Egypt’s opposition groups try to unite

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By Ursula Lindsey

Last night President Mubarak repeated his offer for his new vice president, former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, to negotiate with the opposition.

But who is the opposition?

The protests took everyone by surprise. They were planned by young online activists and joined by all members of society.

This has been their strength. Until now.

Hours before the protesters in Tahrir Square were besieged Wednesday by pro-government groups, opposition leaders met in an office right off the square to try to find a strategy and a voice.

The meeting was at the offices of Ayman Nour’s Al Ghad party. Nour ran against President Mubarak in 2005. He was subsequently jailed on charges of forgery.

Wael Nawara, a leading figure in Nour’s party, said no one in the opposition trusts President Mubarak’s recent promises of political reform.

“The president was referring yesterday in his speech to some elections,” Nawara said. “But elections without having parties, without having anyone to represent the people are useless elections.”

He added, “If there’s no political life to speak of, what can we hope elections will bring? So we totally reject the idea of this current regime and this current assembly doing the change that is required. This is another ploy and another trick and we don’t accept that. What we accept it that we negotiate once President Mubarak makes it clear that he will step down in a matter of hours or days, and definitely not weeks or months.”

A coalition of all political forces

The demonstrations have succeeded in doing what, after decades of Mubarak in power, seemed impossible uniting the disparate opposition groups.

Mohammed El Beltagi, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, took part in Wednesday’s meeting to represent the banned Islamist opposition group.

“We’re a coalition of all political forces: liberal, nationalist, leftist, Islamist,” El Beltagi said. “We all share a common fate and have a common demand: the departure of President Mubarak.”

Nobel Laureate Mohammed ElBaradei wasn’t at the meeting this morning but others there said he is in close contact with them. They said El Baradei has the credibility and international profile to act as a figurehead and negotiator for the opposition.

Sekina Fouad, vice president of the Democratic Front for Change, a liberal party that hasn’t been recognized by the government, said that like all the other political figures ElBaradei only a messenger.

The real leaders of the protests have been young people and average Egyptians.

“We’re following the demands of the street, of the people, of the young,” Fouad said. “They’ve paid the highest price: unemployment, oppression, emergency law, arrests. We want what all free people want. We want a rotation of power. We want real democracy. We want elections without fraud. Is that wrong?” she asked.

Mubarak on the ropes

It may not be wrong, but there is a real question of whether it’s realistic, even with millions of people taking to the streets and Egypt’s president seemingly against the ropes.

Wael Nawara, from the Al Ghad Party, said there is a high level of coordination and communication with the group in Tahrir Square and other squares.

“But I would be totally lying if I said this was an organized movement,” Nawara said. “This is not an organized movement. It’s a people’s movement. It’s a revolution. We try our best to provide some political cover, media cover, logistical assistance; everybody is trying to do what they can.”

But as protesters cowered in Tahrir Square late Wednesday, the euphoria of the last week replaced with fear, the possibility for a real revolution suddenly seemed as improbable as ever.