Egypt’s government tried to get the nation back to work yesterday and people lined up in Cairo when banks opened for the first time in a week as protests to force Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to quit entered their 13th day.
Demonstrators camped out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which has become an epicenter for protest, vowed to intensify their battle to oust Mubarak, but the 82-year-old president has said he will stay until September elections because the alternative is chaos.
With some Egyptians keen for a return to normal after unrest that the UN says killed 300 people, the government has warned of the damage to political stability and the economy.
Photo: EPA
“We want people to go back to work and to get paid, and life to get back to normal,” army commander Hassan al-Roweny said.
The Egyptian pound opened weaker against the US dollar after the week-long bank closure.
“The pound started off down as widely expected, but not with the magnitude one would have thought,” one trader said.
The commander of the army, which many say holds the key to the nation’s future, was touring Tahrir Square to try to convince protesters, complaining about poverty, repression and corruption, to leave the usually busy intersection.
The US, Egypt’s ally, which provides the army with US$1.3 billion annually, has advocated the need for gradual change and political talks between the government and opposition groups on an orderly handover of power.
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday backed talks between Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, a long-time intelligence chief, and opposition groups, saying the government’s dialogue with the opposition must be given time.
Suleiman met opposition groups yesterday in talks joined for the first time by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s most organized opposition group.
“We have decided to engage in a round of dialogue to ascertain the seriousness of officials towards the demands of the people and their willingness to respond to them,” a spokesman for the banned Brotherhood told reporters on Saturday.
It is testimony to the ground protesters have gained that the government was willing to talk to the group, which would have been unthinkable before the protests started on Jan. 25.
However, opposition activists are concerned about any compromise that would see Mubarak hand over power to Suleiman, but also serve out his term — essentially relying on the old authoritarian system to pave the way to full civilian democracy.
“To hear ... that Mubarak should stay and lead the process of change, and that the process of change should essentially be led by his closest military adviser ... would be very, very disappointing,” opposition activist and Nobel Laureate Mohamed ElBaradei said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique