Egyptian government yesterday pledged to investigate official corruption and election fraud

[NewsCaster]

THE Egyptian government yesterday pledged to investigate official corruption and election fraud but thousands of protesters swore not to move from the heart of downtown Cairo until President Hosni Mubarak steps down.

Also, the embattled regime yesterday announced a 15 per cent increase in salaries and pensions in the latest attempt to defuse popular anger.

But a global dimension is expected to be added to the crisis today as 301 Labour union affiliates, comprising about 176 million workers, will be demonstrating simultaneously in front of all Egyptian embassies across the world with a view to revving up the pressure on Mubarak to quit.

The groups, under the auspices of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in a statement made available to The Guardian yesterday, said the protests would be solidarity with the Egyptian people in demanding immediate end to the 30-year old Mubarak regime.

The statement added: "The ITUC and its affiliates present in Dakar will join the international solidarity day with the Egyptian people on February 8. On that day, around the globe, unions will organise demonstrations at Egyptian embassies, and continue to press their governments to demand democratic transition in Egypt and to ensure that those responsible for the violent repression of peaceful demonstrations are brought to justice."   

The Egyptian cabinet decision follows earlier promises to investigate election fraud and official corruption, which have done little to persuade the tens of thousands occupying downtown's Tahrir Square to end their two-week long protest.

After two weeks of instability that pushed the most populous Arab nation to the edge of anarchy, the crisis appears to be settling into at least temporary stasis.

A series of government concessions have left the protesters dissatisfied but the scene has remained calm, with Tahrir Square resembling a carnival more than the rock-strewn battlefield of recent days.

State television announced that detained Google Inc. marketing manager and one of the most prominent youth organisers of the protests, Wael Ghonim, who helped organise the anti-Mubarak demonstrations and seized by security agents on January 28," would be freed."

Newly-appointed Finance Minister, Samir Radwan, said some 6.5 billion Egyptian pounds ($960 million) would be allocated to cover the increases, which will take effect in April for the six million people on public pay rolls.

In the past, public sector employees have been a pillar of support for the regime but in recent years as prices have soared, their salaries have stagnated in value forcing the government to periodically announce raises to quell dissatisfaction.

Following widespread Labour unrest in public sector factories in 2008, Mubarak announced a 30 per cent increase in prices that appeared to temporarily blunt public anger.

Mubarak's regime appears confident in its ability for the moment to ride out what remains of an unprecedented storm of unrest, and maintain its grip on power, with Western backing, at least until September elections.

Egypt's state-run news agency reported that Mubarak ordered the country's parliament and its highest appellate court to re-examine lower court rulings disqualifying hundreds of ruling party lawmakers for campaign and ballot irregularities, that were ignored by electoral officials.

The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) won more than 83 per cent of the 518 seats in the 2010 parliamentary elections. Implementing the rulings against NDP lawmakers could cause many to lose their seats and force the dissolution of the parliament and new elections if enough are disqualified.

Judicial officials promised to start the questioning today of three former ministers and a senior ruling party official who were accused of corruption charges after they were dismissed by Mubarak last week.

The cabinet reshuffle was intended to placate protesters by removing some of the most hated officials in the government.

But protesters in the relatively small morning crowd of several thousand on the square said they remained unsatisfied.

"Our main objective is for Mubarak to step down," said student Mohammed Eid. "We don't accept any other concessions."

Rami Ghoneim, an unemployed Internet activist, said the protesters were in no rush to leave so long as their central demand was not met. The more they stay, he said, the more concessions the regime offers.

"It is like a wound, the more you press on it, the more blood gushes out. We will press until we empty it," he said.

Inside Cairo's main square, demonstrators were trying to establish an enduring presence, complete with food and entertainment such as strolling musicians and poetry recitals. Many are lying in front of army tanks, or resting on their treads, in attempts to prevent a feared push to move the protesters from the square.

But the army seems to be treating the protesters like a new feature of life downtown in Cairo, which seemed yesterday morning to be closer to its normal weekday routine than on any day since the January 25 start of the unrest.

Banks were open for limited hours along with some shops. The stock market remained closed and schools were shut for the mid-year holiday. Traffic was returning to ordinary levels in many places.

The official Middle East News Agency (MENA) said former Tourism Minister, Zuhair Geranah, would be questioned today along with the former ministers of housing and trade.

MENA also reported that the country's top prosecutor had imposed a travel ban on former Interior Minister Habib al-Adli and froze his bank account.

On Sunday, Egypt's newly-named vice president met with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups for the first time. He promised a series of concessions, including: When security permits, the government will lift nearly 30-year-old emergency laws giving police far-reaching powers for detention and suppression of civil and human rights; the government will no longer hamper freedom of press or interfere with text messaging or the Internet; a committee of judiciary and political figures will study reform of the constitution to allow more candidates to run for president and impose term limits on the president; the government will make no recriminations against those participating in the anti-government protests.

United States (U.S.) Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, on Sunday said the timetable of Mubarak's departure lies with the Egyptian people but his early exit could raise electoral complications.

Clinton, speaking to reporters on her way back from international talks on Egypt in Germany, stressed that Mubarak's fate was not up to the U.S.

"That has to be up to the Egyptian people," the chief U.S. diplomat said when asked if reality dictated Mubarak play some role in the political transition toward free and fair elections in Egypt.

"As I understand the Constitution, if the president were to resign, he would be succeeded by the Speaker of the House, and presidential elections would have to be held in 60 days," she said.

"Now, the Egyptians are going to have to grapple with the reality of what they must do," she said.

Clinton said, for example, that she had heard a leader from the opposition Muslim Brotherhood as well as leading dissident Mohammed El-Baradei say "it's going to take time" to organise elections.

"That's not us saying it. It's them saying it," she said.

President Barack Obama, meanwhile, also emphasised Egypt's political transition when pressed in an interview on Sunday on Fox Television whether Mubarak was going to quit now.

"Only he knows what he's going to do. Here, what we know is that Egypt is not going to go back to what it was," Obama said.

"He's not running for re-election. His term is up this year," he added.

Clinton said retired diplomat Frank Wisner, whom Obama sent to Mubarak with a message last week, did "not speak for the administration" when he said the Egyptian leader should stay in office during the transition.

She, and some other members of the administration, have distanced themselves from Wisner's remarks but have not actually said he was wrong.

"President Mubarak's continued leadership is critical," Wisner told the Munich Security Conference, the same one Clinton attended.

"It's his opportunity to write his own legacy. He has given 60 years of his life to the service of his country, this is an ideal moment for him to show the way forward," Wisner said.

Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney also praised Mubarak as a "good friend" to the U.S., pointing out that Americans needed to "remember that."

Source: Egyptian govt raises pay, pledges to tackle graft