According to Al Jazeera, Mohamed ElBaradei is "one of the leaders of the protesters' negotiating team" and has made a counter-proposal to the U.S. "let Suleiman run it" position (my emphasis throughout):
Mohamed ElBaradei ... said on Friday that Mubarak should step down and let a presidential council made up of several figures - including the military - rule for a year to rewrite the constitution ahead of elections set for September.Later, the article says:
In response to the country's political vacuum, an impromptu group of prominent Egyptians who call themselves the "council of wise men" have stepped in to facilitate a transition government.Nice framing. The article lists others on this "council of wise men," and the name ElBaradei doesn't come up. It seems therefore that this group represents more mainstream (i.e., U.S.-friendly) business interests. Note the following about Mr. Naguib Sawiris:
It includes Amr Moussa, the Arab League secretary-general, and Naguib Sawiris, a business tycoon, who recommended that Suleiman preside over a transitional government.
Sawiris is one of the most influential businessmen in Egypt today, thanks to his rapidly expanding telecom empire under Orascom Telecom, the shareholder of Mobinil, and the investment company Weather.Mobinil is the big Egyptian cell phone service (the nil part of the name means "Nile"). That makes Mr. Sawiris one of the Bigs indeed, both before and after the street demonstrations erupted. (Wonder who he was allied with before?)
As chairman of Orascom Telecom, he has been behind the rapid growth of the company.
The organisation now operates GSM networks in seven different countries in the Middle East, Africa, and India, in addition to a number of Internet Service Providers and satellite service providers serving approximately 500 million people around the world.
It will be interesting to see, therefore, if ElBaradei and his protest group can hold firm, or whether the big-money interests can simply lop the name "Mubarak" from the masthead and maintain control.
Things seem to be simplifying. Keep your eye on this self-styled "council of wise men". They're shaping up as the neo-liberal strike force that will attempt to weave a pro-U.S., pro-entrenched power, and pro-Suleiman solution. (Watch for cries of "But, Muslim Brotherhood!" to dazzle your ears while the deal is done.)
And it appears that both groups, ElBaradei-led protesters and big-money types, are courting the military as the final solution. As the article points out, the army has always held the deciding card. And the army is definitely not a monolithic group.
A good piece from Al Jazeera. As always, stay tuned.
GP
