Mubarak tries to regain streets as unrest spreads

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak sought to regain control of Cairo’s streets hours after protesters rejected his promise to stand down later this year as unrest in the region spread to Yemen.

The Egyptian army said protesters should return to their homes, in a statement by a military spokesman on state television. It came hours after US President Barack Obama told Mubarak that transition to democracy must “begin now.” Supporters of the president rallied in central Cairo and there were scuffles with protesters. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh today vowed not to extend his term in 2013 after Mubarak said late yesterday he won’t run for re-election in September.

Political turmoil is spreading through West Asia. Saleh called for a national unity government in Yemen, Jordan’s King Abdullah yesterday sacked his prime minister, and in Algeria protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces. The unprecedented protests in Egypt, which followed a revolt in Tunisia that ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 14, have left as many as 300 people dead and roiled international stock, bond and oil markets.

“There is no chance Mubarak can last until September, there is too much water under the bridge,” said Rime Allaf, associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at London’s Chatham House. “The protests won’t stop until he leaves or is ousted. The opposition is clear that they want the fall of the regime, not just Mubarak.”

Back to normal The president, 82, indicated yesterday the government would take steps to try to return the country to normal, including dispatching police to apprehend those responsible for arson and other illegal actions in the past week of protests. Internet communications across the country, cut off during the protests, were restored today, some banks’ automated teller machines are working, and 24,000 government employees received their salaries, state television said.

Still, the country’s stock exchange, closed for four days after a 16 per cent slump in the benchmark index last week, won’t open tomorrow. All Egyptian ports are closed because of a lack of staff, though the Suez Canal is operating as normal, Inchcape Shipping Services reported today.

Concern that shipping through the canal, which carries more than 2.2 million barrels of crude a day, may be disrupted by the unrest has pushed prices up more than 6 per cent since January 27.

Gulf stocks rise Mubarak’s announcement helped lift Egyptian bonds and Persian Gulf shares today. The yield on Egypt’s 5.75 per cent dollar bond due in April 2020 fell for a second day, dropping 8 basis points to 6.42 per cent, according to Bloomberg composite prices. Dubai’s benchmark stock index rose the most in almost 10 months, and the Bloomberg GCC 200 Index of Gulf shares climbed 1.7 per cent at 3.10 pm in Dubai, the biggest intraday gain since June 12.

Egypt “faces a choice between chaos and stability,” Mubarak said, wearing a dark blue suit and black tie and standing next to the national flag. “My first responsibility now is to restore the security and stability of the nation to achieve a peaceful transition.”