Mubarak under pressure, but defiant

WASHINGTON/ BRUSSELS/ LONDON: The US and EU kept up pressure on Egypt`s government for a swift, orderly and peaceful transition on Feb 4, but there was no sign that a still-defiant Hosni Mubarak was planning an early departure. On a day that saw hundreds of thousands rally in Cairo`s Tahrir Square, Alexandria and elsewhere for largely peaceful protests, US officials confirmed they were discussing ways to ensure the embattled president quit before September, though the Obama administration appeared to hesitate over cutting military aid to the country. It is possible that after such a huge turnout produced no tangible effect at home or abroad the protests will become harder to sustain – unless the fragmented opposition formulates more detailed demands. Diplomatic sources signalled that if Mubarak was not going to leave and thus deprive the protest movement of a "symbolic victory," it might still be possible to pursue a dialogue with the government. "There are people digging in around Mubarak but others who are edging in the right direction," a western official said. European leaders called for an immediate transition to a "broad-based" government, but like the US declined to call explicitly for Mubarak`s resignation. An EU summit in Brussels wrestled over a response to the crisis, with the British prime minister David Cameron urging more robust action in line with Washington while Silvio Berlusconi praised Mubarak, and suggested he should continue in office. The UN secretary-general, Ban ki-Moon, demanded new elections be held as soon as possible, and not in September. Mohamed ElBaradei, the opposition leader, urged Mubarak to "hear the clear voice coming from the people and leave in dignity." No one, he added, "wants him to leave in a state of humiliation." Mubarak himself has vowed not to leave before a new presidential election. "I have had enough, I want to go," he told ABC. "But if resign today there will be chaos." US officials are proposing that a transitional government fronted by the military invite members from a range of opposition groups, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, to begin work to open up the electoral system in an effort to bring about free and fair elections. "We have discussed with the Egyptians a variety of different ways to move that process forward, but all of those decisions must be made by the Egyptian people," said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor. But the limits of US pressure were graphically illustrated by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, when he warned in an ABC interview against any move to reduce the $1.3bn in annual US aid to Egypt – apparently in response to calls that the funding be cut if the governmental transition in Egypt does not happen soon. "There is a lot of uncertainty out there and I would just caution against doing anything until we really understand what`s going on," Mullen said. "I recognise that ($1.3bn) certainly is a significant investment, but it`s an investment that has paid off for a long, long time." The US and Egyptian military are closely intertwined through military and extensive joint training and exercises in support of US interests in the Middle East. The US would suspend aid immediately if the Egyptian army was to crack down on peaceful protesters in the way the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in 2009 and the Chinese military did in 1979. Mullen, defence secretary Robert Gates and other senior Pentagon figures have been in regular contact with their Egyptian counterparts all week. The White House has been criticised for failing to call unambiguously for Mubarak to go immediately. But the administration does not want to alienate pro-US leaders in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the region or be seen as interfering in Egyptian domestic politics. It also fears that humiliating him would be counterproductive to efforts to push him towards the exit. The largely trouble-free rally in Cairo suggested the government had reined in the pro-Mubarak demonstrators who caused mayhem and attracted international condemnation this week. The defence minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, paid a public visit to Tahrir Square and talked to protesters and military commanders – conveying the message that Egypt`s most powerful institution was sanctioning the rally. —Dawn-Guardian News Service