Mubarak: Democracy can't come from outside
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-03-14 09:06

Democratic reform in the Arab world cannot be imposed from the outside, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said Sunday in an apparent rebuke of U.S.-led efforts to speed up change in the region.

Mubarak, Egypt's leader since 1981 and an ally of the United States, told a regional conference on reform that his order last month to change the constitution to let more than one candidate stand in presidential elections this September "crowned the efforts we have already exerted to achieve political reforms."

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, right, meets with Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz at the Red sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, Thursday, March 10, 2005. [AP]

In another indication of change, Egypt on Saturday released Ayman Nour, an opposition leader who announced his presidential bid while in jail after Washington raised concerns about his imprisonment. Nour's jailing also called into question Egypt's pledges of democratic reform.

Mubarak, who has repeatedly spoken out against international calls for Middle East governments to quicken democratic reform, also didn't shy away on Sunday despite US President Bush's pledge to bring democratic change to the region.

"Arab nations have taken serious steps on the road of reform, but the road is still long and we have to go ahead confidently, out of conviction that reform is an uninterrupted process derived from the nation's will and not demanded from others," Mubarak said, opening the three-day gathering.

But Mohammed Faiek, a political activist who heads the Arab Organization for Human Rights, called upon Arab governments and the opposition to not be "intolerant toward the reforms coming from abroad, because this is the trend of the day."

Faiek was the only critical speaker, denouncing Egypt's emergency laws and official intolerance of opposition parties, and condemning the lack of equality between Arab men and women.

"Freedom is a human right and it can't take place unless there is a complete respect for human rights," he told the audience who responded with subdued applause.

Egypt's emergency laws, passed after President Anwar Sadat's 1981 assassination by Islamic militants, restrict political campaigning by outlawing large gatherings and giving the state wide powers of detention.

Mubarak told the annual Arab Reform Conference he planned to suggest further constitutional amendments before parliament, including regulating the work of political parties and both houses of parliament.

Some opposition members have criticized Mubarak's moves as a bid to guarantee the presidency for him or his son, Gamal.

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