GROUPS of Egyptian Copts and Muslims conducted acts of http://almuslim.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=742:copts-and-muslims-worship-side-by-side&catid=69:current-affairsworship side by side in Tahrir Square in the centre of Cairo on Sunday. They were among the hundreds of thousands of mainly young people who have occupied the square as part of continuing calls for the immediate removal from power of President Hosni Mubarak. Cordoned off by troops, the Copts held a mass, while Muslims conducted their midday prayers. This brief display of harmony contrasts with the bigger political picture in Egypt, which is becoming increasingly chaotic and difficult to read. Demonstrations and mounting pressure from Washington have failed to force Mr Mubarak out of his palace.
Because of the general uncertainty, foreigners continue to leave. Among them was the Revd Paul-Gordon Chandler, of St John the Baptist’s, in the Maadi district of Cairo, who flew out at the request of the Episcopal Church in the USA.
Mr Chandler said that most expatriates have been evacuated. “Unpredictability right now is the only known, it seems.” The unpredictability stems from the fact that although the uprising was people-led and spontaneous, those opposing the Mubarak regime lack a unified ideology.
A large number of Egyptians want Mubarak to go, but they cannot agree about the timing and manner of his departure. While the protesters in Tahrir Square are refusing to hold a dialogue with the government as long as the President is still in office, others have begun such consultations.
For the population at large, the euphoria is increasingly offset by the difficulties of coping with everyday life while businesses remain closed. But opposition leaders fear that if life becomes too normal, the momentum of the protests will be lost.
The President-Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Revd Mouneer Anis, told the American Anglican Council last weekend that Western governments did not appreciate that, “if the president left suddenly, there would be a vacuum, like what happened in Iraq, and this will give an opportunity for extreme groups to fight and divide and play around.”
Preliminary talks between opposition leaders and the Vice-President, Omar Suleiman, made little headway. But the first meeting was historic for two reasons: there was no one present from the ruling National Democratic Party, which has had Egyptian politics in a stranglehold for decades; and representatives from the banned Muslim Brotherhood attended. This group, although banned, has a huge public following.
The potential is there for a new political landscape. But the wheels of the revolution are turning slowly, so it could be weeks — or months — before we see who is given the task of leading the new Egypt.
Mr Chandler said that most expatriates have been evacuated. “Unpredictability right now is the only known, it seems.” The unpredictability stems from the fact that although the uprising was people-led and spontaneous, those opposing the Mubarak regime lack a unified ideology.
A large number of Egyptians want Mubarak to go, but they cannot agree about the timing and manner of his departure. While the protesters in Tahrir Square are refusing to hold a dialogue with the government as long as the President is still in office, others have begun such consultations.
For the population at large, the euphoria is increasingly offset by the difficulties of coping with everyday life while businesses remain closed. But opposition leaders fear that if life becomes too normal, the momentum of the protests will be lost.
The President-Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Most Revd Mouneer Anis, told the American Anglican Council last weekend that Western governments did not appreciate that, “if the president left suddenly, there would be a vacuum, like what happened in Iraq, and this will give an opportunity for extreme groups to fight and divide and play around.”
Preliminary talks between opposition leaders and the Vice-President, Omar Suleiman, made little headway. But the first meeting was historic for two reasons: there was no one present from the ruling National Democratic Party, which has had Egyptian politics in a stranglehold for decades; and representatives from the banned Muslim Brotherhood attended. This group, although banned, has a huge public following.
The potential is there for a new political landscape. But the wheels of the revolution are turning slowly, so it could be weeks — or months — before we see who is given the task of leading the new Egypt.
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