Update at 1:40 p.m. ET. Mubarak To Speak Tonight; Pledge To Not Seek Re-Election?
Reuters writes that “Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak will give a speech on Tuesday after at least 1 million people rallied across the country clamouring for him to step down, Al Arabiya television said. There was no official confirmation.”
Reuters also quotes Al Arabiya as saying “Mubarak will announce that he will step down at the next election but would stay in office till then to meet demands of protesters in that period.
This Plan C is apparently what Dr. Obama recommended, folks talking to NPR don’t think it will satisfy the protesters.
President Obama has told the embattled president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, that he should not run for another term in elections in the fall, effectively withdrawing American support for its closest Arab ally, according to American diplomats in Cairo and Washington.