CAIRO, Egypt - January 18, 2011 - In a sign that an electrified Arab world has been inspired by the events in Tunisia to rise up against their governments, opposition leaders in Egypt have called for an open revolt in the country on January 25.
The U.S. branch of the National Association for Change, an umbrella group of activists led by former IAEA chief Mohamed El-Baradei, issued a statement on Tuesday "urging all Egyptians to take to the streets on January 25 to protest the deteriorating conditions caused by the dictatorial Mubarak regime."
The message places El-Baradei - a prominent figure in the international community since his role in Iraqi weapons inspections in 2002 and 2003 - in virtually direct conflict with President Hosni Mubarak, who is generally considered an ally of Washington and whose government receives billions in U.S. aid every year.
The call for a revolt comes as several Egyptians set themselves on fire in protest this week, apparently inspired by the Tunisian uprising last week that started the same way.
A man set himself ablaze on Tuesday in Cairo and another in Alexandria, Egyptian officials said. The incidents follow a similar one in Cairo on Monday in which a man poured fuel on himself and set himself on fire on a busy street in front of the People's Assembly.
In its statement, the Association for Change said it hopes "to capitalize on the overwhelming sense of hope and optimism filling the Egyptian streets. The plan is to continue the protests until the regime takes material steps towards democratization, which is Egypt’s only way out of the dire situation it is currently facing."
That sense of hope and optimism was also detected by New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid, who told Democracy Now! that the revolt in Tunisia "has electrified people across the Arab world... that change can actually occur in a lot of countries that seem almost ossified at this point."
