Egypt's Mubarak to Quit in September, Fails to Quell Anger
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
Chris Kleponis/AFP/Getty Images
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Photographer: Chris Kleponis/AFP/Getty Images
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Egyptian Finance Minister Samir Radwan discusses the unrest in his country and its potential impact on investor sentiment and the economy. Radwan speaks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Lara Setrakian reports from Cairo on today's protests aimed at forcing President Hosni Mubarak to quit after 30 years in power. She speaks with Andrea Catherwood on Bloomberg Television's "The Pulse." (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Marina Ottaway, director of the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Yasmin Hussein, an administrative assistant at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, talk about the political protests in Egypt. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was expected to address the nation on television tonight and announce that he will not run for another term, according to Al Arabiya television. Ottaway and Hussein speak with Mark Crumpton on Bloomberg Television's "Bottom Line." (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Simon Rose, co-founder and chief executive officer of Dahlman Rose & Co., discusses the outlook for seaborne trade through the Suez Canal and importance of the SuMed pipeline transporting crude alongside the canal amid political unrest in Egypt. Rose talks with Betty Liu and Sheila Dharmarajan on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer at Pacific Investment Management Co., talks about the unrest in Egypt and the outlook for political leadership transition. El-Erian speaks with Tom Keene and Ken Prewitt on Bloomberg Radio's "Surveillance." (This is an excerpt of the full interview. Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Ed Husain, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, discusses the U.S. government's position in response to the continuing protests against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Husain talks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger discusses the unrest in Egypt and the outlook for President Hosni Mubarak's tenure. Kissinger speaks from New York with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Aaron David Miller, a public policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former Mideast peace negotiator, discusses the impact of unrest in Egypt on Middle Eastern governments and U.S. foreign policy. Miller talks with Margaret Brennan on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Gianna Bern, president of Brookshire Advisory & Research Inc., discusses the outlook for crude oil prices. Bern speaks from Chicago with Betty Liu, Jon Erlichman and Sheila Dharmarajan on Bloomberg Television's "In the Loop." (Source: Bloomberg)
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center, discusses unrest in Egypt, the U.S.'s political stance toward the country and the outlook for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's rule. Hamid speaks from Doha with Deirdre Bolton on Bloomberg Television's "InsideTrack." (Source: Bloomberg)
Egyptians to March Against Mubarak
Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
An engaged Egyptian couple join thousands of others as they gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square heeding a call by the opposition for a 'march of a million'.
An engaged Egyptian couple join thousands of others as they gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square heeding a call by the opposition for a 'march of a million'. Photographer: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators in Tahrir Square
Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday.
Demonstrators gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday. Photographer: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
Newly Appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman
Cris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images
Newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman.
Newly appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman. Photographer: Cris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images
Demonstrators Gather Around an Army Tank
Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
Egyptian soldiers address protesters gathered around a tank in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Sunday.
Egyptian soldiers address protesters gathered around a tank in Tahrir Square in Cairo on Sunday. Photographer: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
The Abu Zaabel Prison is Looted
AFP/Getty Images
Items are carried from the Abu Zaabel prison Cairo after breakout by convicts on Sunday.
Items are carried from the Abu Zaabel prison Cairo after breakout by convicts on Sunday. Source: AFP/Getty Images
ElBaradei Rallies Egyptian Opposition Amid Protests
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the United Nations’nuclear watchdog agency, waves to supporters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, on Jan. 30, 2011.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the former head of the United Nations’nuclear watchdog agency, waves to supporters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, on Jan. 30, 2011. Photographer: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Egypt’s Mubarak Offers Talks as March of the Million Looms
Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
Egyptians gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square heeding a call by the opposition for a "march of a million" to mark a week of protests calling for the ouster of Hosni Mubarak's long term regime.
Egyptians gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square heeding a call by the opposition for a "march of a million" to mark a week of protests calling for the ouster of Hosni Mubarak's long term regime. Photographer: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
Thousands Gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square
Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
Thousands of Egyptians gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square heeding a call by the opposition for a 'march of a million' to mark a week of protests.
Thousands of Egyptians gather in Cairo's Tahrir Square heeding a call by the opposition for a 'march of a million' to mark a week of protests. Photographer: Khaled Desouki/AFP/Getty Images
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said he won’t stand down until elections due in September, angering the hundreds of thousands gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand an immediate end to his regime.
Mubarak said he’ll stay on to ensure “stability” and push through political and economic changes before his departure. The Cairo crowd began chanting anti-Mubarak slogans before the president’s state television broadcast finished. “Your last day will be Friday,” some shouted, referring to the Muslim prayer day when further protests are planned.
Egypt “faces a choice between chaos and stability,” Mubarak said in the address. “My first responsibility now is to restore the security and stability of the nation to achieve a peaceful transition.”
Mubarak, who had previously declined to say whether he would stand again, last week appointed Omar Suleiman, head of Egypt’s intelligence services, as vice president. He said today he had never intended to seek another term.
The unprecedented protests, which followed a revolt in Tunisia that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on Jan. 14, have left more than 100 people dead in Egypt and roiled international stock, bond and oil markets. Unrest has spread to Jordan, where King Abdullah sacked his prime minister today, and other countries including Yemen and Algeria.
“I expect the demonstrations to continue,” said Khaled Fahmy, professor of history at American University in Cairo, in a telephone interview. “He said he’s not going to run but then said he wasn’t going to run anyway. He really hasn’t offered much. What I’ve seen is that he has burnt bridges. There is no trust between him and the people.”
Opposition: Quit Now
The opposition movement, which includes the Muslim Brotherhood and the former United Nations atomic agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei, accuses Mubarak of running a corrupt and repressive government. It has called on the president to quit immediately and hand power to a transitional government.
Egypt is one of the biggest recipients of U.S. aid, receiving about $2 billion a year since 1979, when Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel brokered by the U.S. Mubarak has backed efforts to encourage Arab acceptance of the Jewish state, oppose Iran’s nuclear program and isolate Hamas, the Islamist militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.
As Mubarak fought to retain power, his authorities shut down Egypt’s stock market, after a 16 percent slump in the benchmark index last week, its banking system and most phone and Internet communication. Companies including Heineken NV and BG Group Plc halted operations in the country of 80 million, and expatriates fled aboard scheduled flights, charters and private jets. Tanks guarded key government buildings as thousands rallied daily in Cairo and other cities.
Crude prices have jumped about 6 percent since Jan. 27 on concern the turmoil in Egypt may disrupt supplies. The Suez Canal in the country’s north carries about 8 percent of global maritime trade.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Jan. 30 that Mubarak must “respond to the legitimate requests for participation by protesters” by holding “free and fair elections.”
Mubarak said today he will change laws governing presidential term limits and the eligibility of candidates before the next election.
The speech “did not address the inheritance of power to family members, it did not address amending the constitution to guarantee civil rights, it did not address lifting restrictions on political parties,” said Ayman Nour, who came in a distant second behind Mubarak in Egypt’s first multi-candidate presidential election in 2005, and is among the leaders of the current opposition movement. It “did not live up to the people’s demands.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Ahmed A Namatalla in Cairo at anamatalla@bloomberg.net; Nayla Razzouk in Amman at nrazzouk2@bloomberg.net; Massoud A. Derhally in Beirut, Lebanon, at Or mderhally@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Riad Hamade in Dubai at rhamade@bloomberg.net; Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
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