Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president of Egypt and handed power to the military, bowing to the demands of protesters who have occupied central Cairo for the past three weeks demanding an end to his 30-year rule.
“Mubarak has decided to relinquish the office of the presidency,” said Vice President Omar Suleiman in a statement on state television today. “He has instructed the Supreme Council of the armed forces to take over the affairs of the country.”
The resignation came after Egyptians streamed out of Friday prayers vowing to topple Mubarak, 82, after he yesterday defied calls for him to leave for the second time this month. Military helicopters buzzed the presidential palace at dusk and Arabiya television earlier reported that Mubarak had left Cairo for the Sinai resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Al-Jazeera correspondent Sherine Tadros, reporting from Tahrir Square, say a number of demonstrators have fainted amid the jubilation and been helped out of the area.
President Obama was notified of Mubarak’s resignation during an Oval Office meeting. He then watched the TV coverage for several minutes in an outer office. Obama will make a statement at 1:30 p.m. ET.
Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, reacting to the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, says: “This is the greatest day of my life. The country has been liberated.”
The announcement opens a new phase in a crisis that was sparked by the ouster of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on Jan. 14 and is rippling through the Arab world, which holds more than 50 percent of the world’s oil reserves.
The army council, at its highest state of alert since the 1973 war with Israel, will likely face calls for immediate elections from the thousands of young protesters who have crammed Cairo’s Tahrir Square and used Facebook and Twitter to organize themselves.
Google Inc. executive Wael Ghonim, a figurehead of the protests, earlier today read out a list of demands that included abolishing all restrictions on forming political parties and giving voting rights to Egyptians living abroad.
Those elections may bolster the Muslim Brotherhood, banned by Mubarak, and other opposition groups shut out of power in the most populous Arab country.
LONGEST RULER
Egypt’s default risk today jumped the most in six days and the country’s bonds and London-listed shares sank as concern deepened about the outcome of the standoff. The yield on the government’s 5.75 percent dollar bond due 2020 climbed 22 basis points to 6.72 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of 2:18 p.m. in London.
Mubarak, a former air-force general who as president was commander of the largest military force in the Arab world, was the nation’s longest-serving ruler in more than 150 years. He controlled a government that was the linchpin of U.S. policy in the Middle East for three decades.
Mubarak kept peace with Israel, with which Egypt had had formal peace for only two years when he took office, supported U.S. counterterrorism efforts, backed Iranian sanctions over its nuclear program and helped broker Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.
At the same time, Mubarak controlled a regime condemned by the U.S. government for its lack of basic freedoms at home, for its widespread suppression of political opposition and for the torture of Egyptian citizens, which was often carried out with impunity, according to the State Department.
Source: Bloomberg.com