"The process is opaque. Nobody knows who is talking to whom at this stage"

While the Egyptian regime is eluding and stalling, people insists on taking to the streets every day until its change and the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak's government was to hold its first full meeting of a new cabinet on Monday since protests erupted against his rule with no sign yet of progress in talks.

Vice President Omar Suleiman met opposition leaders, including the Muslim Brotherhood, on Sunday in a bid to end a political crisis that has seen hundreds of thousands of people protesting for about two weeks.

But the demonstrators were unimpressed and opposition parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, repeated their demand that Mubarak himself must stand down or immediately delegate his powers to his deputy. Mubarak has so far refused demands to step down immediately.

The Muslim Brotherhood, still officially banned, said it had agreed to take part in the talks because it wanted to gauge whether the government was serious about reform, but warned that the initial concessions were insufficient.

Government spokesman Magdi Radi said the parties had agreed to form a committee of jurist and politicians "to study and propose constitutional amendments and required legislative amendments... by the first week of March".
  
Negotiators also agreed to open an office for complaints about the treatment of political prisoners, loosen media curbs, lift emergency rule "depending on the security situation" and reject foreign interference. But Suleiman refused another key demand of the opposition, saying he would not assume Mubarak's powers and rule in his place during the transition.

Not all of the opposition movements involved in the revolt against Mubarak's rule were present at the talks. Former UN nuclear watchdog head and leading dissident Mohamed ElBaradei was not invited. "The process is opaque. Nobody knows who is talking to whom at this stage," ElBaradei told US network NBC. "If you really want to build confidence, you need to engage the rest of the Egyptian people -- the civilians."

US President Barack Obama said Egypt had changed forever since last month's street revolt and called for a "representative government" although he stopped short of calling on Mubarak, an old US ally, to quit immediately.