New panel to oversee constitutional changes

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has issued a decree forming a committee to oversee constitutional changes ahead of elections later this year. Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement Monday night in a brief televised address as anti-government protests enter their third week. 

Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

The vice president has started talks with some opposition parties, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, to draw up plans for a democratic transition. Mubarak has promised not to stand for re-election in September, but opposition groups say any election to replace him would not be fair under the country's current constitution.

Meanwhile, thousands of protestors continue to mass in Cairo's Tahrir square amid fresh calls for renewed street action. One group, the 'April 6 Movement' has called for mass demonstrations later on Tuesday.

On Monday, Mubarak tried to buy time with a pledge to raise public sector wages by 15 per cent and ordering a probe into the recent deadly violence that has left 300 dead in the course of 15 days of protests.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mubarak met the foreign minsiter of the United Arab Emirates in his first high-level talks with an overseas visitor since the crisis began.

Mubarak met Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan, who is the brother of the current Emirate president Abu Dhabi's emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nayahan, at the presidential palace in Cairo.

The Emirates has condemned what it describes as 'foreign attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of Egypt'.