(Source, CNN)
The nonpartisan Working Group on Egypt, a consortium of policy experts from Carnegie, the Council on Foreign Relations, Human Rights Watch, the Center for American Progress, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the Foreign Policy Initiative and Freedom House.
Statement of the Working Group on Egypt, Saturday January 29, 2011
Amidst the turmoil in Egypt, it is important for the U.S. to remain focused on the interests of the Egyptian people as well as the legitimacy and stability of the Egyptian government. Only free and fair elections provide the prospect for a peaceful transfer of power to a government recognized as legitimate by the Egyptian people. We urge the Obama administration to pursue these fundamental objectives in the coming days and press the Egyptian government to:
- call for free and fair elections for president and for parliament to be held as soon as possible .
- amend the Egyptian Constitution to allow opposition candidates to register to run for the presidency.
- immediately lift the state of emergency, release political prisoners, and allow for freedom of media and assembly
- allow domestic election monitors to operate throughout the country, without fear of arrest or violence.
- immediately invite international monitors to enter the country and monitor the process leading to elections, reporting on the government’s compliance with these measures to the international community
- publicly declare that Mr. Mubarak will agree not to run for re-election. We further recommend that the Obama administration suspend all economic and militaryassistance to Egypt until the government accepts and implements these measures.
Elliott Abrams
Council on Foreign Relations
eabrams@cfr.org
Andrew Albertson
Project on Middle East Democracy
andrew.albertson@pomed.org
Ellen Bork
Foreign Policy Initiative
ebork @foreignpolicyi.org
Daniel Calingaert
Freedom House
calingaert@freedomhouse.org
Thomas Carothers
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
tcarothers@ceip.org
(Source, HERE. Thanks to Joseph Cumming for the link.)
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