CAIRO/WASHINGTON – Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei told thousands of protesters in central Cairo on Sunday that an uprising against Hosni Mubarak’s rule “cannot go back”. “You have taken back your rights and what we have begun cannot go back,” he told cheering crowds who responded “down with Mubarak”. “We have one main demand – the end of the regime and the beginning of a new stage, a new Egypt.”
“I bow to the people of Egypt in respect. I ask of you patience, change is coming in the next few days,” he said. Meanwhile, the White House said that US President Barack Obama voiced support for an “orderly transition” in Egypt that is responsive to the aspirations of Egyptians in phone calls with foreign leaders.
Obama spoke by phone on Saturday with Saudi King Abdullah, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and on Sunday with British Prime Minister David Cameron. “During his calls, the president reiterated his focus on opposing violence and calling for restraint, supporting universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly, association, and speech and supporting an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people,” the White House said.
Appearing on a slew of news programmes, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also pressed Mubarak to ensure that the coming elections are free and fair and to live up to his promises of reform but insisted Egypt must avoid a result like that of Iran, which she called a “faux democracy”. “We want to see an orderly transition so that no one fills a void, that there not be a void, that there be a well thought out plan that will bring about a democratic participatory government,” Clinton said.
Clinton said the US wants to avoid a situation that would allow “radicals, extremists, violent elements to take over”. She signaled, however, that the administration was not ready to use its most tangible leverage with Cairo – the $1.5 billion in annual US aid, the vast majority of which is for the military.
Fighter planes: Egyptian air force fighter planes buzzed low over Cairo, helicopters hovered above and extra troop trucks appeared in a central square where protesters were demanding an end to President Mubarak’s rule. It was the latest show of military might on Sunday in an apparent effort to send protesters back to their homes before a curfew. Mubarak held talks with top military commanders earlier in the day, state media reported.
Tanks have been posted in the square since Friday when the army was sent to the streets to take control after days of unrest and anti-government demonstrations. Earlier in the day, Mubarak met newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman, Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Chief of Staff Sami al-Anan and other commanders at a military headquarters. When the fighter planes flew overhead, some shouted “Long live the army”. Others in Tahrir shouted, “We will not go, he will go, Hosni is going mad.”
