Feb. 6: Egypt Vice President Omar Suleiman on Sunday insisted that President Hosni Mubarak could not step down, and in a significant but limited move, held a first meeting with members of the Muslim Brotherhood and youth opposition groups.
The encounter itself was remarkable, bringing together members of the Brotherhood — Egypt’s biggest opposition movement — and the government that has, for decades, repressed it as an Islamist threat. But the results were less momentous.
Opponents of Mubarak’s regime dismissed as insufficient an offer to include them in political reform plans, and renewed their demands that he step down.
Mr Suleiman, who is leading the regime’s negotiations with the opposition, has ruled himself out of presidential contention but reaffirmed that the roadmap was to bring about an orderly and meaningful transition towards greater democratic reforms.