Egypt's Mubarak steps down, military in charge

Xinhua, February 12, 2011

Army says to respect legitimacy of people

The Egyptian army has clarified since it stepped in on Jan. 28, that they will not take any steps that would be against the civilians' will. On Friday, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Armed Forces said it will not replace the legitimacy of the government.

The army spokesman said: "We present our utmost appreciation of Mubarak who preferred the interest of his people than his own, we expressed thankfulness for all his efforts to serve our nation."

The position of the army forces has always been crucial and the final decision maker to what the situation would have ended.

On Thursday, the Supreme Council of Egypt's armed forces issued a statement, saying the council "decided to remain in continuous session to consider what procedures and measures that may be taken to protect the nation and aspirations of Egyptian people.

"The public doesn't trust Omar Suleiman anymore. As Mubarak said he will delegate power to his deputy according to the constitution, which means that Suleiman couldn't take any decision without consulting the president. There will be a kind of manipulation," said Nabil Abdel Fatah, a political expert in the Al Ahram Strategic Studies Center told Xinhua.

Unclear future of NDP

The future of the NDP is unclear but most people expect that the party will be dissolved. The newly appointed head Hossam Badrawy has resigned few minutes before Suleiman's announcement about Mubarak's resignation.

Sources said that Badrawy only accepted the post to ensure peaceful transition of power, but once the president decided to step down there was no meaning for Badrawy to remain in post. The NDP was established in 1976 when President Anwar Sadat split the Arab Socialist Union into three separate political organizations representing the right, the center and the left. Ever since its inception the NDP has won the majority of the elections.

In 2010, parliamentary elections which were marred by fraud, the NDP won about 95 per cent of the seats, a step to which many analysts warned against. In an article published by Xinhua, Bahey El Din, firector of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights said "the elections will most certainly serve to revive political trends and violent tendencies, in both in and out of the official parties and political groups, especially among Islamists". Local media reported that many Egyptians believed that the outcome of the parliamentary elections will hurt the government's legitimacy, as the international community also had some criticism on the reported violence and frauds in the elections.

Over the past few years, major protests and accusations targeted the government to what analysts believe should have been a proper indicator of the Jan.25 protest.

Opposition in talks

The Egyptian opposition had no hand in empowering the protests, the tens of thousands of Egyptians were leaderless. However, opposition groups tried to overshadow the youth role in bringing down the Mubarak's regime. On Jan. 27, Egypt's opposition figurehead and Nobel Price laureate Mohamed ElBaradie arrived in Cairo to join the anti- government demonstrations on Friday of Anger. "The barrier of fear is broken," ElBaradie, former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters at the airport.

Baradei made a number of televised interviews, all through which he insisted on Mubarak's departure as if he was the revolution's leader. Meanwhile, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood also insisted on taking a role in the revolution. The Brotherhood who previously mentioned that they will not take part in the protests, demanded Mubarak to step down and refused any dialogue with Suleiman before Mubarak steps down. On Feb.6, Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman held talks with representatives of political parties including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and protesters, a step to establish a national dialogue and ease the unrest in Egypt.

Ministerial spokesman Magdi Radi said after the meeting that they agreed on "the formation of a committee, which will include the judiciary and a number of political figures, to study and propose constitutional amendments and required legislative amendments, before the first week of March.

Suleiman rejected calls to take over the presidency by opposition leaders during their meeting, a Muslim Brotherhood member who took part in the meeting told Xinhua.