Egypt’s ElBaradei Cites Terms For Dialogue With Government

Senior opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei set three conditions on Monday for ending a boycott of Egypt’s elected Islamist president and working for a national consensus.

The former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog called for the appointment of a “neutral and credible” government capable of managing the country, an independent prosecutor-general and a panel to draft a new elections law.

Speaking at an economic conference organized by the leftist Popular Current party, ElBaradei said the opposition was prepared to work with President Mohamed Morsi for Egypt’s sake.

“We are waiting for President Morsi to understand that time is not on his side, not on Egypt’s side,” he said. “We will begin a dialogue if three conditions are met.”

ElBaradei is a senior member of the National Salvation Front, a loose umbrella grouping of liberal and leftist parties which threatened to boycott parliamentary elections due to have been held this month, but which were postponed until the autumn after a court annulled the government’s election law last month.

That delay created a window of opportunity for cooperation between Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies and their opponents, but deep mutual suspicion and spasms of political violence have made such a dialogue less likely.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, held separate talks with Morsi and opposition leaders on Sunday to encourage them to seek common ground to tackle the country’s daunting economic and social challenges.

The opposition has dropped two other prior conditions for cooperation it set in February – amendments to the Islamic-tinged constitution pushed through last December and the punishment of members of the security forces involved in abuses.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also urged Morsi last week to reach out to the opposition to build a more inclusive democracy and fix Egypt’s battered economy.

Cairo is negotiating with a visiting International Monetary Fund delegation for a $4.8 billion loan urgently needed to help stem a growing economic crisis.

Although there are no political conditions for a deal, Western governments that are the global lenders’ biggest shareholders say some political consensus would make it easier to push through economic reforms that go with an IMF loan.

Diplomats said Morsi had not ruled out addressing some of the opposition’s demands and could make a decision in the next two weeks as the IMF negotiations reach a conclusion.