Greetings! Please Share & Subcribe.
President Hosni Mubarak has dashed the hopes of hundreds of thousands of Egyptians waiting for what they thought would be his resignation speech by defiantly announcing that he would not bow to domestic or foreign pressure to quit.
In a televised address that appears to have set the stage for further confrontation on the streets – as well as heightened tensions with the US – Mubarak said he would hand powers to his deputy, Omar Suleiman, but will stay on as president with his regime controlling the transition to free elections.
Although technically president in name only, Mubarak said he will stay in office until an orderly transition of power, planned for September. He repeated a pledge not to seek re-election and said there was no going back on a commitment to long term political reform, after the two weeks of protests demanding his resignation. Ominously, he referred to the army playing a role in ensuring an orderly transfer of power.
Although the surrender of his legal powers was a significant concession, unthinkable just a month ago, it fell far short of the demands of the shocked and angry crowds packed in to Cairo's Tahrir Square, the centre of protests against Mubarak's 30-year rule, after a day of growing euphoria during which they came to believe he was about to resign entirely after senior government politicians predicted as much.
Opposition leaders said the transfer of power to Suleiman, the former intelligence chief who has played a central role in years of political repression, did not change the regime. They said they will escalate the protests, which in recent days have spread to include strikes that have shut down the public transport system, some hospitals and factories.
The role of the military remained unclear after, earlier in the day, it said it would act to "protect the rights of the people".
Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel peace prize winner and retired nuclear inspector who is now a leading opposition politician, wrote on Twitter: "Egypt will explode. Army must save the country now."
Egyptians will be watching to see if the army continues to permit the latest of the mass protests, planned for today, to go ahead without interference.
Mubarak's speech also wrongfooted the US administration, which has been pressuring him to take steps toward democratisation, including lifting the hated state of emergency which has been used to suppress political activity. Last night, Barack Obama convened a meeting with his security team to discuss the crisis.
The Egyptian leader attempted to appeal to the protesters while suggesting that his refusal to resign was a matter of national dignity because he was resisting foreign pressure.
"Your demands are legitimate and just ... There is no shame in hearing your voices and opinions, but I refuse any and all dictations from abroad," he said. "I have announced my commitment to peacefully hand over power after upcoming elections ... I will deliver Egypt and its people to safety."
Mubarak said he would transfer powers to Suleiman to prove that the demands of protesters for political change will be met. Shortly afterwards, Suleiman appeared on television and passed over the opportunity to win over the protesters by announcing immediate and major political changes. Instead, he aggravated tensions by warning that he would not allow the country to be dragged into chaos and appealing for the protesters to return to work.
"Youth of Egypt, go back home, back to work, the nation needs you to develop, to create. Don't listen to foreign radio and TV, whose aim is to tarnish Egypt," he said.
Stunned protesters listened in disbelief. In the hours before Mubarak's speech, thousands of pro-democracy activists had poured in to Tahrir Square for an impromptu victory party in expectation that the president was about to quit after the prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, and other senior politicians said they expected him to announce he would step down as the political crisis continued to deepen with the spread of strikes and demonstrations across the country.
Hossam Badrawi, the new secretary general of the ruling party, was quoted in the state press as saying he had requested that Mubarak transfer his powers to Suleiman, who had appeared to be in effect running the country in recent days.
The mood of optimism was reinforced when General Hassan al-Roueini, military commander for the Cairo, told the crowd: "All your demands will be met today." State television shifted from relentless anti-protester propaganda to showing Tahrir Square in what was widely seen in Cairo as reflecting a political change.
But, behind the scenes, a political struggle appeared to be underway involving the military over the terms of Mubarak's departure.
Whoever is really in charge, the huge crowds celebrating before the president had even spoken served as a warning that the popular pressure for change is not likely to ease.
Besides Mubarak's resignation, opposition activists have been demanding an immediate lifting of the 30-year state of emergency that has been used to lock up the government's opponents without trial. They have also been pressing for parliament, elected in a tainted ballot last year from which leading opponents including the Muslim Brotherhood were barred, to be dissolved.
Some opposition leaders have said that they would accept an interim administration, controlled by civilians with a military presence, for up to a year to make constitutional changes to permit free elections and also to allow for the creation of new political parties and to give them a chance to become rooted.
The regime had expected the protests to lose steam this week but the largest crowd to date descended on Tahrir square on Tuesday as Egyptians sensed the government's weakness after it made a series of political concessions even if they fell short of the opposition's demands.
Yesterday, doctors and thousands of other medical workers joined transport workers, Suez canal employees and thousands of other workers across the country in walking out.
GUARDIAN
0 Comments