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| Africa North |
| Report: Mubarak to announce he wont run in next elections |
| 2011-02-02 |
[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak plans to speak Tuesday night, announcing he will not run in Egypt's next election, Pan-Arab news network Al Arabiya reported. He will not answer the protesters demands that he resign immediately, according to the report. The decision not to run in Egypt's next elections came at the urging of US President Barack B.O.Obama, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. The B.O. regime on Tuesday opened talks with a possible successor to the embattled Mubarak as the US ramped up outreach to the hundreds of thousands determined to force their long-time leader out of power. The context of the discussions with Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei was not immediately public. But they were taking place as more than a quarter-million Egyptians gathered in Cairo's main square in defiance of Mubarak, which signaled the United States is strengthening its push for a peaceful transition to democracy -- and looking for alternatives to its ally of three decades. While the US envoy to Egypt, Margaret Scobey, spoke with ElBaradei, the escalating anti-government protests led the United States to order non-essential American personnel and their families to leave the country. Respected former ambassador Frank Wisner was visiting members of Mubarak's government and Defense Secretary Robert Gates had a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. "The US Embassy in Cairo has been especially busy in the past several days with an active outreach to political and civil society," State Department front man PJ Crowley said in a message posted to Twitter. "As part of our public outreach to convey support for orderly transition in Egypt, Ambassador Scobey spoke today with Mohamed ElBaradei." Wisner, who represented the US in Cairo from 1986 to 1991, was being counted on to provide the US government with an evaluation of the fast-changing situation. "As someone with deep experience in the region, he is meeting with Egyptian officials and providing his assessment," the State Department said. Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. John I was in Vietnam, you knowKerry, ... the Senate's current foreign policy expert, filling the empty wingtips of Joe Biden... a Democrat, gave public voice to what senior US officials have said only privately in recent days: that Mubarak should "step aside gracefully to make way for a new political structure." "It is not enough for President Mubarak to pledge 'fair' elections," Kerry wrote in The New York Times. "The most important step that he can take is to address his nation and declare that neither he nor the son he has been positioning as his successor will run in the presidential election this year. Egyptians have moved beyond his regime, and the best way to avoid unrest turning into upheaval is for President Mubarak to take himself and his family out of the equation." By midday Tuesday, the administration had yet to make any public comments on the protests or Mubarak, but renewed a travel warning for Egypt advising Americans to leave and ordering the departure of all non-essential government personnel and their families "in light of recent events." It was an indication of Washington's deepening concern about developments in Egypt and replaces a decision last week to allow workers who wanted to leave the country to do so at government expense. The department said it would continue to evacuate private US citizens from Egypt aboard government-chartered planes. The US evacuated more than 1,200 Americans from Cairo on such flights Monday and said it expected to fly out roughly 1,400 more in the coming days. Monday's flights ferried Americans from Cairo to Larnaca, Cyprus; Athens, Greece; and Istanbul, Turkey. On Tuesday, the US added Frankfurt, Germany as a destination and the Egyptian cities of Aswan and Luxor as departure points. The Cairo airport is open and operating but the department warned that flights may be disrupted and that people should be prepared for lengthy waits. Egypt's army leadership is reassuring the US that the powerful military does not intend to crack down on demonstrators, but is instead allowing protesters to "wear themselves out," according to a former US official in contact with several top Egyptian army officers. The Egyptians use a colloquial saying to describe their strategy -- a boiling pot with a lid that's too tight will blow up the kitchen, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity ... for fear of being murdered... to discuss private conversations. The officers expressed concern with White House statements appearing to side with the protesters, saying that stoking revolt to remove Mubarak risks creating a vacuum that the banned-but-powerful Mohammedan Brotherhood could fill, the official said. While the Brotherhood claims to have closed its paramilitary wing long ago, it has fought politically to gain power. More threatening to the Mubarak regime, it has built a nationwide charity and social network that much of Egypt's poverty stricken population depends on for its survival. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 I think that is Joe. I think Joe occasionally goes insane and posts something people can understand. I'm sure he'll regain his sanity soon :)... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2011-02-02 16:14 |
| #3 Joe, is that really you? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-02-02 16:06 |
| #2 Elections take time to have anyways. Besides this ElBaradei turd, there are no other candidates. Mubarak made a sound pledge and September makes sense to me. We cannot have every country throwing their leaders out whenever they want. If a stable way is possible, by all means take it. Things are not easy out there already. |
| Posted by: newc 2011-02-02 15:38 |
| #1 Uh, uh, I think President Mubarak already announced it early this AM on CNN [Guam = CST time]. The Protestors are NOT happy about his decision to stay in power until the country's September Elex. Personally I agree wid his decision to stay on for several months. OTOH Mubarak needs to ensure that important democratic reforms are begun, + that those whom succeed him as Egypt's President after September will protect the pro-democracy decentralization process, Arab-Israeli peace treaty, + continue the fight agz Radical Islam + violent Regional, Global Jihad. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-02-02 01:28 |