Egypt army says takes ‘measures to protect nation

CAIRO (Al Arabiya)

Mubarak expected to step down before Friday: ruling party

Egypt’s armed forces said on Thursday they have started taking “necessary measures to protect
the nation and support the legitimate demands of the people” as secretary general of the ruling NDP party said he expected Mubarak to leave office before Friday. An Egyptian army commander, Hassan al-Roweny, had told protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Thursday that “Everything you want will be realized,” Al Arabiya TV reported.

Without citing a source, CNN television said President Hosni Mubarak would transfer his power as army chief to the army.

Roweny addressed protesters from a stage erected in the square, calling on protesters to sing the national anthem and keep Egypt safe.

As they heard his words, protesters chanted: “The people demand the fall of the regime” and “The regime has fallen”.

The secretary general of Egypt’s ruling party on Thursday said Mubarak could “respond to the people’s demands by tomorrow.”

“I expect the president to respond to the demands of the people, because what matters to him in the end is the stability of the country. The post is not important to him,” Hossam Badrawi of the National Democratic Party said.

Badrawi did not specify that he was referring to Mubarak stepping down, but a senior military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP: “We are awaiting orders that will make the people happy.”

	I don’t want to prejudge what might happen later today
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs

“Very fluid situation”

The Obama administration said on Thursday it was monitoring a “very fluid situation” in Egypt amid reports that President Hosni Mubarak might step down later in the day after weeks of protests.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said Thursday that if Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak steps down, he would likely hand over power to his vice president, Omar Suleiman.

Panetta told a congressional hearing there was a strong likelihood Mubarak would step down on Thursday evening. He did not say where he got his information but news reports suggesting Mubarak might quit came out just before the hearing.

The Obama administration has tried to walk a fine line during the evolving crisis in Egypt, a key U.S. ally in the region whose powerful military gets about $1.3 billion in aid from Washington each year.

“We’re watching a very fluid situation,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama on a domestic trip.

Gibbs said the administration’s top priority remained an orderly transition to free and fair elections in Egypt. He declined to comment on Panetta’s remarks or the White House view of the veracity of the wide range of news reports.

“I don’t want to prejudge what might happen later today,” he said.

The White House has been vocal in its support for the democratic aspirations of the protesters and pushed the government in Cairo to make meaningful changes — while warning that a sudden shift could bring chaos.

Egypt’s strategic importance to the United States includes its role in Middle East peace efforts after Cairo signed a peace accord with Israel in 1979, as guardian of the Suez Canal and as a counterweight in the region to Iran.

Obama had been briefed just before leaving Washington by Tom Donilon, his national security adviser, and was in contact with the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Gibbs said.

“I don’t know what the outcome of what is happening today will be,” Gibbs said.