Al-Masry Al-Youm has learned that Mohamed ElBaradei, former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), returned to Cairo Tuesday morning following a five-day visit to London. During his trip, ElBaradei met with British members of his National Association for Change.
According to sources close to ElBaradei, he did not inform members in Egypt of his arrival time to Cairo. The same sources say that the first item on his agenda was to visit the Democratic Front Party headquarters to meet with party chairman Osama el-Ghazali Harb to discuss how Egypt’s political movements can be harnessed to foster change in the country.
When asked about the meeting, ElBaradei told Al-Masry Al-Youm he had no intention of joining the Democratic Front Party, and that the purpose of his visit to the party’s headquarters was to “coordinate strategy” with Harb.
According to an anonymous source within the association, the organization will soon hold elections, through which its members will choose a new president to replace ElBaradei. The source noted, however, that ElBaradei would remain the organization’s “spiritual leader.” The source also said the association would continue collecting signatures in support of the organization’s Statement for Change.
Notably, the association has recently seen a number of high-level resignations, as well as a series of public disputes among its leadership over the organization’s political orientation and agenda.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
