CAIRO - President Hosni 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 with an opposition which wants him out. Mubarak, who has refused calls to step down before September polls, has tried to focus on restoring order. But protesters, camped out in Tahrir Square in the heart of Cairo, have vowed to stay until Mubarak quits, and hope to take their campaign to the streets on Tuesday and Friday. The banned Muslim Brotherhood was among the groups who met with officials over the weekend, a sign of how much has already changed in 13 days that have rocked the Arab world and alarmed Western powers. But opposition figures reported little progress. While protesters are demanding that Mubarak must go immediately, many also worry that when he does go, he will be replaced not with the democracy they seek but with another authoritarian ruler. Keen to get traffic moving around Tahrir Square, the Army tried early on Monday to further squeeze the area the protesters occupied. Protesters rushed out of their tents to surround soldiers attempting to corral them into a smaller area. Wary of the Army's attempt to gain ground, dozens of protesters have slept inside the tracks of the Army's vehicles. "The Army is getting restless and so are the protesters. The Army wants to squeeze us into a small circle in the middle of the square to get the traffic moving again," Mohamed Shalaby, 27, a protester, told Reuters by phone. The nation got back to work on Sunday and banks reopened after a week-long crisis with lines of customers seeking access to their accounts. Many Egyptians, including those who took part in nationwide demonstrations last week against Mubarak's 30-year rule, are nonetheless desperate to get back to normal and worried about the impact of the crisis on stability and the economy. The drop in the Egyptian pound was less sharp than many traders had expected on Sunday as the Central Bank appeared to support the currency. But the pound could face renewed pressure on Monday when banks outside the Middle East reopen after the weekend. Another confidence test will be a Central Bank auction of 15 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) of short-term treasury bills, postponed from last week. The stock market is still closed. Government ministers will hold their first full cabinet meeting on Monday since Mubarak reshuffled his cabinet on January 28 in an attempt to mollify protesters enraged by years of corruption, economic hardship and political oppression.
