Protests are continuing in Egypt as the cabinet of President Hosni Mubarak has officially resigned. The one tiny problem for Mubarak if he wishes to stop the protests:
He himself has not resigned. And it’s unlikely the resignation of his cabinet will halt protests aimed at politically deep sixing him and his designated political heir son. Meanwhile, some cell phone service has reportedly been restored in the wake of the government slicing off phone and internet communications in a move experts ssaid was unprecedented.
UPDATE: Mubarak has just appointed a Vice President — for the first time:
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak named a vice president Saturday for the first time since coming to power nearly 30 years ago. It was a clear step toward setting up a successor in the midst of the biggest challenge ever to his rule from tens of thousands of anti-government protesters.
Mubarak named his intelligence chief and close confidant Omar Suleiman, state television reported.
Mubarak was widely seen as grooming his son Gamal to succeed him, possibly even as soon as in presidential elections planned for later this year. However, there was significant public opposition to the hereditary succession.
Suleiman has been in charge of some of Egypt’s most sensitive foreign policy issues, including the Palestinian-Israeli peace process and inter-Palestinian divisions.
His appointment as vice president answers one of the most intriguing and most enduring political questions in Egypt: who would succeed the 82-year-old Mubarak?
The Cabinet of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak officially resigned on Saturday as thousands of demonstrators staged protests in Cairo and Alexandria, kicking off another day of anti-government ferment.
The atmosphere in Cairo’s Tahrir Square remained tense as demonstrators continued chants of, “Down with Mubarak.”
And on Saturday, state-run Nile TV reported that officials in the country had stepped down hours after Mubarak announced that he asked the government to resign.
In Cairo, demonstrators also chanted, “We are all Egyptians,” and people gathered in the square were posing for pictures with tanks and shaking troops’ hands.Tahrir Square, located near many government buildings in downtown Cairo, has been a focal point for anti-government protests, which started Tuesday.
The demonstrations crescendoed Friday as Egyptian soldiers moved onto the streets, the first time the army had been deployed to quell unrest since 1985.
Cell phone service appeared to have been restored Saturday morning — a day after the internet went dark in many parts of the country, and some text messaging and cell phone services appeared to be blocked amid calls for intensified protests.
UPDATE: The AP reports that police have opened fire on demonstrators and at least one is dead.
Did officials underestimate the revolt? CNN has this:
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports some signs that some in the military are sympathetic to the protesters:
In Ramses Square in central Cairo Saturday midday, protesters commandeered a flatbed army truck. One protester was driving the truck around the square while a dozen others on the back were chanting for President Mubarak to leave office. Nearby, soldiers relaxed around their tanks and armored vehicles and chatted with protestors. There were no policemen in sight.
In another sign that the army was showing sympathy for the demonstrations, in a different central Cairo square on Saturday a soldier in camouflage addressed a crowd through a bullhorn declaring that the army would stand with the people.
“I don’t care what happens,” the soldier said. “You are the ones who are going to make the change.” The crowd responded, “The army and the people will purify the country.”
The protests have drawn mixed response in the region:
Saudi Arabia slammed protesters in Egypt as “infiltrators” who seek to destabilize their country Saturday while an Iranian official called on Egypt to “abide by the rightful demands of the nation” and avoid violent reactions.
Saudi King Abdullah called Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and “was reassured” about the situation in Egypt, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported.
“During the call, the king said, ‘Egypt is a country of Arabism and Islam. No Arab and Muslim human being can bear that some infiltrators, in the name of freedom of expression, have infiltrated into the brotherly people of Egypt, to destabilize its security and stability and they have been exploited to spew out their hatred in destruction, intimidation, burning, looting and inciting a malicious sedition,'” the news agency said.
Saudi Arabia “strongly condemns” the protest, it said.Mubarak assured the Saudi king “that the situation is stable” and that the protests “are merely attempts of groups who do not want stability and security for the people of Egypt, but rather they seek to achieve strange and suspicious objectives.”
Mubarak added that Egypt will “deter anyone who tries to exploit the freedom of (the) Egyptian people and will not allow anyone to lure those groups or use them to achieve suspicious and strange agendas,” the news agency said.
In Iran, meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Egyptian authorities should respect the demonstrators.
“Iran expects Egyptian officials to listen to the voice of their Muslim people, respond to their rightful demands and refrain from exerting violence by security forces and police against an Islamic wave of awareness that has spread through the country in form of a popular movement,”the state-run Press TV quoted Mehmanparast as saying.
The protests go on — with more signs that some in the military sympathize with the demonstrators:
Saying Egypt’s president must go, a massive crowd of tens of thousands defied the government’s curfew and filled the streets and squares of downtown Cairo Saturday in a resounding rejection of the longtime leader’s attempt to hang onto power with promises of reform and a new government.
Tanks and armored personnel carriers fanned out across the city of 18 million, guarding key government buildings. But the curfew was largely ignored — by the looters who ran rampant, by protesters, and apparently by soldiers under orders to enforce it.
The death toll since the largest anti-government protests in decades began Tuesday rose to 45, according to medical and security officials, 38 of them killed since Friday. Some 2,000 injuries have been reported.
In the city’s main Tahrir Square, at the center of Saturday’s massive demonstration, there was only a light military presence — a few tanks — and soldiers are not intervening. Few police were seen in the crowds and the protest began peacefully. Then police opened fire on some in the crowd near the Interior Ministry and a number of them were wounded by gunshots. It was not clear whether they used rubber bullets or live ammunition.
ABC News’ report on the situation:
A warning from Jordon’s Muslim opposition:
The leader of Jordan’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood has warned that unrest in Egypt will spread across the Mideast and Arabs will topple their “tyrant” leaders allied with the U.S.
Hammam Saeed says Arabs have grown disgruntled with U.S. domination of their oil wealth, military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan and its support for “totalitarian” leaders in the region.
Saeed did not specifically name Jordanian King Abdullah II — a key U.S. ally who has promised reforms in recent days in an apparent attempt to quell domestic discontent over economic troubles and a lack of political freedoms.
Did the U.S. secretly back the rebels behind the upraising? Great Britain’s The Daily Telegraph says yes:
The American Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.
On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.
He has already been arrested by Egyptian security in connection with the demonstrations and his identity is being protected by The Daily Telegraph.
The crisis in Egypt follows the toppling of Tunisian president Zine al-Abedine Ben Ali, who fled the country after widespread protests forced him from office.
The disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by the WikiLeaks website, show American officials pressed the Egyptian government to release other dissidents who had been detained by the police…
….n a secret diplomatic dispatch, sent on December 30 2008, Margaret Scobey, the US Ambassador to Cairo, recorded that opposition groups had allegedly drawn up secret plans for “regime change” to take place before elections, scheduled for September this year.
The memo, which Ambassador Scobey sent to the US Secretary of State in Washington DC, was marked “confidential” and headed: “April 6 activist on his US visit and regime change in Egypt.”
It said the activist claimed “several opposition forces” had “agreed to support an unwritten plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy, involving a weakened presidency and an empowered prime minister and parliament, before the scheduled 2011 presidential elections”. The embassy’s source said the plan was “so sensitive it cannot be written down”.
Ambassador Scobey questioned whether such an “unrealistic” plot could work, or ever even existed. However, the documents showed that the activist had been approached by US diplomats and received extensive support for his pro-democracy campaign from officials in Washington. The embassy helped the campaigner attend a “summit” for youth activists in New York, which was organised by the US State Department.
Egypt’s turmoil is a major topic of conversation at the World Economic Forum in Davos:
Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan wants Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to start a dialogue with his people in the wake of ongoing protests.
“I hope the government of Egypt will restore security and peace,” Mr Kan said in a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The unrest in Egypt has now become one of the major topics of discussion amongst the leaders at the gathering.
The head of the OECD said he feared the impact of the instability in Egypt.
“Anything that threatens development is a concern for us,” says Angel Gurria.
Meanwhile Amnesty International secretary general Salil Shetty said the protests in Egypt should be a “wake-up call” for the economic, political and business elite meeting in Davos.
“It is time the rhetoric on human rights and reform delivered here is matched with genuine steps to uphold the rights of people.”
Economist Nouriel Roubini reported that an impromptu session had been arranged to discuss the instability in Egypt and Tunisia.
The Global Post reports that one country in particular is looking at the protest uneasily: Israel:
As the waves of protest sweep over the Arab nation, none watch from the sidelines with more concern than the Israelis. Except, perhaps, for its close relationship with the United States, no country is more important to Israel than Egypt.
From that magical moment when Egypt’s president, Anwar Sadat, brought peace with him to Jerusalem in the summer of 1977, Israel has been free from the fear of annihilation that had hung over the Jewish state since its birth. For without Egypt, the largest of all Israel’s foes, the possibility that Arab armies could push the Israelites into the sea was removed in one dramatic gesture.
Without Egypt, there was no longer an Arab military option against Israel. And the joy that those of us who were lucky enough to be in Jerusalem when Sadat came to town has never since been equaled in that city. It was as if the Red Sea had metaphorically parted to bring them peace from Egypt instead of a vengeful pharaoh.
And the joy in the streets of Cairo was no less than when Israel’s Menachem Begin made his reciprocal visit to Egypt. Egyptian cab drivers refused to take fares from visiting Israelis, some of whom had not been there since the days of the British Palestine Mandate.
Israelis haven’t forgotten how touch and go it was in 1973 when Sadat made a surprise attack across the Suez canal and caught the Israelis napping. Israelis had all the intelligence they needed, but in the end they just couldn’t believe that the Egyptians had it in them to make a successful crossing, so easily had they been defeated in 1967. There was a moment when it looked as if all might be lost, and there were thoughts in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem about bringing out nuclear weapons. But as Henry Kissinger later pointed out, Sadat had surprised everybody by making war to make peace. He needed to restore Egyptian pride, that had been so destroyed by Israeli arms, in order to bring his people around to making peace.
Gentle_Wolf1 Gentle Wolf
Egypt has never had a VP in the 30yrs of Mubarak’s reign.
3 minutes agoThatDudeLou Lu
They will not force us And they will stop degrading us And they will not control us We will be victorious, so come on #Muse lyrics #Egypt
3 minutes agoAJEnglish Al Jazeera English
by ggsanson
Omar Suleiman is now Vice President of #Egypt. Live coverage: http://aje.me/ajelive #hosni mubarak #jan25 #egypt
14 minutes agoajtalk Al Jazeera Talk
RT @Melshamy Aljazeera : Army is using violence to separate protesters in Tahreer Square downtown Cairo #Jan25 #Jan28 #Egypt #Cairo
3 minutes agoottawasportsguy Theo Gauthier
By no means am I versed in Egyptian politics, but heads of spy agencies don’t tend to make very credible leaders of democracy. #Egypt
3 minutes agoholeman1 holeman1
i’m a regular Fox viewer, but CNN Egypt crisis is more timely than Fox News
3 minutes ago
»BBCBreaking BBC Breaking News
by GigHarborREstat
Egyptian State TV reports that Omar Suleiman, Head of Intelligence, has been sworn into office as Vice President #jan25 #Egypt
23 minutes ago Favorite Undo Retweet Replymattduss Matt Duss
by LobeLog
RT @blakehounshell: Prescient profile of Omar Suleiman from 2009 in FP: Egypt’s Next Strongman http://bit.ly/gwrAD0
6 minutes agosharifkouddous Sharif Kouddous
by roblugg
The police holed up in interior ministry are firing. Three people bloodied carried out. The army is not shooting. #Egypt
44 minutes agonytimes The New York Times
by arthusandnico
Our main #Egypt story reports soldiers taking a passive stance while protests continue. http://nyti.ms/gQ3uzN #jan25
11 minutes agolittlemissmocha Jen
RT @scavendish: Fascinating: Cairo residents removing passwords from routers so protesters have access to comm. http://tinyurl.com/6da7dvw
3 minutes agokatalystprods Sharron Ward
by Revoltin1
TWITTER PROTEST TODAY: PLEASE BOMBARD @VodafoneUK @VodafoneEgypt to RESTORE INTERNET/SMS COMMS TO EGYPT!!!!!!! #egypt #jan25 #Mubarak
3 hours agomarquibeck marquibeck
in #Egypt protesters praying on streets, army watching by.. Mubarak in transition phase? US pressing for political reform states @AJEnglish
3 minutes agoDima_Khatib Dima Khatib ??? ????
I wonder what UK authorities will say about #Mubarak’s family being there.. #uk #egypt #jan25
4 minutes agoby sfazli
RT @sharifkouddous People are cleaning up trash on the streets. Amazing. I have never seen anything like this. #Egypt #Jan25
1 hour agoAymanM Ayman Mohyeldin
by EUwriter
#egypt reports from Ministry of Interior that protesters are trying to storm and takeover building #jan25 (via phone)
8 minutes agomvbergen Michel
RT @shakingtree: Heftig… RT @umairh: RT @theplayethic: The human wall protecting Cairo museum. http://yfrog.com/h7h2fwj #egypt
4 minutes agoSultanAlQassemi Sultan Al Qassemi
by veronicalderon
Great news: Al Jazeera “Thousands of Egyptians form human-chain around Egypt Museum to protect it from looting” #Jan25
20 hours agoEdwin Setiadi
edsetiadi Edwin Setiadi
“Egyptian Christians said they will guard the Muslims from the police while they on Friday Pray.” Amazing solidarity. #Egypt #Jan25
27 Jan Favorite Retweet Reply
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sahoura ???
RT @Saudiwoman:This is crazy #Saudi Islamists are afraid of Egyptian revolution as USA is:saying it’s an American conspiracy! #Egypt #Jan25
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Sharif Kouddous
sharifkouddous Sharif Kouddous
by NickDay13
Amazing scene: three tanks roll by with a crowd of people riding atop each one. Chanting ‘Hosni Mubarak out!’ #Egypt
4 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply»
Nidal Mawas
nidalmawas Nidal Mawas
Report: 100 killed in #Egypt
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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barbie
barbiesnow barbie
by ecclesias
El-Baradei says he is proud of protesters and asks for Mubarak to resign. #egypt #jan30
9 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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EMU™ ? (Verified)
TheSoulfulEMU EMU™ ? (Verified)
Security forces fire at demonstrators near Egypt’s Interior Ministry in Cairo. At least one wounded. http://on.cnn.com/gMUgpv RT @cnnbrk
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet ReplyKarl Sharro
KarlreMarks Karl Sharro
by chronic
I mean really, Mubarak should have done that speech while sitting in a swiveling chair and caressing a white cat. #Jan25 #Egypt
15 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Jan 25 Live
jan25live Jan 25 Live
by MvelaseP
RNN: BBC: unconfirmed: internal affairs minister leaves through CAI airport to unknown place #jan25 #egypt
6 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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kaveri ahuja
ikaveri kaveri ahuja
by ARIESRAJISH
🙁 Haw! —> Looters broke into museum, destroyed two Pharaonic mummies late Friday, says nation’s top archaeologist – Reuters #Egypt
6 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Foreign Office (FCO)
foreignoffice Foreign Office (FCO)
by jane__bradley
#Egypt: Foreign Secretary calls on President #Mubarak to ‘listen to legitimate grievances of #Egyptian people’ http://ht.ly/3MvE7
7 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Tom T.
VRWCTexan Tom T.
US $ aid to Egypt was begun to pull them away from USSR during Cold War – then continued as a reward for making peace w/ Israel #tcot
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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mijadedios
mijadedios mijadedios
RT @USArmyAfrica: #Egypt shutdown ‘worst in internet history’: he scale of Egypt’s crackdown on the internet… http://n24.cm/id4v7I #Africa
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
y
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Mohamed Al Junaibi
maljunaibi Mohamed Al Junaibi
@SultanAlQassemi This is the new reincarnation of pan-arabism dream, one free of the cold war garbage (socialist ideologies). #jan25 #egypt
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply»
CTV National News
CTVNationalNews CTV National News
Breaking news: Egyptian police open fire on Cairo protesters http://t.co/Czi4H2Q via @CTVNationalNews
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Beluga
beluga2046 Beluga
CNN ??? ??. ???(? ??? security forces)? ???? ??? ?????.Security forces open fire on protesters near Egypt’s interior Ministry in Cairo.
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Ethan Watrall
captain_primate Ethan Watrall
The fact that protesters both protected & generally stayed away from the Egyptian Museum is is evidence that Egypt won’t go the way of Iran
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Steven E. Streight
vaspersthegrate Steven E. Streight
@TheDailyBeast Arab Pundits Cheer Riots in Tunisia, Egypt…why Arab media is already celebrating. http://thebea.st/flFfot
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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vaxen_var
vaxen_var vaxen_var
RT @martinbogo: In #Egypt BBSs are coming to life to combat closure of ISP access. UUCP is up and running, quickly hashed up FIDOnet nodes
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Donna Evans
savvytravelgal Donna Evans
@NickKristof Hope the next Egypt/Tunisia isn’t Oman!
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Anderson
VeritasQuest Anderson
By 2020, we will see #China experience the revolution that #Egypt is going through right now. #Jan25
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Qaris Tajudin
QarisT Qaris Tajudin
RT @sharifkouddous: Muslim Brotherhood chanting Allah Akbar. Crowd stopped them chant louder: Muslim, Christian, we’re all Egyptian #Egypt
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
y
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Younis Ulleberg
yakhu Younis Ulleberg
Probably more than 1,000 in #London now, supporting #Egypt #Jan25 – at Eg embassy
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Fatma Naib
FatmaNaib Fatma Naib
Al rihab residents in Cairo urge army to help them, looting and robbery reports #Egypt #al jazeera arabic
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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bengt ericsson
brericsson bengt ericsson
Dead protester swept in Egypt flag now being carried through the streest of Cairo. #Egypt #jan25 #Jan28 #Tahrir
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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NewOrleansGamma
NOLA_Bolt NewOrleansGamma
.@profkemp also reading that the crowds are chanting. “the army and the people are one.” Awesomely inspiring. #Egypt
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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– Reuters #Egypt
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Jeremy Chiny
JChiny Jeremy Chiny
What’s going on in #Egypt is exactly what Nigeria needs to wake up from its slumber. I’m just regret that there’ll be collateral damage.
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Inamur Rahman
Inamur Inamur Rahman
Carrying a dead body, protestors march on the Ministry of Information, chanting, “This is what you’ve done to us” #Egypt – CNBC
3 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply
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Alya
moorizZLA Alya
Its getting so bad. I wanna go home and be with my people. Oh #Egypt please be okay
The copyrighted cartoon by Frederick Deligne, Nice-Matin, France, is licensed to run on TMV.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.