

The agreement was reached during a 90-minute meeting on Sunday between Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Thimphu on the sidelines of a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting. The details were revealed on Thursday after both sides had briefed their governments.

Secretary-level talks will be held on eight subjects which will be followed by a wrap up round between the Foreign Secretaries. These will be followed by a meeting here between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi by July.

The subjects on which talks will be held are counter-terrorism (progress in Mumbai trial included), humanitarian issues, peace and security, including confidence building measures, Jammu and Kashmir, promotion of friendly exchanges, Siachen, economic issues and the Wullar Barrage/Tulbul Navigation Project. The issue of Sir Creek will be discussed at the level of Additional Secretaries or Surveyors-General.

Composite dialogue covering these issues was resumed in 2004 after a summit meeting, incidentally, on the sidelines of a SAARC summit in Islamabad. After completion of four rounds and considerable narrowing of differences as well as progress on many issues, it was put on hold by India following the Mumbai attacks.

With the law of diminishing returns having set in on India's insistence of comprehensive action against Pakistan-based perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks and India's moral high ground having been eroded by the complicity of its nationals in the Samjhauta Express blasts that killed 42 Pakistanis, the Indian side has been consistently indicating a “new approach” in which “all issues will be discussed.”

Afghanistan

Interestingly, speaking to the media in Thimphu, Ms. Rao had hinted at the talks incorporating a new subject — Afghanistan. “Why not? One of the ideas that came up was that why should we be just stuck with discussing these issues, why cannot we discuss more issues? Why cannot we discuss the situation in our region,” Ms. Rao said when asked whether both sides were prepared to discuss coordination of positions on Afghanistan.

Indian officials refused to get stuck in terminology and maintained that while this was no composite dialogue, bilateral ties were such that all issues had to be discussed. “And when you say all outstanding issues are going to be discussed, you will obviously have to discuss every outstanding issue. Therefore, who discusses the outstanding issues? There are a number of stakeholders. A number of government departments would be concerned. So, it has to be a comprehensive exercise, put it that way,” reasoned Ms. Rao.

The decision to resume dialogue on all subjects following the Rao-Bashir meeting is being termed the second Thimphu thaw. The first took place in April last year when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani directed their Foreign Ministers and Foreign Secretaries to hold talks aimed at reducing the trust deficit between the two countries.

While Mr. Krishna and Mr. Qureshi did meet in Islamabad in July, their concurrence on some issues was lost in a post-interaction acrimony. The two sides then kept minimal contacts until the Foreign Offices began consulting each other regularly over the past few weeks in the run-up to the Thimphu meeting between Ms. Rao and Mr. Bashir.

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Mideast upheaval to alter peace talks - Xinhua

by Adam Gonn

JERUSALEM Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- With the world's media focused on the street protests in Egypt that now has entered their 17th day, observers are asking whether the Israeli-Palestinian peace process will be put on the backburner because all eyes are on Egypt.

Following the successful ousting of Tunisian President Zine al- Abidine Ben Ali three weeks ago, a wave of popular protests have been sweeping the Middle East with large-scale demonstrations in Egypt, Jordan and Yemen calling for regime change.

Ever since direct Palestinian-Israeli peace talks started in the early 1990s, they have been grabbing headlines across the world. However, with the process mired in stalemate for the last couple of years, fears are rising that it will slip from the consciousness of world leaders at a time when it needs their involvement perhaps more than ever.

Analysts that spoke to Xinhua said that the protests in Egypt and across the region will definitely in the near future receive more attention, but in the long run could lead to a stronger Palestinian position against Israel, if Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak steps down.

STRONGER PALESTINIAN POSITION

Palestinian analyst Hani Masri said that while the peace process is dead at the moment, once the dust settles in Egypt there will be a new reality. That will affect the talks in a positive way for the Palestinians.

"It will be difficult (for Israel) to continue in the same way as before because the Palestinian stand will be stronger and they will be able to reject Israeli positions," Masri said.

"When Egypt becomes a democracy, this will help the Palestinian issue because it will show us that the Egyptian people can rule themselves," he said, adding that this would be better for the Palestinians than the Mubarak regime.

Asked if what is happening in Egypt could spread to Jordan, the only other Arab state that has a peace treaty with Israel, Masri said that it might be possible but that "Jordan has some national characteristics that are not present in Egypt," which makes the situation in Jordan more complicated. Jordan's King Abdullah II has already made some government changes following events in Egypt.

Looking forward, Masri said that what is needed now is another "serious" peace process, but it will take some time before that happens. He said one of the most important preparations for a new process will be the unification of the Arab and Palestinian positions so that a united front can be presented against Israel.

INTERNAL UPHEAVAL

Prof. Mohammed Dajani, director of the American Studies Institute at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem told Xinhua that in the long run the protests in Egypt will have a positive impact on the peace process and the Palestinian people.

"Egypt is one of the leading Arab countries so whatever events that take place in Egypt affects the region; it has a very strong ripple effect on the countries around it, particularly on the Arab countries," he said.

Dajani believes that Egypt has played a very big part in the peace process and what's happening in Egypt is connected to the peace process. He pointed out that some of the slogans being heard during demonstrations in Cairo - such as "Revolution until victory " - are old Palestinian slogans from the 1960s.

While most commentators have said that protests in Egypt are solely focused on domestic issues, Dajani disagreed.

"It's not only about food and about jobs," he said. "It's also about dignity, about peace, about what is happening in the area and about not just being followers of other big countries."

Dajani agreed with Masri that Egypt's future part in the peace process will be more "moderate," which may bring "equity and balance of the players" that are the main actors in the process.

The protests in Egypt may not only affect inter-governmental relations. According to Dajani, they may also inspire people in the West Bank and Gaza to protest against both the Israeli and government and Palestinian leadership.

"I do believe that in the near future the frustration with the peace process, as well as the frustration with economy and political situation might also lead to protests here," he said.

He added that issues such as the continued Israeli occupation and land grabbing as well as corruption in Palestine would act as "drops adding and then over-spilling."

GAME CHANGER

Gad Gilbar, professor of Middle East modern history at the University of Haifa, said that what is happening in Egypt will not only have a profound effect on the peace process but on the region as a whole.

However, Gilbar also pointed out that predictions about what will happen in Egypt and how that might affect the region are still very speculative since the situation is changing on a daily basis.

He said that one of the earliest assumptions - that Mubarak would step down - has still not happened and that it may take anything from two months to two years before we know what is happening in Egypt.

If the Muslim Brotherhood, which opposes the Egyptian peace treaty with Israel, will be given power in a future government then "we can forget about the peace process," Gilbar said.

Dr. Maha Azzam, an associate fellow at Middle East and North Africa Program at the British think-tank Chatham House, believes that popular protests in Egypt and other countries across the Middle East will grab some of the attention from the Israel- Palestinian peace process.

"Inevitably what is happening in the region is going to take much attention of the people in the region, and also of the U.S.," Azzam said.

However, in order to have stability in the region there is a need to keep a close eye on what's happening with the Israeli- Palestinian issue, Azzam added.

Azzam agreed that events in Egypt will affect the way the Palestinian people view and judge their own leadership, which will lead to demands for greater accountability and transparency.

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Thursday, February 10, 2011

Scepticism abounds as rival Koreas meet for talks - Reuters Africa

(Writes through)

By Jeremy Laurence

SEOUL Feb 8 (Reuters) - Military officers from the rival Koreas met at their heavily armed border on Tuesday for their first talks since North Korea attacked a southern island in November, with analysts sceptical about the North's motives.

The talks clear one of the roadblocks to a possible resumption of six-way talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear-weapons programme, last held more than two years ago when the North walked out, announcing the process dead.

North Korean Colonel Ri Son-kwon patted his counterpart from the South, Col. Moon Sang-gyun, on the shoulder and they shook hands before they started negotiations at the Panmunjom truce village, video footage showed. They have met several times over the years.

"When they (North Korea) need something, which usually means money, they first drive tensions high, then switch to the charm offensive and start talks in order to get something," said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea expert at Kookmin University in Seoul.

"If they do not get what they need, they turn the switch back to the confrontational mood."

The meeting is the first between the rivals since November, when the North bombarded the island of Yeonpyeong in disputed waters off the west coast killing four people. Continued...

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Monday, February 7, 2011

North Korean fishing boat seized by South Korea navy ahead of military talks - Telegraph.co.uk

Last month, South Korea's president Lee Myung-bak said he had not ruled out meeting his counterpart Kim Jong-il. Photo: REUTERS

The incident comes as North and South Korea prepares to hold preliminary 'icebreaker' military-to-military talks on Tuesday to discuss ways of reducing tensions after a year of military exchanges and angry rhetoric between the rival Koreas.

The wooden boat containing 20 women and 11 men was picked up in the Yellow Sea on Saturday close to Yeonpyeong Island where two civilians and two South Korean marines were killed in last November's artillery bombardment.

The North Korean were not family members but part of a "work group", according to the official Yonhap news agency, and had told their interrogators that they were "not willing to remain" in South Korea.

"Our navy captured the boat and the people are being investigated," a Defense Ministry official told the Associated Press in the capital Seoul, adding there was no immediate plans to send the people back.

South Korea has seen a rapid rise in the number of North Korean defectors over the last five years, as North Korea's economy deteriorates to crisis-levels in the face of economic mismanagement and severe UN sanctions imposed after its illegal nuclear weapons and missile tests.

Tuesday's colonel-level talks at the border village of Panmunjom are expected to pave the way for possible defence minister level engagement later this year. Last month, South Korea's president Lee Myung-bak said he had not ruled out meeting his counterpart Kim Jong-il.

The discussions come after a sudden softening of the diplomatic line from North Korea last month offering unconditional talks with the South, however analysts caution that deep suspicions remain between the two sides.

The dialogue comes after diplomatic pressure from China which wants an early resumption of the Six Party nuclear disarmament talks that North Korea walked out of in 2009.

South Korea, backed by the US and Japan, has said it will only resume substantive negotiations with North Korea if it shows it is "sincere" about giving up its nuclear weapons, which many analysts think very unlikely.

South Korea also wants Pyongyang to apologise for the bombardment of Yeonpyeong and for the torpedoing of its warship, the Cheonan last March with the loss of 46 lives – an incident for North Korea denies responsibility.

North Korea is expected to use the talks process to try and bring diplomatic relations back to the point where channels for the food and fuel aid it desperately needs for its economy, can be reopened.

"The discussions during the meeting may help give us a cue on the North's intentions and the overall climate for dialogue," a defence ministry spokesman told the AFP new agency.

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After First Talks, Egypt Opposition Vows New Protest - New York Times

Soliman Oteifi/Associated PressVice President Omar Suleiman of Egypt, center back, met with leaders of Egyptian parties and the Muslim brotherhood leadership in Cairo on Sunday. More Photos »

CAIRO — Leaders of the Egyptian democracy movement vowed Sunday to escalate their pressure for the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, even as his government portrayed itself as already in the midst of American-approved negotiations to end the uprising.

Egyptians React to U.S. Policy

Vice President Omar Suleiman of Egypt, at the meeting. More Photos »

With the revolt entering its third week on Monday, several thousand protesters remained camped out in the central square that has been the epicenter of the uprising. While their numbers seemed smaller than on previous days, the protesters mustered enough support to form a human chain blocking entrance to the Mugamma, a huge edifice on Tahrir Square built in the 1950s to house the city’s labyrinthine bureaucracy — a central part of everyday life.

Outside the square, the authorities struggled to restore a kind of normalcy, with traffic flowing and snarling, and businesses reopening. But armored vehicles remained outside some government buildings and plans to reopen the stock exchange were postponed. News reports said the government, reorganized by President Mubarak in the early days of the uprising, would assemble on Monday for its first formal meeting.

On Sunday, the government announced that the transition had begun with a meeting between Vice President Omar Suleiman and two representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood, the outlawed Islamist group the Egyptian government has sought to repress for many years as a threat to stability. They met as part of a group of about 50 prominent Egyptians and opposition figures, including officials of the small, recognized opposition parties, as well as a handful of young people who helped start the protest movement.

While both sides acknowledged the meeting as unprecedented, its significance quickly became another skirmish in the battle between the president and the protesters. Mr. Suleiman released a statement — widely reported on state television and instantly a focal point in Washington — declaring that the meeting had produced a “consensus” about a path to reform, including the promise to form a committee to recommend constitutional changes by early March. The other elements echoed pledges Mr. Mubarak had already made, including a limit on how many terms a president can serve.

Leaders of the protest movement, including both its youthful members and Brotherhood officials, denounced Mr. Suleiman’s portrayal of the meeting as a political ploy intended to suggest that some in their ranks were collaborating.

Though the movement has only a loose leadership, it has coalesced around a unified set of demands, centered on Mr. Mubarak’s resignation, but also including the dissolution of one-party rule and revamping the Constitution that protected it, and Mr. Suleiman gave no ground on any of those demands.

“We did not come out with results,” said Mohamed Morsy, a Brotherhood leader who attended, while others explained that the Brotherhood had attended only to reiterate its demands and show openness to dialogue.

The standoff over the meeting underscored the conflicting narratives about the next chapter of the revolt that has shaken Egypt and the wider Arab world.

Each side claimed that it had emerged from the last 12 days as a survivor — unarmed protesters repulsed assaults first by police officers in riot gear and then by pro-Mubarak gangs in plain clothes, but Mr. Mubarak still emerged from a week of demonstrations that brought hundreds of thousands into the streets with his position and his Western support still intact. And while the government hailed what it called a return to normalcy, the protesters vowed that there was no turning back.

To rebut Mr. Suleiman’s claims of consensus, a group of young organizers whose Facebook page fomented the revolt — a half-dozen scruffy-looking doctors, lawyers and other professionals in their early 30s — stepped forward publicly for the first time. At least three had been released just the night before from three days of extra-legal detention at the hands of Mr. Mubarak’s police, and they vowed to escalate their movement. “The government played all the dirty games that they had, and the people persisted,” said Shady el-Ghazaly Harb, a 32-year-old surgeon. “We are betting on the people.”

More than 100,000 turned out again on Sunday in the capital’s central Tahrir Square — more than expected as the work week resumed here. And some of the movement’s young organizers, who were busy meeting to organize their many small groups into a unified structure, said they were considering more large-scale demonstrations in other cities, strikes or acts of civil disobedience like surrounding the state television headquarters.

David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Cairo, and David E. Sanger from Washington. Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo.

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Sunday, February 6, 2011

US noncommittal on Muslim group joining talks - Washington Post

MUNICH -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Obama administration will withhold judgment on the decision by Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood to engage in dialogue with the embattled government of President Hosni Mubarak.

In an interview airing Sunday on National Public Radio, Clinton was noncommittal about the fundamentalist group's role in talks to try to end Egypt's political crisis, but she said the decision suggests "at least they are now involved."

Clinton says the U.S. has been very clear about what it expects in the transition process to a new government in Egypt.

The United States, she says, along with the people of Egypt want so see an orderly transition that leads to free and fair elections.

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Muslim Brotherhood joins Egypt crisis talks - CNN

Muslim Brotherhood, VP Suleiman to meetNEW: Official says bank has imposed restrictions on withdrawals by individuals, but not by companiesMuslim protesters say they will encircle Christians protesters to protect them during MassThe Muslim Brotherhood says it is meeting with Egypt's vice president on SundayMubarak's foes question the resignation of his party's leaders

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Anti-government protesters took to the streets for the 13th day Sunday as the government showed signs of cracking and ripples of normalcy slowly swept across Egypt.

Christians planned a Mass in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday afternoon, anti-government protesters in the square said.

Muslim protesters said they would form a ring around the Christians to protect them during the service. The Mass planned for 2 p.m. (7 a.m. ET) will pay tribute to those killed during clashes.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood said it will meet with Vice President Omar Suleiman on Sunday. Days earlier, the group had said it would not negotiate until President Hosni Mubarak leaves office.

"We did not change our stance. We decided to take the people's demands to the negotiation table," said Essam el-Erian, a spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood is an opposition Islamist umbrella group that is officially banned but tolerated in Egypt.

It's the latest development in national political talks after key members of the embattled ruling National Democratic Party resigned Saturday, state television reported. The resignation was the strongest gesture yet to placate angry Egyptians who have been protesting for almost two weeks,

Meanwhile, some banks opened for the first time since January 27 -- two days after protests began. About 50 people lined up outside a bank in Cairo, while other banks were less crowded or remained closed.

The nation's central bank imposed restrictions on withdrawals by individuals, but not by companies, said Ahmed Ismail, manager of the Abu Dhabi National Bank.

Anti-government protesters have said they will continue demonstrating until Mubarak steps down. But the embattled Mubarak, however, remained in his position as head of the party's higher council and as head of state despite popular demands that he relinquish power immediately.

Mubarak's son, Gamal, was among those who resigned from party posts, meaning that he is no longer eligible to take over after his father.

Mubarak has already announced he will not seek re-election in a September vote. Gamal Mubarak's resignation effectively puts to rest a widespread belief that the embattled president was preparing for a dynastic handover.

The United States has been mounting pressure on Mubarak to step aside. On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at a security conference in Germany, said it is "important to follow the transition process announced by the Egyptian government, actually headed by Vice President Omar Suleiman."

U.S. President Barack Obama, in phone calls with foreign leaders Saturday, emphasized the importance of an "orderly, peaceful transition" to a government that is "responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people."

The diplomatic official who delivered a message from the Obama administration to Egypt's leadership this week, however, said Mubarak "remains utterly critical in the days ahead as we sort our way toward the future" and must stay in office.

Changes are needed in Egypt to pave the way for a smooth transition, and "the president must stay in office in order to steer those changes through," said Frank Wisner, a former ambassador to Egypt. "It's his opportunity to write his own legacy."

U.S. officials emphasized that Wisner was speaking for himself, as an expert on the region, and not for the Obama administration.

Some demonstrators said the resignations were a "sedative" move by Mubarak to appease the people.

"This is just one silly attempt to calm down the street, but the regime is still there," said Sameh Bakri in the city of Suez. "They don't want to get straight to the point and resolve the real problem."

The shakeup was announced almost two weeks into Egypt's tumult as thousands of demonstrators held their ground. Last week, deadly clashes broke out in Cairo between pro-Mubarak and anti-Mubarak demonstrators as Molotov cocktails and chunks of concrete flew through the air.

The justice minister announced that courts would reopen Sunday and the government eased its daily curfew, making the hours 7 p.m. to 6 a.m.

"We're in better shape," Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said on state television. "And we can sense that day by day."

Interior Ministry spokesman Ismail Othman said the army would remain neutral, working only to prevent clashes and chaos between opposing groups.

Some opposition leaders said they had teamed up and called for Mubarak's immediate resignation and the right for peaceful demonstration.

Mohamed ElBaradei's National Association for Change and the Tagammu party's leader announced Saturday a newly formed opposition group of 10 people, including ElBaradei, Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Beltagy, and liberal Ghad party leader Ayman Nour.

"We have been in agreement right now that we'd probably have a presidential council of three members including somebody from the army," ElBaradei told CNN. "We have a caretaker government ... who would then run the country for a year, prepare the grounds for the necessary changes in the electoral process to ensure that we will have all what we need for a free and fair election."

CNN's Amir Ahmed, Frederik Pleitgen, Ivan Watson and Tommy Evans contributed to this report.

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Muslim Brotherhood to Begin Talks with Egyptian VP - Voice of America

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Muslim Brotherhood seniors take part in a protest in Cairo, Egypt

Photo: AP / Mohammed Abu ZaidMuslim Brotherhood seniors Essam el-Erian, center right, and Saad el-Katatni, center left, take part in a protest in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011.

Share ThisDigg Facebook StumbleUpon Yahoo! Buzz del.icio.usRelated ArticlesProtesters in US Seek New Policies Toward Middle East Egyptian Youth Vow to Transform Their Society Top Egyptian Ruling Party Leadership Quits US Supports Egyptian Reform Plans

Egypt's largest opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, says it will begin talks with with Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman on the public's right to protest safely and the possible exit of President Hosni Mubarak, who has held office for 30 years.

Suleiman has met with other opposition supporters, but this would be the first time the Muslim Brotherhood has taken part.

Anti-government protesters have filled Cairo's Tahrir Square for more than 12 days, calling for the president to step down. Mr. Mubarak has refused, but says he will not seek re-election in September.

Saturday, a top leadership body of Egypt's ruling party resigned. Egyptian state television reported the policy-making committee of the National Democratic Party stepped down, including the president's son, Gamal Mubarak. But the report said Mr. Mubarak remains the party's head.

Key Players in Egypt's Crisis

President Hosni Mubarak: The 82-year-old has ruled Egypt for 30 years as leader of the National Democratic Party. Egypt's longest-serving president came to power after the assassination of his predecessor, Anwar Sadat. Mohamed ElBaradei: The Nobel Peace laureate and former Egyptian diplomat has gained international attention as a vocal critic of Mr. Mubarak and his government. Until recently he headed the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, and he has lived outside Egypt for years. ElBaradei founded the nonpartisan movement National Association for Change, and has offered to lead a transitional administration in Egypt if Mr. Mubarak steps down.Vice President Omar Suleiman: The new Egyptian vice president has served as head of intelligence and is a close ally of President Mubarak. He earned international respect for his role as a mediator in Middle East affairs and for curbing Islamic extremism.Ayman Nour: The political dissident founded the Al Ghad or "tomorrow" party. Nour ran against Mr. Mubarak in the 2005 election and was later jailed on corruption charges. The government released him in 2009 under pressure from the United States and other members of the international community.Muslim Brotherhood: The Islamic fundamentalist organization is outlawed in Egypt, but remains the largest opposition group. Its members previously held 20 percent of the seats in parliament, but lost them after a disputed election in late 2010. The group leads a peaceful political and social movement aimed at forming an Islamic state.

The report said the party's secretary general, Safwat el-Sharif, resigned and has been replaced. Western news reports say the policy-making committee was comprised of six members who had long been part of Egypt's political establishment.

Meanwhile, demonstrators braved rainy weather Saturday in Tahrir Square, despite the urging of a senior army official who entered the square with a loudspeaker and made an unsuccessful attempt to get protesters to go home. The protesters also resisted the military's attempts to remove their barricades.

Opposition protesters had declared Friday the "day of departure" for Mr. Mubarak. Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Cairo and other cities where they called for his immediate resignation. In a Thursday interview with ABC, Mr. Mubarak said he would like to leave office now but fears the move would cause Egypt to sink deeper into chaos.

The United Nations estimates more than 300 people have died and thousands have been wounded in Egypt since the unrest erupted in late January.

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US presses Egyptian army to bless talks with opposition - Washington Post

The Obama administration, encouraged by the relative calm in Egypt on Friday, is urgently trying to persuade opposition groups to participate in a dialogue with Vice President Omar Suleiman in a meeting scheduled for Saturday morning.

Over the past 24 hours, senior administration officials have urged the army and a still-unformed council of respected leaders from across Egyptian society to step forward and bless the dialogue.

President Obama plans to reiterate his call for a transition in public remarks at the White House Friday afternoon.

At the Saturday meeting, the administration hopes that government and opposition leaders will begin to draw the contours of a multi-step transition, including the immediate suspension of harsh emergency laws and establishment of a roadmap for constitutional change and free and fair elections.

Reform protesters have continued to insist that no dialogue can begin until President Hosni Mubarak leaves office. Officials - who discussed the administration's efforts on condition they not be identified or directly quoted - agreed that no substantive progress will be made until Mubarak steps aside.

They said that Mubarak's departure had not been directly addressed in administration conversations with Suleiman, defense leaders and others outside the government. But, they said, that was the recognized subtext.

Suleiman, they said, was increasingly aware that his own credibility was diminishing the longer he remained tethered to Mubarak, as was the likelihood that he can serve as an acceptable alternative.

In conversations with Defense Minister Field Marshal Mohamed Tantawi and Lt. Gen. Sami Enan, the military chief, administration officials stressed the importance of preserving the army's position as the most respected institution in Egypt. The administration was also coordinating its message with European leaders speaking to their own Egyptian contacts.

Even as it presses for a dialogue with the opposition - and with its own preferred outcome in mind of an "orderly transition" that includes Mubarak's departure and a strong military role - the administration remains wary of proposing a specific plan. Officials were loath even to name those opposition figures with whom they are speaking, lest those figures be tainted with a "made in America" label.

Conversations that on Wednesday and Thursday focused heavily on the need to stop what appeared to be government-sanctioned attacks on protesters and journalists shifted overnight to a U.S. emphasis on the speed and substance of a dialogue. The Egyptians, they said, are well aware of the demands of the protesters and the reform agenda.

But administration officials expressed concern that top decision-makers in an increasingly divided and indecisive Egyptian government would not seize what they saw as a narrow opportunity provided by Friday's partial lull in violent clashes.

A meeting between Suleiman and some political leaders Thursday was seen as useless because representative and respected Egyptians refused to attend. Officials said that Mubarak's removal from the scene, either through resignation or some other unspecified means of relinquishing power to Suleiman was key to successful talks Saturday.

Administration analysts charting the course of the demonstrations since late last week said that political leaders and respected Egyptians not directly involved in politics have been reluctant to say they represent the predominately youthful protesters. The army, anxious to retain its apolitical reputation, has been similarly reluctant to play a political role in pushing Mubarak toward the exit.

Officials now believe that the violence earlier this week, along with indications that the Muslim Brotherhood has begun to step into a more visible leadership role, have made prominent Egyptians more receptive to appeals to step up to the plate.

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Friday, February 4, 2011

Germany, Spain leaders hold talks over fiscal crisis - Xinhua

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Xinhuanet) --Visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel has met with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid. The meeting comes as euro zone nations ponder ways of saving EU countries in fiscal crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Spain is on the right road with its crisis measures and pledged the euro zone would take crucial steps by March to strengthen economic stability.

A show of unity from two countries with very different economic challenges.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel spent eight hours with her Spanish counterpart Jose Rodriguez Zapatero.

On the agenda at the Madrid summit - the debt crisis, the euro zone rescue fund and Germany's call for euro-wide fiscal rules.

Merkel said, "Change is never easy but changes are taking place around us - sometimes at breath-taking speed - the question is not whether we in Europe are united - with our power slipping - but rather whether are we are united across a continent which is home to progress and innovation."

As both leaders met the European central bank announced it was keeping interest rates at 1 percent for the 21st month in a row.

There was also some good news for Spain - it's borrowing costs fell at a bond auction, largely due to improved investor sentiment towards the euro zone's weaker members.

The Treasury sold 3.5 billion euros in three and five-year debt, in line with its target.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said, "The euro is strong but we have to strengthen it further. This strengthening has to come from the work that we are doing at the moment after a year of hard work struggling against the financial crisis and the debt crisis in some euro zone countries."

Markets were calmed last week by better-than-expected news about the exposure of Spain's savings banks to the country's crippled property markets.

New pension reforms were also announced and there are signs that Europe is closer to agreeing changes to the euro zone rescue fund so it could help Spain if need be.

But one in five people in Spain remains unemployed and the government's austerity measures are far from popular.

(Source: CNTV.cn)

Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

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US, Egypt in talks; Mubarak 'fed up' - The Hindu

An anti-government protester beckons others to support those at the frontline of clashes with pro-government supporters, near the Egyptian Museum in downtown Cairo, on Thursday. Photo: AP Embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has said he is “fed up” and wants to quit but fears that the nation will “sink in chaos” if he steps down.

“He is fed up with being President and would like to leave office now, but cannot, he says, for fear that the country would sink into chaos,” ABC News, which recently interviewed Mr. Mubarak, said.

In his first interview after pro-democracy protests gained momentum, the President blamed opposition Muslim Brotherhood for the violence in Cairo and said “I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other.”

On U.S. President Barack Obama’s apparent calls for his resignation, Mr. Mubarak said he told his American counterpart, “You don’t understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now.” He, however, maintained that Mr. Obama is a “very good man.”

When asked about seeing people shouting insults about him and wanting him gone, Mr. Mubarak who has been ruling Egypt for 30 years said, “I don’t care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt.”

The 82-year-old leader said he had never planned to run for Presidency during the September election, neither had any plan to pass on the mantle to his son Gamal, who was also present during the interview.

On his feeling after addressing the nation on Monday night when he said he would not run for Presidential election again, Mr. Mubarak said he felt “relief“.

According to the report, Mr. Mubarak was along with his family and his palace was heavily guarded by armed troops, tanks and barbed wires. Protesters’ Friday deadline for Mr. Mubarak’s resignation is ending today.

“I would never run away... I will die on this soil,” he said as the President defended his legacy, recounting the many years he has spent leading his country.

Talks about Mubarak stepping aside now

The Obama administration is in talks with top Egyptian officials about the possible immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak and the formation of an interim government that could prepare the country for free and fair elections later this year.

U.S. officials said on Thursday the creation of a military-backed caretaker government in Egypt is one of several ideas being discussed as anti—Mubarak protests escalate in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities.

The officials said the United States isn’t seeking to impose a solution on Egypt but stressed that the administration had made a judgement that Mr. Mubarak has to leave office soon if there is to be a peaceful resolution to the crisis. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic talks that are continuing.

The talks were first reported by The New York Times.

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