Word: mubarak
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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President Hosni Mubarak heralded the 34 constitutional amendments approved by Egyptian voters on Monday as a reform milestone, while domestic opponents and foreign critics castigated them for tightening his authoritarian rule. On one point there seems little disagreement, however: as long as the five-term, 78-year-old Egyptian leader remains in office, political change will be controlled, gradual and on the regime's terms...
...Mubarak had the parliament pass the amendments on March 19 and marched them to the voting booths for ratification just seven days later, giving Egypt's Kifaya (Enough) opposition movement little time to mobilize a "no" vote. A heavy police presence and the arrests of 50 activists disrupted Kifaya's plans to stage nationwide protests. But Kifaya's vote boycott dented the legitimacy of the foregone outcome (officially 79.5% approval). While elections officials claimed a 27% voter turnout, Kifaya leader George Ishak put the number at no more than 3%; the truth is probably somewhere in between, hardly evidence...
...Kifaya activists complain that the constitutional changes give the regime sweeping powers to consolidate its hold on power and, some critics contended, to ease the way for Mubarak's son Gamal to succeed to the presidency in 2011. Human rights groups were particularly outraged by the amendment to Article 179 giving the president broad police powers in the name of fighting terrorism. Critics said the change amounted to enshrining Egypt's State of Emergency, decreed when Mubarak took office in 1981 after the assassination of former President Anwar Sadat by Islamic extremists, into the constitution...
...Gamal Mubarak, a senior official of the ruling National Democratic Party, who has repeatedly denied seeking the presidency, insisted that while the anti-terrorism amendment is necessary to fight the global threat, Egypt's police measures would be put under judicial supervision. He also argued that banning religious parties was an accepted Egyptian tradition and that the amendment to Article 88 "provides much more detail, much more guarantees" in running and supervising elections. "We are aware of the criticism and the skeptics out there," Gamal Mubarak told journalists on the eve of the referendum. "Democracy is an evolving process...
...Ultimately, Rice believes the Arab states are crucial to pushing Hamas toward the center. And thus Egypt is her first stop. She arrived in Aswan on Saturday afternoon, and she is meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other Arab leaders over the rest of the weekend and into Monday. Soon after touching down, she went behind closed doors to talk with Arab foreign ministers and intelligence chiefs. Rice will urge Arab leaders, who are scheduled to hold a summit in Riyadh on Wednesday, March 28, to revive a 2002 proposal by the Arab League to recognize Israel in exchange...