Washington, Feb. 8: The Vice-President of Egypt, Mr Omar Suleiman, says he does not think it is time to lift the 30-year-old Emergency law that has been used to suppress and imprison Opposition leaders. He does not think the President, Mr Hosni Mubarak, needs to resign before his term ends in September. And he does not think his country is yet ready for democracy.
But, lacking better options, the United States is encouraging him in negotiations in a still uncertain transition process in Egypt. In doing so, it is relying on the existing government to make changes that it has steadfastly resisted for years, and even now does not seem impatient to carry out.
After two weeks of recalibrated messages and efforts to keep up with a rapidly evolving situation, the Obama administration is still trying to balance support for some of the basic aspirations for change in Egypt with its concern that the pro-democracy movement could be “hijacked,” as the Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Rodham Clinton, put it, if change were to come too quickly.
The result has been to feed a perception, on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere, that the United States, for now at least, is putting stability ahead of democratic ideals, and leaving hopes of nurturing peaceful, gradual change in large part in the hands of Egyptian officials — starting with Mr Suleiman — who have every reason to slow the process.
Meanwhile, the US diplomatic cables passed on to the Daily Telegraph said Israel would have been happy to see Mr Suleiman, who had good ties with Israel’s military, take over the country.