Egypt 'thirsty for change'

It is the Middle East's city that doesn't sleep, exploding with human energy. For Cairo's poorest citizens - and there are a lot of them - most of that energy goes into extracting a life out of very unpromising circumstances.

Foreigners who turn up expecting to get things done can end up deeply frustrated. Deep frustration, followed by a swift return to Europe is probably what the regime of President Hosni Mubarak would like.

Mr ElBaradei: "I think they are panicking [because of] the increasing snowball effect of the call for change," he said.


The level of attention - from his supporters and from those in the regime he is clearly making nervous - is despite the fact that the Egyptian constitution does not allow an independent to stand as a presidential candidate. 

Mohamed ElBaradei says he will not "flirt" with democracy in Egypt

 

Egypt, he says, is at a dead-end after almost 30 years of President Mubarak.
"People are thirsty for change," he says. "I am not going to be part of flirting with democracy."
Even President Mubarak's supporters accept that change is coming.

The president has been in power for nearly 30 years. His grip on power is tenacious and he uses an  emergency law that puts drastic restrictions on citizens' rights to make sure it stays that way. He has never lifted the state of emergency that he imposed when he took office after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat in 1981. The emergency law is often directed at the Muslim Brotherhood, which is the best organised and largest opposition group. It is illegal but tolerated as long as it doesn't rock the boat too heavily. If its leaders and activists try to break out of the narrow limits the regime allows them, they can expect a spell in one of Egypt's nasty jails.

Mr Mubarak, his critics say, has tried to make himself into a modern pharaoh. The assumption is that, health permitting, he will stand again in 2011 unless he steps aside in favour of his son Gamal, who is being groomed for the job.
Mohamed ElBaradei believes he is making it harder for the regime to renew itself by passing the presidency on to the younger Mubarak.
The question now is whether the opposition, in whatever form, can make some inroads into the regime's power when President Mubarak goes - and how his departure affects this unstable region.
Egypt regards itself as the leader of the Arab world, but in recent years it hasn't punched its weight.
President Mubarak's successor might change that.
At the very least there is uncertainty ahead for the Americans and their allies, including Israel, who have relied on President Mubarak to keep Egypt quiet.