White House criticizes Egyptian government and vice president

CNN News, By Tom Cohen, February 8, 2011

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• White House spokesman Gibbs calls Suleiman's comments "unhelpful"
• Gibbs says Egypt should stop arresting and harassing journalists and activists
• Vice President Biden talks by phone with Suleiman

Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama's spokesman criticized the Egyptian government on Tuesday for arresting and harassing journalists and rights activists, and called comments by Vice President Omar Suleiman that Egypt is not ready for democracy "particularly unhelpful."

Until Tuesday, Gibbs hadn't said that the Egyptian
government was responsible for a crackdown
on journalists.

The remarks by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs reflected a growing U.S. dissatisfaction with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Suleiman, the intelligence officer Mubarak chose as his deputy to bring about reforms demanded by protesters who have convulsed Cairo and the Egyptian economy for more than two weeks.

In another sign of U.S. frustration with the pace of reform in Egypt, Vice President Joe Biden, in a phone call Tuesday with Suleiman, pushed for more progress, according to a White House statement.

So far, the Obama administration has been careful to call for democratic reforms in Egypt while also trying to maintain stability in a key Middle Eastern ally that is a vital Arab partner to Israel through the Camp David Accords of 1978.

With detentions, beatings and harassment of journalists and rights activists continuing, and the weekend comments by Suleiman that signaled a shaky commitment to the reforms offered by Mubarak, Gibbs made a point of directly criticizing both the vice president and the Egyptian government in a briefing with White House reporters.

"The government has got to stop arresting protesters and journalists, harassment, beatings, detentions of reporters, of activists, of those involved in civil society," Gibbs said. Previously, he and other U.S. officials, including Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, called for a halt to the crackdown on journalists and activists without directly saying that the Egyptian government was responsible.

RELATED TOPICS

• Egypt
• Robert Gibbs
• Omar Suleiman
• Hosni Mubarak

Asked about Suleiman's comment, made in an interview with ABC, that Egypt currently lacks the necessary "culture of democracy" for the changes demanded by protesters, such as freedom of speech and the right to organize opposition parties, Gibbs said the words went against what was happening on the streets of Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt.

"Vice President Suleiman made some particularly unhelpful comments about Egypt not being ready for democracy," Gibbs said, adding that "I don't think that in any way squares with what those seeking greater opportunity and freedom think is a timetable for progress."

Gibbs also took exception to Suleiman's insistence that foreign elements, including Islamists, are behind or motivating the protesters in Egypt.

"I think the rhetoric that we see coming out now that simply says that somehow what you see on TV has been drummed up by foreigners is at great odds with what we know is actually happening," Gibbs said.

In the phone conversation with Suleiman, Biden urged "that the transition produce immediate, irreversible progress that responds to the aspirations of the Egyptian people," according to the White House statement.

It said the two vice presidents discussed "restraining the Ministry of Interior's conduct by immediately ending the arrests, harassment, beating, and detention of journalists, and political and civil society activists, and by allowing freedom of assembly and expression; immediately rescinding the emergency law; broadening participation in the national dialogue to include a wide range of opposition members; and inviting the opposition as a partner in jointly developing a road map and timetable for transition."

"These steps, and a clear policy of no reprisals, are what the broad opposition is calling for and what the government is saying it is prepared to accept," the statement said. "Vice President Biden expressed the belief that the demands of the broad opposition can be met through meaningful negotiations with the government."

Gibbs repeated the U.S. call for an orderly transition in Egypt from the repressive rule of the past three decades under Mubarak to a multiparty democracy through free and fair elections.

Mubarak has insisted he will remain in power through the end of his term in September instead of ceding to demands for his immediate ouster by the protesters and opposition figures. Suleiman also says Mubarak must remain in power until the next election for the transition to be orderly.

On Monday, Gibbs outlined a transition toward multiparty negotiations in Egypt that provided more leeway for Mubarak's government than the calls for immediate reforms previously expressed by U.S. officials.

"The process has to be dynamic, and we have to see the government take part in a meaningful way and outline a series of steps and a timeline that the Egyptian people are comfortable with," Gibbs said.

In addition, Gibb said, "We have to see those that are not involved in government put forward a set and a series of ideas of what they'd like to see so that negotiations can take place and we can move forward."

Suleiman met Sunday with some Egyptian opposition figures in preliminary talks that symbolized concession on both sides.

Some opposition figures had rejected any discussions until Mubarak stepped down, while a government statement issued on state TV after Sunday's meeting outlined future steps resulting from the meeting.

In a brief informal exchange with reporters on Monday, Obama said: "Obviously Egypt has to negotiate a path and I think they are making progress."

Gibbs said Tuesday that the talk of reform must be followed by meaningful action, or the protests on the streets would continue.

"I think that the people that are expressing their desire for greater opportunity and freedom are going to continue to express that desire until the government takes the very concrete steps that I outlined a minute ago to address those concerns," Gibbs said. "And if they don't, then those protests will, I assume, continue."

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