ElBaradei: Create a Free 'New Egypt'

Nobel Peace Prize-winner Mohamed ElBaradei says his fellow Egyptians need to channel their revolutionary fervor into concrete steps to create a “new Egypt based on freedom and social justice.”

ElBaradei was the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a critic of the Hosni Mubarak regime. In an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Thursday, he said Egyptians need to replace their constitution, set up a provisional three-person presidential council that includes a representative of the military, and prepare for free presidential and parliamentary elections within a year.

“We are at the dawn of a new Egypt,” he declares. “A free and democratic society, at peace with itself and with its neighbors, will be a bulwark of stability in the Middle East and a worthy partner in the international community.”