Egypt's military seeks to restore stability

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's army was expected to step up efforts to restore stability on Tuesday, hoping a promise to ensure a swift transition to civilian rule would end splinter protests that have flared since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

Facing a wave of protests by workers ranging from banking staff to tourist guides, the military rulers urged people to return to their jobs to avoid more damage to an economy hurt by the 18-day uprising.

A powerful dust storm affecting Cairo was expected to deter worker demonstrations on Tuesday, which is also a national holiday to mark the Prophet Mohammad's birthday, so the response to the appeal was more likely to become clear on Wednesday.

The military was holding talks with activists at the forefront of the revolt that ended Mubarak's 30-year rule to reassure them of their commitment to democracy and a smooth and orderly transition of power.

But with anger still smouldering over rising prices, low wages and economic hardship, the military faces a delicate balancing act in restoring stability while allaying suspicions about its readiness to relinquish power.

Egypt's revolution sent shock waves around the Middle East as well as global financial markets worried about the effect on oil supplies.

Police in Bahrain, neighbour of the world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia, clashed with funeral-goers mourning a Shi'ite protester shot dead on Monday during an anti-government "Day of Rage," and one person was killed in the melee.

Thousands of Iranian opposition activists rallied in support of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia on Monday and a semi-official news agency said one person was shot dead and several wounded by protesters.

Using their newfound freedom of expression and protest, workers on Monday rallied in Cairo and other cities to complain about low pay and poor working conditions.

Protests, sit-ins and strikes have occurred at state-owned institutions across Egypt, including the stock exchange, textile and steel firms, media groups, the postal services and railways, since Mubarak resigned.

"VICTORY MARCH"

Pro-democracy leaders say Egyptians will demonstrate again if their demands for radical change are not met. They plan a big "Victory March" on Friday to celebrate the revolution -- and perhaps to remind the military of the power of the street.

In Tahrir Square, the scene of bloody clashes between activists and police during the revolution, traffic flowed freely on Tuesday directed by military policemen as a couple of burnt-out vehicles were taken away as part of the cleanup.

There were scuffles on Monday as the last protesters were removed by the military along with the remnants of their camp. Tanks and armoured vehicles around the square and other Cairo locations were now stationary and sandbagged in.

In "Communique No. 5" read out on state television on Monday, a military spokesman said: "Noble Egyptians see that these strikes, at this delicate time, lead to negative results."

The military has promised free and fair elections, suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament, dismantling the apparatus that has kept Mubarak in power since he took over from Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamist soldiers in 1981.

Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who had been detained for his part in the uprising, said members of the military council had told him a plebiscite would be held on constitutional amendments in two months, a prelude to holding elections.

The high command on Monday appointed retired judge Tareq al-Bishry, respected in legal circles for his independent views, to head a committee set up to propose constitutional changes.

But the military has given no timetable for elections beyond saying it would be in charge "for a temporary period of six months or until the end of elections to the upper and lower houses of parliament, and presidential elections."

Some have expressed concern about the open-ended nature of the timetable.

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD

Existing political groupings are mostly small, weak and fragmented. The Muslim Brotherhood, which under the now-suspended constitution could not form a party, may be the best organised group but its true popularity has yet to be tested.

"When the popular demand for the freedom to form parties is realised, the group will found a political party," said the Brotherhood in a new statement posted on the group's website.

The Brotherhood is an Islamist group founded in the 1920s with deep roots in Egypt's conservative Muslim society. Washington has expressed concern about its "anti-American rhetoric," saying "we have serious disagreements."

Others need at least a year to prepare for an election, said one politician who struggled to found a party under Mubarak.

"If parliamentary elections happen now, the only party ready to go into elections are the Muslim Brotherhood," said Abou Elela Mady, who broke away from the Brotherhood in the 1990s.

In a move to placate pro-democracy activists, Egypt's army said it would lift the country's hated state of emergency, in place for as long as Mubarak was in power. It has yet to say when this will happen, troubling campaigners.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday it was up to Egypt to decide when to lift the state of emergency.

In an interview with Al Jazeera she noted that Washington had long called for the law's removal, but said, "It's not for me to counsel them. This is an Egyptian process that must be directed and defined by the Egyptian people."

Mubarak, 82, has not been seen since final television addresses made last-ditch attempts to try and turn the tide of popular resentment that eventually engulfed him. He is thought to be at his villa in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

The United States, Britain and France said on Monday they had been asked by Egypt to freeze the assets of former Egyptian officials, although Washington and Paris said Mubarak was not on the list.

(Reporting by Marwa Awad, Edmund Blair, Alexander Dziadosz, Shaimaa Fayed, Andrew Hammond, Alistair Lyon, Sherine El Madany, Tom Perry, Yasmine Saleh, Patrick Werr, Jonathan Wright and Dina Zayed; writing by Peter Millership, Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)