PRESIDENT HOSNI Mubarak yesterday stunned millions of Egyptians when he announced for a second time that he was staying on until September’s presidential election instead of standing down. “I continue to stick to my position and to shoulder my responsibilities until there is a new election,” he stated.
His declaration was met by a furious roar from hundreds of thousands of people who had gathered at Tahrir (Liberation) Square at the centre of Cairo to celebrate what they believed would be his resignation. “Go, go, go!” the throng shouted. “Leave, leave, leave!”
Mr Mubarak pledged to oversee constitutional changes required to provide free and fair elections and to investigate officers responsible for attacks on protesters that have killed more than 300 and wounded 5,000. He will hand over some “authorities” to his vice-president Omar Suleiman, saying he would put in place a “framework and specific timetable for the peaceful transfer of power” involving national dialogue between his regime and the protest camp.
“The priority is to restore confidence to all Egyptians” and to “show that once change has been effected it cannot be reversed”. He repeatedly said: “I will not be subjected to foreign pressure” to step down from the presidency, ignoring the primary demand of Egyptian protesters, whom he addressed, condescendingly, as a “father to his children, his sons and daughters”.
His defiant announcement followed the declaration by the country’s powerful military that it was intervening to “safeguard the country”. The military’s supreme council assured hundreds of thousands of democracy demonstrators that their demands would be met, leading them to expect President Mubarak’s resignation. The intervention of the generals encouraged Egyptians to believe the armed forces had shifted their support from the president to the people assembled in the streets and squares all round the country who were calling for his immediate removal from power.
“All your demands will be met today,” Gen Hassan al- Roueini, commander of the Cairo garrison, told protesters in Tahrir Square. They took Gen Roueini on to their shoulders and paraded him around the square, shouting: “The army, the people, one hand.” However, making it clear they did not want military rule, they also chanted: “Civilian not military.” Concern was raised also over a possible military takeover with the styling of the statement from the supreme military command as a “Communique Number 1,” a term generally used by officers when mounting coups in the Arab world.
Hossam Badrawi, chairman of the ruling National Democratic Party, had suggested that Mr Mubarak would stand down and said he would, in conformity with the current controversial constitution, hand over to the speaker of parliament Fathi Srour or Mr Suleiman.
While the vast throng in Tahrir Square waited impatiently for Mr Mubarak’s broadcast, democracy demonstrators gathered at parliament and outside the state television station. Over the past 17 days the democracy camp had complained about negative coverage the protests have received in state media.
On Wednesday these protests became a full-scale uprising when strikers protesting low wages closed down factories, hospitals and state institutions while millions of formerly silent Egyptians raised their voices against Mr Mubarak’s one-man rule, corruption, high unemployment and the deep gulf between rich and poor.