On Monday, Congresswoman Kay Granger (R-TX), Chairwoman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, released the following statement regarding U.S. aid for Egypt: “While there are calls for eliminating Egypt’s economic and military aid, I urge caution when deciding what the U.S. response will be. It is critical that we are deliberate about the actions we take. Egypt has been a moderate influence in the Middle East and has a ...

On Monday, Egyptian protesters called for an indefinite general strike and for a "million man march" in the capital on Tuesday to mark one week since the start of the protests. In an attempt to stymie protests, the government cancelled national train station leading protesters to also plan a million-strong march in Alexandria as well. The Egyptian army also said on Monday that it would not stop protesters: "To the great people of Egypt, your ...

On Sunday, Egypt's opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, agreed to back Mohamed ElBaradei as the lead spokesman for the country's opposition groups in reform negotiations and to lead an interim government. This marked the first real attempt by opposition forces to organize behind a common voice.  Speaking in Cairo on Sunday, ElBaradei stated that he now has "the popular and political support" necessary to being the process of forming a unity government and ...

Writing at The Hill's Congress Blog, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) discussed the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt and stated that while Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's naming of Omar Suleiman as his vice president is a step in the right direction, change must be made. "He cannot afford to clamp down again, as he initially tried to do," Nelson says, "Instead, Mr. Mubarak will have to go -- but not without an exit strategy ...

On Monday, European Union foreign ministers met to discuss the events in Egypt and called for "peaceful dialogue" between protesters and the government. They called for democratic reform that pave the way for "fair and free elections" and for an "orderly transition" to a broad-based government in Egypt. EU foreign affairs chief Baroness Ashton called for immediate talks with opposition saying, "It's absolutely critical that the government engage in open, frank, direct ...

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's move to appoint a new government saying that the situation in the country called for action not appointments. Gibbs called for negotiations "with a broad cross-section of the Egyptian people, including the current government" and said that the transition will "have to address the freedoms that the people of Egypt seek" including free and fair elections, scrapping the emergency laws, and changes to the constitution to ...

On Monday, the State Department announced that former ambassador to Egypt (1986-1991), Frank Wisner, is now on the ground in Cairo and will be meeting with Egyptian officials to urge them to embrace economic and political changes, which can pave the way for free and fair elections. State Department Spokesman Phillip Crowley stated that Wisner "has the ability" to talk to Egyptian leaders.

Despite an internet blackout by the Egyptian government, POMED has been regularly in touch with contacts on the ground in Egypt by telephone.  Now that the cell phone networks are mostly back up, we are now able to speak with a variety of human rights activists live in Tahrir Square.  Three of our contacts today gave us permission to share audio of their comments, which are available here:Esraa Abdelfattah - ...

Josh Rogin writing at The Cable, spoke with National Security Staff experts who attended a White House meeting on Monday morning over the events in Egypt. The experts stated that the meeting was "intense and constructive" and that "a real debate over the path forward for U.S. policy ensued," with White House staff implying that they believed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was on his way out. While they have not directly told Mubarak to ...

New Egyptian vice president Omar Suleiman announced: "I have been asked by the president to contact all the political parties regarding constitutional reform." Suleiman also promised to investigate the results of the last elections and called for implementation of Constitutional Court orders to re-run certain districts' parliamentary polls of November 2010 in coming weeks. He also stated that the government "will fight unemployment, poverty and corruption."

On Sunday, the head of the Arab League Amr Moussa said he wanted to see a multi-party democracy emerge in Egypt and called on President Hosni Mubarak to respond to protesters' demands for reforms rather than reshuffling ministers: "This new government should be just the beginning, just a new prime minister and new ministers does not necessarily mean a change, clear lines of policy will have to be declared." And while he ...

U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley expressed "concern" at the Egyptian government's shutdown of Al-Jazeera and the arrest of six of its correspondents on Monday stating: "Egypt must be open and the reporters released" .  Officials from Human Rights Watch have denounced the Egyptian government for its actions and praised Al-Jazeera's coverage as "invaluable." Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch Middle East and North Africa director, said that the shutdown, "is a sign of ...

Protesters pitch tents in Tahrir Square.  Photo courtesy of Ramy Raoof.

The Egyptian army has pledged not to use force against demonstrators.  A statement from the army said that freedom of expression was guaranteed for all citizens, recognized the "legitimacy" of their demands, and reiterated that its primary goal was to protect the people, primarily from looters and criminals.  The U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen praised the army's "professionalism" in not cracking down on protesters.

On Monday, The Maghreb Center hosted a discussion at Georgetown University on the causes of the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia and the role of the United States and France before, during, and after the revolution. Dr. Néjib Ayachi, founding President of the Maghreb Center and International Development Consultant at the World Bank, opened the discussion and introduced the panelists: Stephen King, Professor of Government at Georgetown University, Robert Prince, Lecturer ...

On Tuesday, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars hosted a discussion on the uprising in Tunisia and the prospects for the Tunisian example spreading across the Arab World. Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center moderated the event and introduced the speakers: Alan Goulty, former British Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia and current Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and David ...

From Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish: Face of The DayA protestor with an eye bandage saying 'Go Mubarak' in Arabic stands in Tahrir Square on January 31, 2011 in Cairo, Egypt. By Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad stated that the protests in the Arab world are ushering in a new era in the Middle East and that the Arab rulers need to do more to accommodate the rising political and economic aspirations of its people. Assad acknowledged that reforms inside of Syria have not progressed as quickly as he had envisioned and that this was due, in part, to external situations ...

In a statement released on Friday, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said, "For far too long the democratic hopes of the Egyptian people have been suppressed. Their cries for freedom can no longer be silenced." She also voiced concerns over the government's use of force and that "certain extremist elements inside Egypt will manipulate the current situation for nefarious ends" and called for the U.S. and others to ...

As reported earlier, White House officials met with members of the Egypt Working Group on Monday. Laura Rozen, writing at her Politico blog, spoke to an attendee who summarized the meeting saying they "rolled key ideas around and know there is no quick reform package that works with Mubarak." The administration, he said, is considering various options, including the possibility of telling President Hosni Mubarak, privately, that it's time to leave. However, the ...