AL chief says change in Egypt inevitable

Secretary General of the Arab League (AL) Amr Moussa said Monday that inevitable change is coming in Egypt.

"Change is inevitable and development is inevitable, nothing otherwise is possible," Moussa said in an interview with Xinhua, underlining the rights of all citizens to take part in talks over this change.

Egypt has been recently witnessing increasing political activities in the internal arena. New opposition movements started to emerge since early 2004 calling for political reform that include canceling Emergency Law which has been in effect since 1981 and introducing constitutional amendments to articles related to presidential candidacy.

The political activity has reached its peak with the former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei appearing in the Egyptian political arena after ending his term in the international watchdog.

ElBaradei, supported by several opposition movements and parties, said he will not run for the presidential candidacy unless the parliament passes amendments to the presidential candidacy-related articles that guarantee fair and transparent elections.

"The question is how could this change and improvement be achieved and in which fields it shall be and whether this is enough to move the society forward or not," the senior Arab diplomat said.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has welcomed on Thursday in an address on the occasion marking Labor Day celebrations what he called "the active social interaction that calls for reform".

"We are committed to continuing the political reform we have started. These reforms support the role of the parliament, the independence of judiciary and separates religion and politics," the Egyptian leader said.

However, he warned against fusing the "concept of change with chaos."

Source:Xinhua