Cairo: World leaders hailed the step down of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak as a historic victory for people power that paves the way for democracy.
US President Barack Obama said the people of Egypt had spoken and would settle for nothing less than “genuine democracy.”
He said that the armed forces would now have to ensure a political transition that was “credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon praised Mubarak for bowing to the will of the people and taking a “difficult decision, taken in the wider interests of the Egyptian people.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy saluted Mubarak’s “courageous and necessary” decision to resign, adding: “France calls on all Egyptians to continue their march towards liberty.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Mubarak’s departure marked a “historic change” and that she expected Egypt’s future government “to continue to keep the peace in the Middle East, in that the agreements made with Israel are respected and Israel’s security is guaranteed.”
British Prime Minister David Cameron said that with Mubarak resign, Egypt now had a “really precious moment of opportunity to have a government that can bring the country together”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope the power shift would “help the restoration of stability.”
In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton judged that the 82-year-old strongman had “listened to the voices of the Egyptian people” who had staged more than two weeks of massive protests for his departure.
Iran described Egyptian protesters as having achieved a “great victory.”
“The conquest by the will of the great Egyptian nation over the resistance and persistence of officials who were dependent on the world powers is a great victory,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told Iran’s Arabic-language Al-Alam television.
From the Gaza Strip, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri likewise praised the “the start of the victory of the Egyptian revolution” as celebrations erupted across the territory.
In Yemen, thousands of people took to the streets. Some chanted: “Yesterday Tunisia, today Egypt, and tomorrow Yemenis will break their chains.”
Turkey tapped the Internet that has powered the Egyptian revolt, with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu twittering hopes that Mubarak’s departure would produce a new “system” meeting the demands of ordinary Egyptians.
Israel offered a more cautious reaction to Mubarak’s departure, with a government official describing the moment as “too important to draw immediate conclusions about the outcome.”
“We hope that the transition to democracy, for Egypt and for its neighbours, will be done smoothly,” the official told a news agency requesting not to be named.
But the official also stressed the need to preserve the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, which was signed two years before Mubarak came to power.
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