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  • Egypt: Mubarak sacks cabinet

    Objective: Discuss the rationale for Mubarak having dismissed his cabinet.

    Additional Questions:
    • is this move by Mubarak too little, too late?
    • is there anything he can do to put the lid on the revolutionary energies in Egypt?
    • what should/will happen next in Egypt?
    • will the revolution in Egypt spread to further states, such as Saudi Arabia and Syria?

    Egypt: Mubarak sacks cabinet and defends security role

    President Hosni Mubarak has defended the role of Egypt's security forces in suppressing anti-government protests which have rocked the country.

    Mr Mubarak also dismissed his government and said a new cabinet would be announced on Saturday.

    It was his first statement since the protests - in which at least 26 have died with hundreds injured - began.

    Tens of thousands took part in protests in Cairo, Suez, Alexandria and other cities.

    Protesters set fire to the headquarters of the governing NDP party and besieged state TV and the foreign ministry.

    At least 13 people were killed in Suez on Friday, while in Cairo, five people died, according to medical sources.

    That brings the death toll to at least 26 since the protests began on Tuesday.

    "I have asked the government to present its resignation today," Mr Mubarak said, adding that he would appoint a new government on Saturday.

    He also said he understood the protesters' grievances but that a thin line divided liberty from chaos and he would not allow Egypt to be destabilised.

    In a televised address shortly after Mr Mubarak spoke, US President Barack Obama said he had spoken at length with the Egyptian president and urged him to turn "a moment of volatility" into "a moment of promise".

    The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says there had clearly been a lot of discussion behind the scenes before Mr Mubarak spoke to the country.

    But his comments will probably just provoke further unrest, says our correspondent - the people on the streets will be both infuriated by his accusations that they are seeking to destabilise the country and inspired that, having wrung some concessions from him, they could yet manage to oust him.

    After Mr Mubarak spoke, a sustained volley was heard from central Cairo, which our correspondent said could have been either tear gas or live fire.

    The Reuters news agency later quoted witnesses as saying more than 20 military vehicles rolled in to central Tahrir Square shortly after midnight, scattering protesters into the sidestreets.
    'Concrete steps'

    After days of unrest, protests erupted again on Friday, as tens of thousands of protesters across the country turned out after Friday prayers shouting "Down, down with Mubarak" and, "The people want the regime to fall".

    The authorities announced a curfew from 1800 to 0700 local time (1600-0500 GMT), but it was immediately and widely flouted.

    At several locations, riot police responded by firing rubber bullets and tear gas, and by using water cannon.

    The headquarters of the governing NDP party was set ablaze, while protesters also besieged the state broadcaster and the foreign ministry.

    Internet and phone services - both mobile and landline - have been severely disrupted, although protesters are using proxies to work around the restrictions.

    The BBC said it would forcefully protest to the Egyptian authorities after a reporter for BBC Arabic, Assad Sawey, arrested and beaten by plainclothes policemen in Cairo.

    Mr Obama said he had told Mr Mubarak to respect the rights of the Egyptian people and refrain from using violence against peaceful protesters - but he said the protesters also had a responsibility to express themselves peacefully.

    He urged the Egyptian leader to take "concrete steps that advance the rights of the Egyptian people" and deliver on the promises of reform in his address.

    "Violence will not address the grievances of the Egyptian people. And suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," he said.

    "Surely, there will be difficult days to come, but the United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful."

    The BBC's Paul Adams in Washington said there is no immediate suggestion that the White House is cutting its ties with its long-time ally Mr Mubarak.

    But it is clearly giving him the chance to turn the unrest into what Mr Obama described as "a moment of promise", says our correspondent.

    Earlier, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Washington would review its aid to Egypt based on events in the coming days.

    Egypt is the fourth largest recipient of American aid, after Afghanistan, Pakistan and Israel.

    Britain, the US and France are all advising against non-essential travel to Egypt.

    The unrest follows an uprising in Tunisia two weeks ago, in which President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled after 23 years in power.

    The Tunisian upheaval began with anger over rising food prices, high unemployment and anger at official corruption - problems which also left many people Egypt feeling frustrated and resentful of their leadership.
    Source: BBC News
    BBC News - Egypt: Mubarak sacks cabinet and defends security role
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

  • #2
    Amid massive protests, Egypt leader fires Cabinet

    CAIRO – Facing a popular uprising, Egypt's president fired his Cabinet early Saturday after protesters engulfed his country in chaos — battling police with stones and firebombs, burning down the ruling party headquarters and defying a night curfew enforced by the army.

    In a nationally televised address at midnight, President Hosni Mubarak made vague promises of social reform but did not offer to step down himself. He also defended his security forces — outraging protesters calling for an end to his nearly 30-year regime.

    "We want Mubarak to go and instead he is digging in further," protester Kamal Mohammad said. "He thinks it is calming down the situation but he is just angering people more."

    Pouring onto the streets after Friday noon prayers, protesters ignored extreme government measures that included cutting off the Internet and mobile-phone services in Cairo and other areas, calling the army into the streets and imposing a nationwide nighttime curfew.

    Egypt's crackdown on demonstrators drew harsh criticism from the Obama administration and even a threat Friday to reduce a $1.5 billion foreign aid program if Washington's most important Arab ally escalates the use of force.

    Stepping up the pressure, President Barack Obama told a news conference he called Mubarak immediately after his TV address and urged the Egyptian leader to take "concrete steps" to expand rights and refrain from violence against protesters.

    "The United States will continue to stand up for the rights of the Egyptian people and work with their government in pursuit of a future that is more just, more free and more hopeful," Obama said.

    Throughout Friday, flames rose in cities across Egypt, including Alexandria, Suez, Assiut and Port Said, and security officials said there were protests in 11 of the country's 28 provinces.

    Calling the anti-government protests "part of a bigger plot to shake the stability and destroy legitimacy" of Egypt's political system, a somber-look Mubarak said: "We aspire for more democracy, more effort to combat unemployment and poverty and combat corruption."

    Still, his words were likely to be interpreted as an attempt to cling to power rather than a pledge to take concrete steps to solve Egypt's pressing problems — poverty, unemployment and rising food prices.

    "Out, out, out!" protesters chanted in violent, chaotic scenes of battles with riot police and the army — which was sent onto the streets for the first time Friday during the crisis.

    Protesters seized the streets of Cairo, battling police with stones and firebombs and burning down the ruling party headquarters. Many defied a 6 p.m. curfew and crowds remained on the streets long after midnight, where buildings and tires were still burning and there was widespread looting.

    At least one protester was killed Friday, bringing the toll for the week to eight. Demonstrators were seen dragging bloodied, unconsciousness protesters to waiting cars and on to hospitals, but no official number of wounded was announced.

    Nobel Peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading pro-democracy advocate, was soaked with a water cannon and briefly trapped inside a mosque after joining the protests. He was later placed under house arrest.

    In the capital, hundreds of young men carted away televisions, fans and stereo equipment looted from the National Democratic Party, near the Egyptian Museum, home of King Tutankhamun's treasures. Young men formed a human barricade in front of the museum to protect one of Egypt's most important tourist attractions.

    Others around the city looted banks, smashed cars, tore down street signs and pelted armored riot police vehicles with paving stones torn from roadways.

    "We are the ones who will bring change," declared 21-year-old Ahmed Sharif. "If we do nothing, things will get worse. Change must come!" he screamed through a surgical mask he wore to ward off the tear gas.

    Egypt's national airline halted flights for at least 12 hours and a Cairo Airport official said some international airlines had canceled flights to the capital, at least overnight. There were long lines at many supermarkets and employees limited bread sales to 10 rolls per person.

    Options appeared to be dwindling for Mubarak, an 82-year-old former air force commander who until this week maintained what looked like rock-solid control of the most populous Arab nation and the cultural heart of the region.

    The scenes of anarchy along the Nile played out on television and computer screens from Algiers to Riyadh, two weeks to the day after protesters in Tunisia drove out their autocratic president. Images of the protests in Tunisia emboldened Egyptians to take to the streets in demonstrations organized over mobile phone, Facebook and Twitter.

    The government cut off the Internet and mobile-phone services, but that did not keep tens of thousands of protesters from all walks of life from joining in rallies after Friday prayers. The demonstrators were united in rage against a regime seen as corrupt, abusive and uncaring toward the nearly half of Egypt's 80 million people who live below the poverty line.

    "All these people want to bring down the government. That's our basic desire," said protester Wagdy Syed, 30. "They have no morals, no respect, and no good economic sense."

    Egypt has been one of the United States' closest allies in the region since President Anwar Sadat made peace with Israel at Camp David in 1977.

    Mubarak kept that deal after Sadat's assassination and has been a close partner of every U.S. president since Jimmy Carter, helping Washington on issues that range from suppressing Islamist violence to counterbalancing the rise of Iran's anti-American Shiite theocracy.

    The Mubarak government boasts about economic achievements: rising GDP and a surging private sector led by a construction boom and vibrant, seemingly recession-proof banks.

    But many say the fruits of growth have been funneled almost entirely to a politically connected elite, leaving average Egyptians surrounded by unattainable symbols of wealth as they struggle to find jobs, pay daily bills and find affordable housing.

    Friday's unrest began when tens of thousands poured into the streets after noon prayers, stoning and confronting police who fired back with rubber bullets and tear gas. Demonstrators wielding rocks, glass and sticks chased hundreds of riot police away from the main square in downtown Cairo and several of the policemen stripped off their uniforms and badges and joined the demonstrators.

    The uprising united the economically struggling and the prosperous, the secular and the religious. But the country's most popular opposition group, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, had little overt presence on the streets despite a call for its members to turn out.

    Young men in one downtown square clambered onto a statue of Talat Harb, a pioneering Egyptian economist, and unfurled a large green banner that proclaimed "The Middle Class" in white Arabic lettering.

    Women dressed in black veils and wide, flowing robes followed women with expensive hairdos, tight jeans and American sneakers.

    The crowd included Christian men with key rings with crosses swinging from their pockets and young men dressed in fast-food restaurant uniforms.

    When a man sporting a long beard and a white robe began chanting an Islamist slogan, he was grabbed and shaken by another protester telling him to keep the slogans patriotic and not religious.

    In downtown Cairo, people on balconies tossed cans of Pepsi and bottles of water to protesters on the streets below to douse their eyes, as well as onions and lemons to sniff, to cut the sting of the tear gas.

    Junior lawmakers in the ruling party called in to national Egyptian TV calling on calm in the city.

    Some of the most serious violence Friday was in Suez, where protesters seized weapons stored in a police station and asked the policemen inside to leave the building before they burned it down. They also set ablaze about 20 police trucks parked nearby. Demonstrators exchanged fire with policemen trying to stop them from storming another police station and one protester was killed in the gun battle.

    In Assiut in southern Egypt, several thousand demonstrators clashed with police that set upon them with batons and sticks, chasing them through side streets.

    Mubarak has not said yet whether he will stand for another six-year term as president in elections this year. He has never appointed a deputy and is thought to be grooming his son Gamal to succeed him despite popular opposition. According to leaked U.S. memos, hereditary succession also does not meet with the approval of the powerful military.
    Source: Yahoo News
    YouTube - Protesters Clash with Police Following Egypt Bombing
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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