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Egypt's Brotherhood cautious on govt talks

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Monday, 7 February 2011 18:18 GMT

(Refiles to fix typo)

CAIRO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood will reconsider continuing talks with the government if opposition calls for President Hosni Mubarak to go and other demands were not met, a senior group member said on Monday.

The opposition has been calling for the constitution to be rewritten to allow free and fair presidential elections, a limit on presidential terms, the dissolution of parliament, the release of political detainees and lifting of emergency law.

The government issued a statement after a first round of talks on Sunday and said there was agreement on a road map for talks, which gave little ground on many opposition demands.

"We are assessing the situation. We are going to reconsider the whole question of dialogue," the Brotherhood's Essam el-Erian told Reuters.

"We will reconsider according to the results. Some of our demands have been met but there has been no response to our principal demands that Mubarak leave," he said.

The government statement suggested reforms would be implemented with Mubarak staying in power until September, rather than leaving now.

It also put conditions on lifting emergency law, which the opposition says has been used to stifle dissent and should end immediately. (Reporting by Samia Nakhoul; writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Mark Heinrich)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.


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