US piles pressure on Egypt for ‘immediate’ progress
US Vice-President Joe Biden calls for “prompt” action in Egypt as fears increase that the ongoing protests pose an escalating threat to the Middle East peace process.
In a telephone call to Egyptian Vice-President Omar Suleiman, Mr Biden called on a prompt transfer of power to a new Government that would produce “immediate, irreversible progress that responds to the aspirations of the Egyptian people”.
He also insisted that the emergency laws that have been in place for 30-years be lifted to expediate the democratic process. Mr Biden also demanded that measures were put in place to halt Interior Ministry forces from detaining journalists and opposition activists.
Huge protests
The call came on the day of the biggest protests yet in Egypt, despite assertions from the Egyptian government that they have agreed to a peaceful transfer of power, as pro-Government supporters in Egypt turned their back on Mubarak.
The protests showed no sign of abating outside Egypt’s Govenment building. Channel 4 News International Editor Lindsey Hilsum tweeted on Wednesday morning that “several hundred gathered outside Egypt parliament chanting ‘my country has been sold cheap'”. She said the number of victims of violence is resulting in pop-up medical facilities: “Emergency pavement clinic for protestors outside the Ministry of Health in Cairo.”
The US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, called for other Arab countries to follow the lead of Egypt and Tunisia.
This should not be a time for belligerent language. It’s a time to inject greater urgency into the Middle East peace process. Foreign Secretary William Hague
Speaking from the Pentagon, Mr Gates told reporters: “My hope would be that other Governments in the region — seeing this spontaneous action in both Tunisia and in Egypt — will take measures to begin moving in a positive direction toward addressing the political and economic grievances of their people.”
However, Foreign Secretary William Hague, called for focus from the United States in regards to the Middle East peace process, voicing fears that the revolutionary protests are compromising relations with Israel.
Speaking to The Times newspaper, Mr Hague asserted: “Recent events mean this [the Middle East peace process] is an even more urgent priority and that’s a case we are putting to the Israeli Government and in Washington.”
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has told his country to prepare for “any outcome” and vowed to “reinforce the might of the state of Israel”, a rhetoric that Mr Hague yesterday condemned.
Mr Hague said: “This should not be a time for belligerent language. It’s a time to inject greater urgency into the Middle East peace process.
“Amidst the opportunity for countries like Tunisia and Egypt, there is a legitimate fear that the Middle East peace process will lose further momentum and be put to one side, and will become a casualty of uncertainty in the region.”