Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns
Friday, Feb. 11, 2011
Fireworks, carnival erupt at toppling of 'Pharaoh'
CAIRO (Reuters) - A furious wave of protest 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.
Mubarak, 82, had flown with his family from Cairo to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a ruling party official said.
►Around the world, Egyptians jubilant (1)
Vice President Omar Suleiman said a military council would run the most populous Arab country for now. The council gave few details of what it said would be a "transitional phase" and gave no timetable for presidential or parliamentary elections. It said it wanted to "achieve the hopes of our great people."
Some question the army's appetite for democracy. Western powers are worried about the electoral strength of Islamist groups.
Ecstatic Egyptians celebrated a largely peaceful "White Revolution" in carnival mood. People embraced in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, the main focus for protest, claiming a victory over their "Pharaoh" they hardly dared to believe.
"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.
In the United States, Mubarak's long-time sponsor, President Barack Obama said: "The people of Egypt have spoken." He stressed to the U.S.-aided Egyptian army that "nothing less than genuine democracy" would satisfy people's hunger for change.
Washington has pursued a sometimes meandering line since the protests began on Jan. 25, apparently reluctant to lose a bulwark against militant Islam in the Middle East but also anxious to endorse calls for political freedom.
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| Anti-government protesters carry a placard and celebrate in Tahrir square in Cairo February 11, 2011. 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.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. (REUTERS) | | | | | | | | |
END OF BEGINNING
Behind the celebrations, there was a note of caution over how far the armed forces under Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's veteran defence minister, were ready to permit democracy, especially since the hitherto banned Islamist Muslim Brotherhood is one of the best organised movements.
"This is just the end of the beginning," said Jon Alterman of the Center 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."
U.S. officials familiar with the Egyptian military say Tantawi, 75, has long seemed resistant to change.
Suleiman, a 74-year-old former spy chief, annoyed some this week by questioning whether Egyptians were ready for democracy.
Al Arabiya television said the army would soon dismiss the cabinet and suspend parliament. The head of the Constitutional Court would join the leadership with the military council.
The best deterrent to any attempt to maintain military rule could be the street power of protesters who showed Mubarak they could render Egypt ungovernable without their consent.
As continued turmoil in Tunisia shows a month after the overthrow of the strongman there inspired young Egyptians to act, any government will face huge social and economic problems.
Leaders freely chosen by the people could also look to harness the vast creative energy and patriotic pride evident on the streets crowded with demonstrators for the past 18 days.
The crisis that brought down Mubarak was the worst since British-backed King Farouk was toppled in a military coup in 1952. Generals have ruled ever since, although Mubarak, and his predecessor Anwar Sadat in the 1970s, rarely appeared in uniform and kept active-service officers in the background.
POWERED BY GRIEVANCES
The protests united many Egyptians who have long harboured deep grievances against Mubarak, from youths unable to find jobs to activists who faced oppression and others who suffered brutality at the hands of the police.
A senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood said Egyptians had achieved the main goal of an uprising in which the Brotherhood initially took a cautious back seat: "This is the day of victory for the Egyptian people," Mohamed el-Katatni told Reuters.
Ayman Nour, who was jailed after challenging Mubarak in the 2005 presidential vote, said: "This nation has been born again, these people have been born again and this is a new Egypt."
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa would leave the pan-Arab body "within weeks", Egypt's state news agency said. The former foreign minister, is seen as a possible president.
Protesters waved flags, set off fireworks and beat drums to celebrate a new chapter in Egypt's 7,000-year history. 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.
"We have done something unprecedented in 7,000 years, we have brought down the pharaoh," said Tareq Saad, a 51-year-old carpenter. "Egypt is free, it will never go back to what it was.
"We won't let it."
END TO INJUSTICE
Some declared an end to injustice. Others said they finally saw hope in a country they believed had lost its place as the political, cultural and economic heart of the Arab world. Most were just proud to be Egyptian on a day when history was made.
"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.
In the eight weeks since young Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight in protest at poverty and oppression, triggering demonstrations, leaders across the region have made a variety of concessions and also tightened security. The risk of unrest spreading to oil states in the Gulf has helped boost oil prices.
Financial markets welcomed the news of Mubarak's departure, seeing less chance of a longer, bloodier conflict. Swiss authorities said they had frozen assets that might belong to Mubarak.
Washington wants a prompt democratic transition to restore stability in Egypt, a rare Arab state no longer hostile to Israel, guardian of the Suez Canal linking Europe and Asia and, thus far, a major force against militant Islam in the region.
Western powers, like Egypt's generals, will also be wary of Islamists winning power at the ballot box. Israel is particularly concerned.
An Israeli politician who spoke to Mubarak during his last hours in power said he slammed Washington for promoting democracy that would lead to "extremism and radical Islam".
Others say the young, Web-aware demonstrators in Cairo showed there is an Arab constituency for secular democracy.
The tumult over Mubarak's refusal to resign had tested the loyalties of the world's 10th biggest armed forces. They had to choose whether to protect their supreme commander or ditch him.
Ten days after the fall on Jan. 14 of Tunisia's long-time leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Egyptians began demonstrating in huge numbers against inflation, unemployment and lack of freedom. The protesters whose revolt forced out Mubarak defeated all the tools his administration deployed against them.
First, the government sent in the riot police. Then, it cut mobile phone lines and the Internet. The government even sent F-16 fighter planes to buzz protesters in central Cairo.
When all else failed, Mubarak loyalists unleashed assaults by armed men in plain clothes, some on horseback or camels, who attacked demonstrators on Feb. 2 with guns, knives and clubs.
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UN urges peaceful transition
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Friday for a "transparent, orderly and peaceful transition'' in Egypt following President Hosni Mubarak's resignation in the face of huge protests.
In a statement to reporters, Ban also said he wanted to see ''free, fair and credible'' elections in Egypt that would lead to early establishment of civilian rule.
"I respect what must have been a difficult decision (by Mubarak), taken in the wider interests of the Egyptian people,'' said Ban, who was criticized last week by Egypt's U.N. mission for what it considered overly outspoken earlier comments.
"The voice of the Egyptian people, particularly the youth, has been heard, and it is for them to determine the future of their country,'' Ban said, terming this a "historic moment.''
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Five dead, 42 wounded ahead of Mubarak resignation
ISMAILIA, Egypt (Reuters) - Five people died and 42 were wounded in clashes between Egyptian protesters and police in the north Sinai town of el-Arish on Friday, witnesses said.
Hundreds of people attacked the main police station using petrol bombs in the Mediterranean town near the border with Gaza in an attempt to free prisoners, before it was announced that President Hosni Mubarak had stepped down.
Three of those who died were policemen. Police evacuated the building, which was partly destroyed by fire, and prisoners managed to escape. Five police vehicles were set on fire.
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Nation takes to streets in celebration
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians all over the country of over 80 million people flooded the streets in celebration at the news that president for the past 30 years Hosni Mubarak had stepped down, witnesses said.
Cairo, Alexandria and other cities were full of cars honking horns and people waving flags. Passersby congratulated one another and people shouted slogans such as "He is out and we are in!" and "The people have brought down the regime!"
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Defense minister to head military council
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's defence minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi is the head of the Higher Military Council that took control of Egypt after Hosni Mubarak resigned his post as president on Friday, a military source said.
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Military council sacks cabinet, suspends parliament
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's higher military council will sack the cabinet, suspend both houses of parliament and rule with the head of the supreme constitutional court, Al Arabiya television reported on Friday.
The army statement was expected to be delivered later on Friday and followed President Hosni Mubarak's dramatic resignation after 30 years in power.
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U.S. stocks higher on news of Mubarak resignation
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks briefly extended gains Friday after news that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had stepped down after demonstrations against his rule.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 33.34 points, or 0.27 percent, to 12,262.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 4.62 points, or 0.35 percent, to 1,326.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 7.53 points, or 0.27 percent, to 2,797.98.
Hundreds of thousands in Cairo celebrate
CAIRO (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian protesters waved flags, cried, cheered and embraced in celebration on Friday when the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak was announced.
"The people have brought down the regime," chanted the crowds in Tahrir Square.
Opposition protesters celebrate Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak's resignation, from their stronghold of Tahrir Square in Cairo February 11, 2011. Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman said on Friday that Mubarak had bowed to pressure from the street and had resigned, handing power to the army, he said in a televised statement. (REUTERS)
Cairo protesters march on palace, army backs reform, Mubarak leaves palace
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's powerful military gave guarantees on Friday that promised democratic reforms would be carried out but angry protesters intensified an uprising against President Hosni Mubarak by marching on the presidential palace.
In Washington, a U.S. official said Mubarak's departure to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Friday was a "positive first step", declining to elaborate. Mubarak is under tremendous popular pressure to quit now, not later as he has promised.
"President Mubarak has begun carrying out the transfer of his authorities to his deputy Omar Suleiman by heading to Sharm el-Sheikh," Mohammed Abdillah, head of media with the National Democratic Party, told Reuters. "President Mubarak is intent on carrying out his vows to himself."
An important statement from the president will be broadcast shortly, state television said on Friday without elaborating.
The army assurances were an effort to defuse a 18-day-old revolt unprecedented in Egypt but, in ignoring protesters' key demand for Mubarak's ouster now, they failed to halt turmoil disrupting the economy and rattling the volatile Middle East.
"This is not our demand," one protester said, after relaying the contents of the army statement to the crowd in Cairo's central Tahrir Square. "We have one demand, that Mubarak step down." He has said he will stay until September elections.
About 2,000 peeled off from Tahrir (Liberation) Square and gathered outside the presidential palace for the first time calling for Mubarak to resign immediately, and the army did not try to remove them.
Other protesters fanned out to the state television tower, another monument to Mubarak's 30-year-old authoritarian rule, demanding that broadcasters tell the truth about the revolt.
At its closest point, the cordon was about 50 metres (yards) from the palace walls. Parked between the walls and the cordon were tanks and soldiers from the elite Republican Guard which is in charge of presidential security.
"Revolution, revolution, until victory! Revolution all over Egypt," hundreds of thousands of protesters chanted in Tahrir.
The sour confrontation has raised fears of uncontrolled violence in the most populous Arab nation, a key U.S. ally in an oil-rich region where the chance of chaos spreading to other long stable but repressive states troubles the West.
The army statement noted that Mubarak had handed powers to govern the country of 80 million people to his deputy the previous day -- perhaps signalling that this should satisfy demonstrators, reformists and opposition figures.
But it was not immediately clear if the army and Vice President Omar Suleiman, Mubarak's 74-year-old intelligence chief and former military man, were acting entirely in concert.
Mubarak and his family had left Cairo for Sharm el-Sheikh where there is a presidential residence, a ruling party official said, adding that this proved that power had been handed to Suleiman.
The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist opposition group, urged protesters to keep up mass nationwide street protests, describing Mubarak's concessions as a trick to stay in power.
"Mubarak appeared before us with a stinging speech that proves that he is still in charge," the Brotherhood said in a statement. Mubarak has accused the Brotherhood of hijacking protests but it has also been invited along with other opposition groups to talks with Suleiman. "He still says he will do this and do that but will delegate authority to his deputy, but it's just more deceptive words to stop the people's demands," it said. "The two statements issued by Mubarak and his deputy are rejected by the people."
EMERGENCY LAWS TO BE LIFTED
Hundreds of thousands of protesters rallied across Egypt, including in the industrial city of Suez, earlier the scene of some of the fiercest violence in the crisis, and the second city of Alexandria, as well as in Tanta and other Nile Delta centres.
In "Communique No. 2" the army said it "confirms the lifting of the state of emergency as soon as the current circumstances end", a pledge that would remove a law imposed after Mubarak became president following Anwar Sadat's assassination in 1981 and that protesters say has long been used to stifle dissent.
The army also promised to guarantee free and fair elections and other concessions made by Mubarak to protesters that would have been unthinkable before Jan. 25, when the revolt began. Around 300 people may have been killed since then.
Protesters were angered on Thursday night, having thronged Tahrir Square for a resignation speech only to hear Mubarak in an address say he planned to hand over powers to a deputy.
Mubarak said the transfer was in line with the constitution which left him in ultimate charge, and able to return, dismaying a protest movement bent on ending his authoritarian tenure.
Troops have promised to protect the right to demonstrate but a lengthening showdown over Mubarak's rule could test that resolve, with many Egyptians keen to end the economic disruption and the army keen to show it can re-instil order.
"The armed forces are there to protect the demonstrators and to protect the country but the powers have been handed over, not to the military, but to the vice president," Finance Minister Samir Radwan said in an interview with Reuters, after concern the military could decide to resolve the crisis with a coup.
"Nobody likes a military rule, that is for sure. Our military have so far shown that they are the safety valve of this country," he said before the army statement.
Already some mid-ranking officers posted near Tahrir Square have put down their guns and gone over to the demonstrators and a familiar protest chant is: "The army and people are as one."
Hundreds of thousands of anti-Mubarak protesters chanted noisily in Tahrir Square on Friday while troops in tanks and armoured vehicles stood by in what organisers said was their movement's biggest display of indignation so far.
PALACE PROTEST PERMITTED
"Down, down Hosni Mubarak!" chanted protesters who were permitted to approach the presidential palace in the suburb of Heliopolis for the first time. A sign delivering the same message was affixed to razor wire blocking one of the entrances.
Ahmed Farouk, 27, a member of one of the youth movements behind the protests, said the demonstrators would "take over the palace. We'll have masses of Egyptians after prayer to take it over. The army has been neutral and did not harm any of us."
"We will march to the palace and oust Mubarak, and we know the world is on our side," said Nurhaan Ismael, a protester, 34.
At least 1,000 protesters massed around another symbol of the government, the state television building, which the army guarded with armoured personnel carriers and barbed wire.
"It is the last straw for any revolution, if they take over the state TV building, that's it, the regime is down," said teacher Mohamed Sabr, 31, asked why he was there.
It was the first time protesters had been in any numbers at the building located on the Nile, just a few blocks down from the ruling NDP party headquarters which was burned down by protesters and remains a charred symbol of revolution.
Graduate Abdallah Gamal, 24, added: "This is revolution, not an uprising and not a sit-in, this is a real revolution."
The military briefly seemed close to a decisive move when its top brass met on Thursday in Mubarak's absence and pledged to protect the nation in Communique No. 1. Some believed this was the first stage of an army coup. But no action followed.
The army, from politically plugged-in generals to poor conscripts and junior officers, is key to what happens next.
Washington's approach to the crisis has been based on Egypt's strategic importance: a rare Arab state no longer hostile to Israel, guardian of the Suez Canal linking Europe and Asia and a major force against militant Islam in the region.
