Tearing my eyes away from the Liveblogs wasn't easy, but perhaps like you, I've been worrying in the back of my mind about Egypt. After all that angst, are the youth hanging in there? Is the military living up to its promises? What's going on with the Muslim Brotherhood? Have all the dissidents been released?
So there is a lot of information out there, much of it fast-breaking, and I ended up having to leave out news about the economy and much of the Libyan/Egyptian connection, but I do have some interesting updates.
Just a few human interest tidbits before I get onto the main subject areas:
Not everyone is accounted for, still.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information estimated last week that 40 to 50 men were missing. But a list the group provided included almost a dozen who had since been released by authorities and returned to their families. Executive Director Gamal Eid said many other families probably haven't contacted his organization to report a missing relative. The prime minister said Sunday that those being held would be released soon, but didn't address those whose whereabouts are unknown, Eid said.
Seventeen or more inmates have been killed and a number wounded at a prison in the Monufiya Governorate. Live bullets and tear gas have been used on the prisoners and they are without adequate food, water or electricity and without medical care or supplies. Prison authorities claim the inmates were attempting a mass break-out, but the prisoners deny this.
In addition, inmates at the al-Qatta al-Gadeed Prison have given the names of 43 prisoners to Amnesty International who they say have been killed inside the jail. "The bodies of some inmates from the prison were among 115 corpses from at least four prisons brought to Zenhom morgue in the Egyptian capital, most of which had bullet wounds in the head, neck and chest, said a forensic physician," according to Amnesty International.
Elsewhere, several thousand Christians demonstrated in the southern city of Assiut after a Coptic priest was found dead in his home, the victim of stab wounds.
Today, (Feb 23) SoS Hillary Clinton will respond to questions by Egyptian Youth, utilizing a web page created for the event by Masrawy.com The organization collected questions in Tahrir Square and has invited users to submit written and video questions to their website. So far, almost 6,500 questions have been filed.
In semi-breaking news, about 50 former police officers set fire to parts of the Ministry of the Interior building and torched cars around it after soldiers tried to get them to move their days long protest away from the building. The low-ranking police are demonstrating to get their old jobs back.
THE CABINET
Pro-Democracy protesters are unhappy with the military decision to retain the foreign, finance and interior cabinet ministers from Mubarak's reign. The People's National Movement for Change, a pro-democracy youth group is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq's interim government, and is calling for a big sit-in at Tahrir Thursday and a march on Friday.
Although retaining the three Mubarak loyalists, the coalition government pushed out the longtime ministers of oil, social justice and labor
Disagreement on the appointment of a Labor Minister is fueled by differences between independent trade union members and The Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), which has been loyal to Mubarak. Labor sources say ETUF leaders fear the independent's choice of Ahmed al-Boraie will result in their being tried for financial shenanigans.
The new cabinet has been sworn in and met for the first time today; discussing security as their first priority. The Muslim Brotherhood and youth activists will be protesting later this week, as Mubarak's people are still represented in the cabinet.
The Brotherhood says it has not been invited the join the cabinet. They would have refused a post anyway because they insist that all remnants of the old regime should be replaced, Essam El-Erian, a senior member of the Brotherhood, said. Details of other appointments can be found here.
Meanwhile, South Sinai Bedouin tribesmen are demanding the South Sinai Governor's resignation, after he failed to fulfill promises to legalize their status, and lease housing to them. The tribesmen also demanded safe water supplies and the investigation of a 64 million euro fund they claim has been mismanaged. (Note: I believe Mubarak is living in this same region.)
The Muslim Brotherhood is doing preparatory work to create its political party, named the Freedom and Justice party. They will not field a presidential candidate this year. Although they say they do not object to women or minority religious people from running for office, they do not feel they should ever become head of state.
Lots of speculation going on about the MB, but one theme seems to be running through: when persecuted by Mubarak's regime, they were well united, but now that freedom has arrived, the Brotherhood seems to be splitting to some degree along age lines. Youth are tech-savvy and impatient, whereas elders tend to be more conservative and emphasize patience.
Long organized as social activists, the consensus is that the organizational skills of the MB was critical to the success of the uprising in many ways. They provided the microphones, distributed the tea and food, assisted with the clinics and it was largely MB youth who held off the pro-Mubarak forces when violence ensued.
VISITORS
David Cameron is the first world leader to visit Egypt since the overthrow of Mubarak, but his visit to "promote democracy" has been criticized as a fig leaf for arms sales in the region: Cameron took eight defense firms with him on a four-day visit to the region.
Criticism has arisen that Mr Cameron was promoting a mission to sell arms to Arab dictators shortly after Colonel Gaddafi may have used British weapons to kill hundreds of his fellow countrymen in Libya. Arms sales to Libya by Britain , including crowd control ammo, sniper rifles and tear gas continued up until this past weekend, at which time the government withdrew eight export licences to Libya.
Cameron and US Undersecretary of State William Burns have urged Egypt to lift emergency law and release more political detainees.
Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief followed Cameron, and seems poised to add one billion Euro's to the current aid to Egypt. She's being careful not to appear to meddle, but is offering help where needed.
A broad coalition of youth activists met with Western diplomats and expressed skepticism about the military's promises of a democratically elected government. Further they asked that the the US and Europe revise their policies in the region. In addition, the activists requested help tracking Mubarak's assets and those of his associates that they say were acquired illegally; saying foreign aid would not be needed if Egypt could retrieve the funds.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
This follows rumors of vast wealth and some reports that the military has promised to protect Mubarak from prosecution and to allow him full rights and benefits as a citizen and ex-president. The Supreme Military Council has frozen the assets of many ministers and businessmen, arrested some; but no such order has come forth for Mubarak or any member of his family.
Despite this, on Monday, Egypt's top prosecutor requested a freeze on foreign assets of Mubarak and his family; noting local assets had been frozen soon after his ouster. An unidentified legal adviser to Mubarak claims rumors of Mubarak's vast wealth are unsubstantiated, as he released Mubarak's final financial statement. Nevertheless, Switzerland froze Mubarak's assets within hours of his resignation and say he had "tens of millions of francs" (1 swiss franc approx = $1 USD). Twelve Egyptian individuals have had their assets frozen by Switzerland, including the Mubarak family and four ministers.
Said Sadek, professor of political sociology at the American University of Cairo is suspicious . “Why? Because the move is very slow and too late. We have heard a lot of reports about many funds flying out of the country in the last two to three weeks and nothing happened. In addition, we have seen that Switzerland moved so fast. As soon as (Mr.) Mubarak resigned, they moved to freeze his bank account, as here there was hesitation,” said Sadek. “There were reports that an agreement was reached between the Supreme Council of the Armed forces and (Mr.) Mubarak that they would not pursue him legally or pursue his accounts; and so, we are not sure if this is a real sign of change or just for domestic consumption, but nothing special would come out of it.”
The Associated Press reports that " Dozens of former ministers, businessmen and senior leaders of Mubarak's ruling party are under investigation for alleged corruption. Three former cabinet ministers, including the once-powerful Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, have been arrested pending the completion of the investigation against them for alleged corruption.
Ahmed Ezz, steel tycoon and once a prominent leader of the ruling party, was also arrested last week. Ezz was a confidante of Gamal Mubarak, who over the past decade became the country's most powerful politician after his father."
Three prominent Mubarak associates appeared in court today wearing white prison uniforms. They were greeted with insults and made to sit in a cage during proceedings.
In recent moves, the military has banned a former prime minister and Cabinet minister from leaving the country, possibly for criminal investigation. Egypt's top prosecutor on Wednesday banned Atef Obeid, prime minister from 2001 to 2004, as well as long-serving Culture Minister Farouq Hosni from traveling abroad. The ban also covers nine business men and Osama el Sheikh, head of state TV and radio.
Although it is unclear what assets the Mubarak family has in France, its Foreign Ministry is looking into a freeze at the request of Egypt's top prosecutor.
A document showing a deposit of 19,000 kg of platinum (worth almost $15 billion USD) by Mubarak into the United Bank of Switzerland has been submitted to the Attorney General by Khaled Ali, head of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social rights. The document will be examined for authenticity.
Youth groups are calling for Mubarak to leave Egypt entirely while Egyptian author Mohamed Hassanein Heikal is calling for him to move out of Sharm el-Shiekh. Heikal says there is "continuous communication" between Cairo and Shark el-Shiekh, and that "certain foreign and regional elements" reside there as well and could threaten Egypt's interests.