Saturday, February 05, 2011

U.S. President Barack Obama Friday urged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, as a proud patriot, to “listen” to protesters demanding he quit, apparently hinting the Arab strongman should go now.

The EU also kept up its pressure campaign with leaders meeting in Brussels demanding Egypt’s transition start “now” in a joint statement.

And in a reminder of how events in Egypt are linked to a wider confrontation between Islamists and Western powers in the Middle East, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed an “Islamic liberation movement” in Egypt.

Obama did not explicitly call on Mubarak to resign, but noted he had already made the psychological leap of saying he would step down after polls in September – and should now reconsider his position amid a mass uprising.

“He needs to listen to what is voiced by the people and make a judgment about a pathway forward that is orderly, that is meaningful … and serious,” Obama said, in carefully worded comments on Egypt’s political future.
“I believe that President Mubarak cares about his country. He is proud, but he is also a patriot,” Obama said.

Amid reports that Washington was working on a number of scenarios with key Egyptian players that would result in Mubarak’s departure and a political transition, Obama stressed Egyptians must decide their future themselves.
But he said he understood “some discussions” were already under way in Egypt on a transition to a system that would respect universal rights and lead to free and fair elections.

Obama also said violence against journalists, human rights activists and journalists was unacceptable, though he said he was pleased with restraint shown on a day of mass protests Friday.

Obama, speaking at a news conference with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said he had told Mubarak clearly in two telephone calls that the “old ways” that had sustained his 30-year-rule were not going to work.
“Suppression is not going to work, engaging in violence is not going to work.”

A first glimpse of secret U.S. diplomacy over the crisis was revealed in a New York Times article late Thursday, detailing a plan for Mubarak to turn over power now to a transitional government led by Vice President Omar Suleiman.

The White House took issue with aspects of the report, but did not deny it outright. “It’s simply wrong to report that there’s a single U.S. plan that’s being negotiated with the Egyptians,” a senior White House official said on condition of anonymity.

The report, citing administration officials and Arab diplomats, said the United States was seeking backing from the Egyptian military even though Mubarak himself was balking at the idea.

The Times said the proposal calls for the transitional government to invite members from a broad range of opposition groups, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to start a process to hold free and fair elections in September.
As U.S. officials plotted strategy behind closed doors, the United States kept up a dialogue with the country’s influential military.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates spoke by phone Friday with his Egyptian counterpart Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, the Pentagon said. It was the “fourth phone conversation with the Egyptian defense minister since the situation in Egypt began,” press secretary Geoff Morrell said in a statement.

In his first public comments on the popular uprisings in the region, Khamenei said Iran’s 1979 revolution could serve as a pattern for the Arab uprisings.

“The awakening of the Islamic Egyptian people is an Islamic liberation movement and I, in the name of the Iranian government, salute the Egyptian people and the Tunisian people,” Khamenei told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran.

He dismissed as “lies” any suggestion that Iran wanted to interfere in the region’s affairs. Khamenei called on the Egyptian Army to back the protesters and “focus its eyes on the Zionist enemy.”
“If Egypt halts its alliance with [Israel] and takes its real position, what a great event will happen in the region,” he said. Without naming Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei, Khamenei warned Egyptians against compromising with any leader who might win Western approval.

In Brussels, EU leaders condemned violence in Egypt “in the strongest terms” and urged restraint in Egypt’s “orderly transition.” “This transition process must start now,” they added in Europe’s toughest joint response to the turmoil in Egypt.

Responding to criticism that Europe in the past backed authoritarian regimes in the region as a bulwark against Islamist extremists, the leaders pledged to turn a page in its foreign policy thinking.
Both British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said commitments made by recipients of EU aid had not been met.

“I believe we need to look again at our approach to this,” said Cameron, calling for a rethink about “using our leverage, our money and our influence.” – Agencies