The White House has said it is reviewing its considerable military and economic aid to Egypt, as the Obama administration edged away from once solid support for President Hosni Mubarak.
Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, last night pointedly refused to say the administration stands by Mubarak as he called on the Egyptian leader to address the "legitimate grievances" of protesters.
Instead, Gibbs said that continued US aid, $1.5bn annually, most of it military, will be contingent on how the government and army respond to the protests.
"We have reached a point where the grievances have to be addressed with concrete reforms; have to, must," he said.
In the meantime, Gibbs said, the administration had set up a committee to review the financial aid which pays for much of Egypt's army and its equipment.
"We will be reviewing our assistance posture based on the outcome of events, now and in the coming days," said Gibbs.
Asked if the US had condemned the house arrest imposed on opposition activist Mohamed ElBaradei, he said: "Obviously, this goes into our concern about expression, association and assembly." But Gibbs was unusually hesitant in an extended press conference that left the impression that the administration is uncertain which way to jump. He sidestepped a question on whether the US is drawing up plans in case Mubarak is overthrown.
Asked if it is possible to reform a regime that has been in power for 30 years, Gibbs said: "Free and fair elections, our condemnation of the extension of emergency law, and that should be extended.
"But the grievances of the people have to be addressed directly by the government. There has to be a significant and thorough dialogue to address a whole host of individual rights that the people rightly believe are lacking."
The sentiments had been expressed earlier in the day by former prime minister Tony Blair, who in an interview on the BBC's Today programme said Egypt should "evolve and modernise", but that change should happen in an ordered way.
"The challenges have been the same for these countries for a long period of time. The question is how they evolve and modernise, but do so with stability. The danger is if you open up a vacuum anything can happen. As [US secretary of state] Hillary Clinton was saying yesterday, the important thing is to engage in this process of modernisation, and improving systems of government, but do it in a way that keeps the order and stability of the country together."
Asked if Mubarak should stay in power, Blair said: "Well I think the decision about how this is done is incredibly difficult. President Mubarak has been in power for 30 years. There's obviously in any event going to be an evolution and a change there. The question is how does that happen in the most stable way possible.
"All over that region there is essentially one issue, which is how do they evolve and modernise., both in terms of their economy, their society and their politics. All I'm saying is that in the case of Egypt and in the case in Yemen, because there are other factors in this, not least those who would use any vacuum in order to ferment extremism, that you do this in what I would call a stable and ordered way ....
" This is not limited to one country in the region. It's all over the region. You have got to take account of the fact that when you unleash this process of reform, unless you are going to be very, very careful about how it's done and how it's staged, then you run risks as well."
Blair said the west should engage with countries like Egypt in the process of change.
(source:guardian.co.uk)
No comments:
Post a Comment