Washington: The US Senate approved a resolution that calls on Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak to “immediately” start a peaceful transition to a new democratic government.The measure doesn’t address whether Mubarak could be part of the new government. It calls on him to begin the “transfer of power to an inclusive interim caretaker government” before Egypt holds elections later this year.
Mubarak’s announcement on Feb. 1 that he wouldn’t run in the elections scheduled for September failed to quell protests against his government, and stoked the anger of demonstrators who have since increased their demands for his quick departure.
The Egyptian leader, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, in an interview with ABC News rejected demands that he leave power immediately. He said that while he was “fed up” with his job, he feared “there will be chaos” if he quit, according to a summary posted on ABC’s website.
The Senate resolution calls for “concrete steps” to be taken as soon as possible to allow Egyptians to form independent political parties, and expresses concern about the rise of any organization with an “extremist ideology.”
Earlier, Hosni Mubarak had said he would like to resign immediately but fears the country would descend into chaos if he did so.
In his first interview since anti-government protests began, he told ABC News he was “fed up” with power.
It came as Cairo saw another day of violence with clashes between the president’s opponents and supporters.
Mr Mubarak warned that the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood party would fill any power vacuum if he stepped down.
The BBC’s Paul Adams says this is a version of the narrative the president has used in the past to explain 30 years of political suppression aimed, primarily, at the Brotherhood.
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