Egypt: What's Next

Egypt

After nearly two weeks of anti-government protest, the Mubarak regime in Egypt offered a concession to the opposition. The vice-president, Omar Suleiman, met with major opposition groups in Cairo to discuss releasing detainees from the protests, ensuring freedom of the press and removing emergency laws.

Opposition leaders say even though the vice president's concessions contain some important points, it has yet to meet their central demand--they need Mubarak to step down. "We did not sign on to the statement. This is a beginning of a dialogue. We approve the positive things in the statement but ... we are still demanding that the president step down." said Mostafa al-Naggar who is a protest organizer.

Another point brought up was the possibility of setting up committees to draft a road map for talks but the President would stay in power to oversee these and other changes. It seems that this is going to explode the anger of protesters and cause them to move to more drastic measures since they want the president to step down now.
Even though the United States has tried to keep a low key role in the ongoing issues in Egypt, it seems they are now supporting the vice president's effort in the political transition and have called for a process of orderly reform. The city of Cairo itself appears to be returning to normal as stores and banks are opening again after being shut down for a week.