CAIRO: An 8-hour meeting between Egypt's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is currently administering the country, and the Coalition of Youth Movements took place Sunday. Following the meeting, the military council announced Parliamentary elections would take place in two months, following a referendum on proposed constitutional changes on March 19. The Coalition of Youth representatives, which included representatives of al-Wafd Party, Mohamed ElBaradei's reform group, and Muslim Brotherhood youth along with youth not associated with a political movement, presented a list of demands to the council. The demands included: dismissing the cabinet of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, replacing the cabinet with a technocratic government consisting of respected figures, and excluding any member of the formerly ruling National Democratic Party from the upcoming government. The coalition demanded the immediate release of all political prisoners in less than a month and urged the military to reveal the identities of those behind the brutal attack against the protesters in Tahrir Square on February 2 and 3, as well as further investigations into figures of former president Hosni Mubarak`s regime, and called for the dissolution of the State Security, Egypt's hated police force. They also called on the council to prosecute former secretaries of the NDP such as Zakaria Azmy, Safwat el-Sherif and Fathy Sorour for crimes against the people. The group called for the formation of a caretaker presidential council that includes one civilian and one military figure to govern the country during the interim transitional period. They informed the council that they will boycott any meetings with the army if their demands are not met within two months. BM
