All but dismissing Mubarak’s announcement he’d step
down from the presidency in September as insufficient, Obama came
closer than at any previous point in the eight-day crisis to telling
Mubarak his departure can’t wait.
Speaking on national television in the U.S., Obama
said that he had told Mubarak in a 30-minute telephone conversation
that “an orderly transition must be meaningful, must be peaceful and
must begin now.”
Mubarak, Obama said, “recognizes that the status quo is not sustainable, and that a change must take place.”
A
Mubarak made his announcement after Obama sent a personal envoy — a retired ambassador to
— to deliver a similar message that apparently failed to have the full
influence Obama had sought. Obama had specified that Mubarak not only
should run for office but should also block his son, Gamal, from
contesting the presidency.
Sen.
had added another condition that the administration hasn’t publicly
acknowledged as its position: that Mubarak appoint a caretaker
government and depart sooner rather than later.
But Mubarak made no mention of Gamal in his
televised statement and instead sketched a transition that would last
into September and possibly well beyond.
Obama barely mentioned Mubarak’s public statement in his remarks.
U.S. officials privately questioned whether Mubarak’s concession would placate a swelling protest movement.
Earlier Tuesday, Obama’s envoy, former U.S. diplomat
urged Mubarak in a face-to-face meeting to announce that neither he nor
his son would run in presidential elections scheduled for later this
year.
Wisner’s message was, “You’ve got to move, and the
sooner the better,” said a senior administration official, who like
others requested anonymity to speak more freely.
“President Mubarak has shifted. He has gone through
a process, where ‘Ok, I can manage this, I can reform the government,’
but each of those steps has kind of been overtaken by the size and
speed with which the movement has made clear a demand for him to step
aside,” the senior official said.
“He has moved, and yet it is unclear if this will be
enough to allow him to remain through September,” the official said.
“It’s clear that the movement on the streets is growing in size. It’s
not going away.”
A second U.S. official said: “Had this been announced three or four days ago, maybe it would have been enough.”
The first official said the U.S. government is
growing increasingly worried that unless a resolution is quickly
reached, the demonstration will continue and the food and fuel
shortages, bank closures and other economic fallout from the upheaval
could ignite serious, widespread violence. The administration, however,
is having trouble trying to impress that danger on Mubarak and his
inner circle, he said.
“The Egyptian economy is kind of grinding down.
Markets are closed. Banks are closed,” he said. “Our concern is that
the longer this goes on without a resolution, the greater the
(economic) impact, which means the greater potential for violence. We
just continue to try to find ways to communicate that to President
Mubarak and those around him.”
Easing away from Mubarak is a monumental move by the
U.S., and appears to reflect a desire not to be caught on the wrong
side of history or of the hundreds of thousands of Egyptians who say
they will be satisfied with nothing less than his departure.
While Mubarak seems to believe he can manage the
transition and leave office with dignity, support for him appeared to
be eroding Tuesday, not just at the
In
a fellow Muslim-majority nation whose influence in the region is on the
upswing, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged Mubarak to heed the will
of his people.
“Mr.
a very sincere recommendation, a very candid warning . . . All of us
will die and will be questioned over what we left behind,” Erdogan said
in a speech in the Turkish capital of
“Listen to the shouting of the people, the extremely
humane demands,” he said. “Without hesitation, satisfy the people’s
desire for change.”
In
also shifted their tone from suggesting Mubarak should heed the
protesters and embrace reform to suggesting he should exit soon.
“I believe that President Mubarak should now work
with the military and civil society to establish an interim caretaker
government,” said Kerry said. “It remains to be seen whether this is
enough to satisfy the demands of the Egyptian people for change.”
“Much work remains to be done to turn this
auspicious moment into lasting peace and prosperity. Egyptians must now
prepare for elections and achieve a peaceful transition of power. The
military must continue to show the restraint it has so admirably
exercised these past days. And opposition leaders must come together to
develop a process that will ensure that all of
Sen.
said that “for 30 years, this country has pursued a relationship with
the Mubarak government that’s been beneficial in terms of security. . .
. Mubarak has been a moderating influence. Those days are coming to an
end. His presence is no longer a moderating influence.”
But for Mubarak, the biggest blow no doubt was
Obama’s message, coming as it did from a U.S. government that’s backed
him for three decades.
Obama administration officials declined to disclose
further details of the meeting between Mubarak and Wisner, the former
U.S. ambassador to
In another signal to Mubarak, U.S. Ambassador to
Egypt Margaret Scobey talked Tuesday with Mohamed ElBaradei, the former
U.N. nuclear watchdog who’s emerged as a spokesman for the opposition
clamoring for an end to Mubarak’s 30-year-rule, the
It was believed to be the first contact between a senior U.S. official and ElBaradei since
Wisner, who served as U.S. ambassador to
That allowed him to carry all kinds of messages,
“including messages Mubarak didn’t necessarily want to hear,” said
Kurtzer, now a
———
(c) 2011, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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