Post date: Feb 01, 2011 9:31:27 PM
Following intense protests throughout Egypt -- President Hosni Mubarak says he will not run in another election. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
EGYPT-MUBARAK - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak took to the airwaves Tuesday announcing that he will not run for reelection, but will stay in office until the next election to respond to demands for reform.
A U.S. official says that Washington's special envoy former Ambassador Frank Wisner told Mubarak that U.S. President Barack Obama believes he should prepare for an "orderly transition".
The New York Times quoted U.S. diplomats as saying that Obama urged the Egyptian leader specifically to not seek a sixth term in office in an election due in September.The announcement comes as a million people, maybe more, rallied across Egypt on Tuesday, clamoring for Mubarak to give up power.
The 82-year-old former general has been an Arab ally to the West against radical Islam and a friend to Israel.
With the army refusing to take action against the people and support from long-time backer the United States fading, the aging strongman's days have appeared numbered.
Mubarak's downfall after three decades could reconfigure the geopolitical map of the Middle East, with implications from Israel to oil-giant Saudi Arabia.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters.