Cairo - Opponents of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Tuesday rejected US First Lady Laura Bush's interpretation of Egyptian politics, saying they could not even see the progress she was praising.
"There are no reform steps at all. The regime is still following the dictatorial and repressive method towards the Egyptian people and opposition," said Mohamed Habib, deputy leader of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood.
Laura Bush said on Monday that Mubarak's proposal to introduce direct presidential elections was bold and wise and that political reform must happen slowly.
"We feel the speed is not even slow, but even backwards sometimes," said Mazen Mustafa, a member of the liberal Ghad Party and the Kefaya protest movement.
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"I don't think Mrs Bush represents the administration and she is not aware of the government's low manoeuvres," he added.
A leading member of the liberal Wafd Party, Mohamed Elwan, said: "What she said matters to the rulers because it is in the hands of foreigners to keep them in their positions."
He added: "Dictatorial and despotic regimes are always backed by foreign interests because they are more responsive to the outside world than if they were democracies"
Laura Bush's remarks, made during a visit to the pyramids at Giza on the outskirts of Cairo, adopted the Egyptian government position on Mubarak's proposal and on the pace of reform which Egypt can sustain.
The opposition says that a constitutional amendment on how to choose the president will in effect ensure that the ruling National Democratic Party can stay in power indefinitely.
They are calling on Egyptians to boycott Wednesday's referendum on the amendment, which sets tough conditions for independents and political parties to seek the presidency.
The recognised parties have an exemption from the conditions this year but analysts say that, after years of exclusion from the mainstream media, they cannot field a credible rival to Mubarak, who is widely expected to seek a fifth six-year term.
Habib said: "The regime is eager to ensure that the situation remains just as stagnant and frozen as ever. The emergency law is still in place and public freedoms are still suffering from deficiency and atrophy."
Habib said the number of Brotherhood members in custody had reached 960 in a crackdown that began in March. Most of the charges relate to offences such as belonging to an outlawed organisation, organising demonstrations, possessing leaflets for distribution or "inciting hatred of the regime".
Laura Bush had more praise for Mubarak and the Egyptian government on Tuesday when she spoke to a group of Egyptian women at the US ambassador's residence.
"Egypt is a very, very important friend of the United States. We have a longtime friendship, and Egypt has been a leader in peacemaking, and I appreciate that," she said.
The First Lady began her Middle East tour acknowledging that America's image in the Muslim world had been badly damaged by a prisoner abuse scandal and a magazine report, since retracted, that US interrogators had desecrated the Koran.
Asked near the end of the trip whether her visit helped address Muslim concerns, Bush said: "I don't know."
Her visit to Jerusalem was marred by noisy protests by Jews and Palestinians at key holy sites.
Before her final stop in the Egyptian port of Alexandria, she told women leaders in Cairo not to count on swift democratic reforms in the region.
"Democracy is a long time coming. You take a few steps forward and a few steps back, and certainly in our country, we still do that. It requires vigilance, it requires work on the part of everyone," she said.
In Alexandria, the First Lady was serenaded by schoolgirls and visited the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, built near the site of the ancient Library of Alexandria, which housed 700 000 manuscripts on papyrus by the middle of the first century BC.
"I always wanted to go to the Alexandria library," Laura Bush said. "I was a librarian."
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