(BBC) — Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down as president of Egypt. In an announcement on state TV, Vice-President Omar Suleiman said Mr Mubarak had handed power to the military.
It came as thousands massed in Cairo and other Egyptian cities for an 18th day of protest to demand Mr Mubarak’s resignation.
Protesters responded by cheering, waving flags, embracing and sounding car horns. “The people have brought down the regime,” they chanted.
Mr Suleiman said Mr Mubarak had handed power to the high command of the armed forces.
“In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate, citizens, during these very difficult circumstances Egypt is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of president of the republic and has charged the high council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country,” he said.
“May God help everybody.”
The military high command is headed by Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
Mr Mubarak has already left Cairo and is in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he has a residence, officials say.
Constitution breached
In Cairo, thousands of people are gathered outside the presidential palace, in Tahrir Square and at state TV.
They came out in anger following an address by Mr Mubarak on Thursday. He had been expected to announce his resignation but instead stopped short of stepping down, transferring most powers to Mr Suleiman.
The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo said the announcement caught everyone by surprise, and all over the city drivers honked their horns and people fired guns into the air.
But the army takeover looks very much like a military coup, our correspondent adds.
The constitution has been breached, he says, because officially it should be the speaker of parliament who takes over, not the army leadership.
Oil price falls after Egypt’s President Mubarak resigns
(The Telegraph) — Oil fell in late trading after Egypt’s President Mubarak resigned, bringing an end to weeks of protests that have spooked the energy market.
The price of Brent crude rose sharply early on Friday when it appeared that the Egyptian leader would cling to power, raising fears about the key Suez canal transport route. Brent, the key London oil contract, has risen more than the US benchmark WTI – at one point trading at a $16 premium – as it is more exposed to the region.
ADDIS ABABA (Afrik-news.com) — Fuel prices in Ethiopia will be raised next month following a recent decision by its Sudanese suppliers could also affect fuel availability in Ethiopia. The Horn of Africa country spends an average annual 20 billion birr on the importation of petroleum products.
Ethiopia’s projected budget of 1.42 billion US dollars for fuel importation for the current fiscal year is expected to cover 2,176,188 tonnes of fuel including benzene. An amount that, according to reports, exceeds by 30 percent the 72.2 billion birr annual budget approved for this fiscal year. Despite the Ethiopian government’s decision in 2008 to introduce the blending of ethanol following an increased demand in fuel, the increasing trend has continued.
And the ever increasing local consumption of benzene coupled with the fluctuation of prices on the international market has resulted in an extra 500,000 tonne import of fuel as against the projected imports set for the current fiscal year, according data obtained from Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE), an entity in charge of petroleum importation and distribution.
Recently, the country signed an agreement with Sudan Petroleum Company (SPC) to import 80 percent of its benzene demand from the neighboring Sudan. This agreement was to enable the government cut the huge transportation costs, which would in consequence lower the price of benzene on the local market. The agreement with SPC has however been suspended following a three month closure of the Sudanese company’s refinery beginning February 1. And although this is not expected to impact the petroleum deal between Ethiopia and The Sudan, the three-month break coupled with Ethiopia’s inadequate storage capacities may lead to a fuel shortage.
As a result, Ethiopia has designed a contingency plan by raising the percentage of blended ethanol in Addis Ababa, the capital, to 10 per cent from March 7. This follows the success of a similar move in 2008 when the introduction E5 helped the country to reduce the volume of benzene imports by over a million dollars annually.
Having acquired the technology to produce a considerable volume of Ethanol to buttress fuel imports following its various expansion projects, mainly of its sugar factories, including the state owned company Fincha, which has been producing up to eight million liters of Ethanol, and Metehara, which has also embarked on an annual production of 10.5 million liters as of the current year, Ethiopia could handle the arrest of oil imports… to an extent.
Ethiopian Satellite TV (ESAT) is back online today after being off air for 24 hours, according to the station’s management. ESAT is now transmitted on the following frequency:
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EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak has reiterated his intention to stand down in September, igniting the wrath of thousands of protesters in Cairo’s Tharir Square.
His comments in a national TV address confounded earlier reports that he was preparing to stand down immediately.
The 82 year old dictator said he had passed on some of his authority to his vice president and former intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as he addressed the Egyptian people on state television and announced that the transition of power will take place from today until September.
Mubarak also said that errors can happen in any political system, and he wants to continue the national dialogue that has begun to get through this crisis.
He apologized to the families of protesters killed in clashes with the security forces in recent weeks, and said those responsible for their deaths would be punished.
“I express a commitment to carry on and protect the constitution and the people and transfer power to whomever is elected next September in free and transparent elections,” Mr Mubarak said.
Brian Stewart, a journalist for CBC and one of Canada’s most experienced foreign correspondents, writes that Ethiopia’s regime has a blasé attitude about food shortage in the country and that he supports The Economist’s description of the regime as one of the most economically illiterate in the world. The following except is taken from Brian’s 2009 article, but still applies today as the U.N. is making yet another call for emergency food aid alert on behalf of 2.8 million Ethiopians.
Ethiopian regime’s blasé attitude about food shortage
The Ethiopian government has said it doesn’t expect this year to be much worse than last, and it is “confident it has done everything it can to feed its hungry people.”
This almost blasé attitude in Addis, gives no comfort at all to aid officials who tend to agree with an Economist magazine’s characterization of Ethiopia’s government as well-meaning but “one of the most economically illiterate in the modern world.”
President Meles Zenawi is unlikely to be reckless enough to downplay a real emergency, but there is always concern that regional officials might dismiss rising malnutrition figures to protect their own political hides.
From what I have seen, Ethiopians hate their nation’s image as a perpetual victim of disasters. And donor nations have clearly grown weary of annual calls for aid.
One can sympathize with both views. But such sentiments cannot be allowed to obscure facts.
Yes, development efforts on the ground are indeed starting to yield progress (and I intend to write about these another time).
But Ethiopia, the 12th poorest nation on Earth, will simply not be able to fully feed itself for many years, likely a generation at least.
The abject poverty of land and population are simply too stark, too intractable to offer a quick end to this recurring nightmare, no matter what economic or market reforms are tried.
Back when I was covering the famine in 1984, I never imagined — or perhaps let myself fear — that Ethiopia would be such a difficult problem for the world to fix.
I underestimated what a grinding, unrelenting effort would be needed to confront its timeless poverty. This time back, I fear we underestimate it still.
Former finance head of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (Woyanne), Ato Gebremedhin Araya, has called on the people of Tigray to rise up against Ethiopia’s tyrant Meles Zenawi. Ato Gebremedhin, who accuses Meles Zenawi of crimes against humanity and looting Ethiopia’s treasury, made the call to Tigreans in an interview with Yewarkaw. Listen to the 3-part interview below:
