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CAIRO: A furious wave of
protest finally swept Egypt’s President Hosni
Mubarak from power on Friday after 30 years of
one-man rule, sparking jubilation on the streets and
sending a warning to autocrats across the Arab world
and beyond.
Mubarak, the second
Arab leader to be overthrown by a popular uprising
in a month, handed power to the army after 18 days
of relentless rallies against poverty, corruption
and repression caused support from the armed forces
to evaporate.
Vice President Omar
Suleiman said a military council would run the
affairs of the most populous Arab nation. A free and
fair presidential election has been promised for
September, though some question the army’s appetite
for real democracy.
Mubarak, 82, had
flown with his family from Cairo to the Red Sea
resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a ruling party official
said.
Ecstatic Egyptians
celebrated in carnival mood on the streets and
people embraced in Cairo’s Tahrir, or Liberation,
Square, the main focus for protest. Many simply
sobbed for joy.
“Nightmare over!”
said tailor Saad el Din Ahmed, 65, in Cairo. “Now we
have our freedom and can breathe and demand our
rights. In Mubarak’s era, we never saw a good day.
Hopefully now we will see better times,” said
Mostafa Kamal, 33, a salesman.
There was a note of
caution in the background, however, over how far the
military under Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi,
Mubarak’s veteran defence minister, are ready to
permit a democracy — especially since the hitherto
banned Muslim Brotherhood is one of the best
organised forces.
“This is just the end
of the beginning,” said Jon Alterman of the Centre
for Strategic and International Studies.
“Egypt isn’t moving
toward democracy, it’s moved into martial law and
where it goes is now subject to debate.”
US officials familiar
with the US-sponsored Egyptian military say Tantawi,
75, has long seemed resistant to change.
In a statement, the
higher military council said it would take measures
for an interim phase and hoped to realise people’s
hopes. Striking the even-handed note the military
has maintained throughout the crisis, it praised
Mubarak for resigning “in the interests of the
nation” and the “martyrs” who died protesting.
Risk consultancy
Stratfor said: “The military has carried out a coup
led by ... Tantawi. It is not clear whether Suleiman
will remain as civilian head of the army-led
government. Egypt is returning to the 1952 model of
ruling the state via a council of army officers.”
The crisis that
brought down Mubarak was the worst since
British-backed King Farouk was toppled in a military
coup staged by a group of officers in 1952. Generals
have ruled ever since.
A senior member of
the Muslim Brotherhood said Egyptians had achieved
the main goal of their popular uprising.
“I salute the
Egyptian people and the martyrs. This is the day of
victory for the Egyptian people. The main goal of
the revolution has been achieved,” Mohamed el-Katatni,
former leader of the Brotherhood’s parliamentary
bloc, told Reuters.
But injecting a note
of caution about the military’s role in Egypt’s
future, Katatni said the Brotherhood awaits the next
steps to be taken by the Higher Military Council
which has taken charge of the country’s affairs
after Mubarak’s decision.
“This is the greatest
day of my life,” said opposition activist and Nobel
Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, welcoming a period
of sharing of power between the army and the people.
He told Reuters that running for president was not
on his mind.
“This nation has been
born again, these people have been born again, and
this is a new Egypt,” said Ayman Nour, the only
politician who dared to challenge Mubarak in Egypt’s
only multi-candidate presidential election. He came
a distant second.
They waved flags, set
off fireworks and beat drums to celebrate this new
chapter in modern Egyptian history. SMS text
messages of congratulation zapped over mobile phone
networks among ordinary Egyptians, hailing a victory
for people power.
A speaker made the
announcement in Tahrir Square where hundreds of
thousands danced and sang, chanting: “The people
have brought down the regime.” Others shouted:
“Allahu Akbar (God is greatest).” Women ululated in
jubilation.
With an eye on the
military’s role, US Vice President Joe Biden said
Egypt must have democracy. Biden said the transition
must be “irreversible” saying the change in power in
Egypt was a “pivotal” moment for that country and
the Middle East.
“It’s broken a
psychological barrier not just for North Africa but
across the Middle East. I think you could see some
contagion in terms of protests; Morocco, perhaps
Jordan, Yemen,” said Anthony Skinner of political
risk consultancy Maplecroft.
British Prime
Minister David Cameron called it a precious moment
of opportunity. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said
she shared the people’s happiness. Israel said it
hoped relations would remain peaceful.
French President
Nicolas Sarkozy urged Egypt to take steps towards
free elections. “France ardently hopes the new
Egyptian authorities will take steps that lead to
establishment of democratic institutions through
free and transparent elections,” he said in a
statement.
Financial markets
welcomed the news, seeing less chance of a conflict
in the oil-rich region. Swiss authorities said they
had frozen assets that may belong to Mubarak.
Tantawi, heads the
military council, according a military source. Al
Arabiya said an army statement would announce the
sacking of the cabinet, the suspension of the upper
and lower houses of parliament and that the head of
the constitutional court would lead with the
military council.
Egypt’s powerful
military gave guarantees earlier on Friday that
promised democratic reforms would be carried out but
angry protesters intensified an uprising against
Mubarak, marching on the presidential palace and the
state television tower.
It was an effort by the army to
defuse the revolt but, in disregarding protesters’
key demand for Mubarak’s immediate removal, it
failed to calm the turmoil that has disrupted the
economy and rattled the volatile Middle East.
CAIRO
(AFP) - Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak stepped
down after 30 years, handing power to the military
after more than a million people took to the streets
at the culmination of an 18-day uprising.
A grim-faced and ashen Vice President
Omar Suleiman announced the handover on state
television Friday after an extraordinary national
outpouring of rage brought vast crowds into the
streets across the country in the Arab world's most
populous country.
"President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak has
decided to leave the post of president of the
republic and has tasked the Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces to manage the state's affairs,"
Suleiman said.
News of the regime's collapse spread
rapidly across Cairo, sparking an eruption of joy
and joyous chants of "We the people have overthrown
the regime!"
In Washington, US President Barack
Obama said the people of Egypt had spoken after
history moved at a "blinding pace."
The new man in charge is Field
Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, chairman of the
military council and a 75-year-old veteran who has
always been considered a close Mubarak ally.
The statement appeared to bring an
end to constitutional rule in Egypt and invest power
in a group of generals representing a military that
has long been the power behind the throne in the
country.
Earlier, 82-year-old Mubarak flew
from Cairo to his Red Sea holiday retreat at Sharm
el-Sheikh, his ruling party said.
Field Marshal Tantawi, Egypt's new
strongman?
As news spread, cries of "Allahu
Akbar" -- God is greatest -- and howls of victory
rang out across the capital, firecrackers exploded,
dancing broke out and women ululated their joy.
"By stepping down, president Mubarak
responded to the Egyptian peoples' hunger for
change," Obama said. "Egyptians have made it clear
that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry
the day."
Egypt's powerful Islamist opposition
group the Muslim Brotherhood hailed Mubarak's
resignation and thanked the army.
"We salute the great people of Egypt
in their battle," Essam el-Erian, a senior
Brotherhood leader and spokesman, told AFP. "We
salute the army, which kept its promises."
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