Mubarak forms reform committees

(Clockwise from left) An anti-government protester holds a placard in Cairo's Tahrir square yesterday showing pictures of people killed in the uprising. Blood stained shirts and pictures of protesters killed during the uprising are displayed at a barricade in Tahrir square. Protesters sleep next to an army tank at a barricade in the square on the 15th day of protests.Photo: AFP

President Hosni Mubarak set up a committee yesterday to recommend constitutional amendments to relax presidential eligibility rules and impose term limits seeking to meet longtime popular demands as a standoff with protesters seeking his ouster enters its third week.
Mubarak's decrees were announced on state television by Vice President Omar Suleiman, who also said that Mubarak will set up a separate committee to monitor the implementation of all proposed reforms. The two committees will start working immediately, he said.
The government has promised several concessions since the uprising began on Jan. 25 but has refused the protesters' main demand that Mubarak step down immediately instead of staying on through September elections. Yesterday's decision was the first concrete step taken by the longtime authoritarian ruler to implement promised reforms.
Mubarak's efforts to stay in office got a boost from the Obama administration, which conceded that it will not endorse calls for the president's immediate departure, saying a precipitous exit could set back the country's democratic transition.
After several days of mixed messages about whether it wants to see Mubarak stay or go, Washington stepped up calls for a faster, more inclusive national dialogue on reform in Egypt. Under Egypt's constitution, Mubarak's resignation would trigger an election in 60 days. U.S. officials said that is not enough time to prepare.
"A question that that would pose is whether Egypt today is prepared to have a competitive, open election," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "Given the recent past, where, quite honestly, elections were less than free and fair there's a lot of work that has to be done to get to a point where you can have free and fair elections."
"I think that would be a challenging undertaking," he said.
Mubarak also ordered a probe into last week's clashes between the protesters and government supporters as well as mass detentions of human rights activists and journalists. The committee will refer its findings to the attorney-general, Suleiman said.