Egypt’s Tagammu party said it has withdrawn from talks with the government on the country’s political future following comments from the foreign minister that the army may intervene to avert chaos.
“We cannot continue this dialogue,” the party spokesman, Nabil Zaki, said today in a telephone interview. “We cannot engage in a dialogue under this kind of threat. The regime did not respond to even the minimum level of popular demands.” Tagammu has five of the 508 seats in parliament, and is one of the few opposition groups allowed to take part in elections.
Egypt paid the highest yield in more than two years on its six-month treasury bills today, with the average yield rising 30 basis points to about 11.8 per cent.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit’s comments on the army came after the Obama administration criticised President Hosni Mubarak’s government for not sufficiently addressing the demands of protesters seeking an end to his three-decade rule. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Egypt has yet to reach the “minimum threshold” of accommodating demands of the country’s citizens.
Aboul Gheit said the army may protect Egypt from having “adventure-seeking people” take power. “The armed forces would be forced to defend the constitution” and “forced to defend Egypt’s national security,” he told Al Arabiya television in an interview aired early today. “Therefore we will find ourselves in a very dangerous situation.”
Muslim Brotherhood
Vice President Omar Suleiman two days ago said negotiations he has opened with opposition groups including the Muslim Brotherhood are the only alternative to the “chaos” of regime change. He said the talks “are the first way to achieve stability in the country and to get out of the current crisis peacefully.”
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The Brotherhood, which is banned from a role in Egyptian politics, is the largest group involved in the discussions.
Hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated in Cairo’s Tahrir Square since January 25 seeking an end to Mubarak’s rule in a movement that has spread through other Arab countries. The protests have upset plans to cut the deficit, sent bond yields to a two-year high and are likely to hurt economic growth.
Protests yesterday were smaller after tens of thousands gathered the day before in Tahrir Square. Another major gathering is scheduled for tomorrow, dubbed by protesters as a “Friday of Defiance”.
Gheit also told Al Arabiya it will take four months to change the country’s constitution.
“It will be four months until June, and in June, we open the way for presidential elections after the constitution is amended,” he said. Mubarak, 82, has said he won’t run again after his sixth term ends in September.