CAIRO: A meeting held last Thursday by prominent members of the National Association for Change seemed to indicate parting of ways with former IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.
Differences had come to the fore recently between ElBaradei and other members of the association over a number of issues, including the approach of the coalition to achieve its stated aims and his constant travelling abroad.
There was also a mini-crisis that occurred when the association’s coordinator Hassan Nafaa submitted his resignation from his post. The resignation was refused and he will remain the coalition’s coordinator for another three months and by then he will be replaced.
Nafaa had stated that he wanted to resign due to time constraints, and that he fully intended to remain a member of the coalition, but just not in the top post. It was during last Thursday’s meeting that it was agreed Nafaa would stay on for another three months before a replacement is appointed.
“There was a meeting last Thursday and everything was resolved,” coalition member George Ishaq told Daily News Egypt, “The association will continue as it is for the next three months with Hassan Nafaa in charge and then in three months new people will come on.”
However what also emerged was that there had been many differences of opinion with ElBaradei, especially regarding the campaign’s approach towards trying to institute their stated goal of creating political change in Egypt.
Spokesman for the coalition Hamdi Qandeel wrote in a column for Al-Shorouk newspaper Monday that there emerged “fundamental differences” between ElBaradei and the other members of the coalition. He wrote that ElBaradei did not have much trust in the coalition and was reticent about its creation.
He also said that the other members of the coalition were not supportive of ElBaradei’s constant trips abroad as well as some of the trips he made while in Egypt, specifically to Islamic and Coptic Cairo and to Fayoum.
However, the ElBaradei camp maintains that the former IAEA chief was always a symbol for the association rather than its leader, and never spoke as its figurehead.
Head of the campaign calling for an ElBaradei presidency Abdelrahman Yousef told Daily News Egypt, “The association is not a political organization with a clear structure and its head is not Dr ElBaradei and he never was. The coalition is a general popular movement and its members are the signatories of the petition. He is a symbol for change and for the association.”
Qandeel also said ElBaradei was more concerned with the campaign for signatures that the coalition was undertaking while other members wanted to focus more on activities in the streets.
“There is a misunderstanding,” Yousef said, “People thought the association was all about Dr ElBaradei and this is what caused the confusion. He is not the head of the association and he represents himself.”
As a result of the differences, and last Thursday’s meeting, it seems that ElBaradei will no longer be considered an integral decision-maker in the coalition but rather will be considered more of a figurehead.
“Dr ElBaradei will remain as a symbol of the association; he said he wanted to give a chance for the association to forge ahead in what it was doing and he said that everybody who signed the [online petition for change] was a member of the association,” Ishaq said.
Asked if there would be future cooperation between ElBaradei and the association, Ishaq responded by saying, “Time will tell.”
For his part, Yousef said he didn’t know whether there would be future cooperation with the association but added, “I hope all the movements wanting change work together.”
The National Association for Change was formed in February by a coalition of opposition movements from across the political spectrum agitating for political change in Egypt.
The movement began collecting signatures for a petition that has seven stated demands. Those demands include an end to the emergency law, judicial oversight and independent monitoring of elections and a two-term limit on the presidency.
