http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/30/la ... st/?hpt=T1A good move on Mubarak's part, if it had happened a week ago.
Egypt latest - Mubarak to new PM: Engage with all political parties
January 30th, 2011
04:20 AM ET
Read full coverage of the unrest in Egypt updated continually by CNN reporters worldwide. Send your photos and video to iReport and see CNN in Arabic here.
– [Update 4:45 a.m. Cairo, 9:45 p.m. ET] In remarks to his newly appointed prime minister, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak recognized the "peaceful demonstrations" in recent days as reputable, while adding that some such gatherings had been "infiltrated" by people whose goal was to "spread fear" in society through hooliganism, looting and other criminal activity, according to a transcript read on state-run Nile TV.
The president also charged the new cabinet, to be shaped by newly appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, to restore Egyptians' faith in the economy and relieve people's suffering by helping contain prices for basic commodities and combat high unemployment. Mubarak ordered the new government not to touch government subsidies for key goods.
– [Update 4:25 a.m. Cairo, 9:25 p.m. ET] Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak urged leaders of his new government Sunday to engage in dialogue with all political parties to help achieve "a democratic civil society," state-run Nile TV reported. He also called on them to restore people's faith in the Egyptian economy and to control unemployment, according to a readout of remarks the embattled president made to his newly appointed prime minister.
– [Update 4:18 a.m. Cairo, 9:18 p.m. ET] CNN's Nic Robertson reports from Alexandria, where gunshots - apparently just warning shots - could be heard as protesters walked the streets after curfew Sunday night.
– [Update 3:33 a.m. Cairo, 8:33 p.m. ET] Addressing the situation in Egypt, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that "we don't want to interfere, but we demand respect for the leaders." He said that he's talked with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad about the crisis.
– [Update 3:29 a.m. Cairo, 8:29 p.m. ET] About 20 armed police confronted and ended an anti-Mubarak demonstration Sunday by dozens of people in the West Bank, according to the nonprofit group Human Rights Watch. The security forces pushed the demonstrators away from the Egyptian Embassy, the group alleged in a statement.
– [Update 2:52 a.m. Cairo, 7:52 p.m. ET] Ali Regal, a student activist leader in Alexandria, said that the military is working closely with "the masses" - including demonstrators - to coordinate security around the port city. "The army is very helpful and working with us," Regal told CNN's Nic Robertson. "There is a strong cooperation between the masses and the army, that's what I can tell so far."
– [Update 2:10 a.m. Cairo, 7:10 p.m. ET] Shots can be heard in this video of crowds gathered outside a museum in Cairo on Sunday night.
Egyptian army troops fired a half-dozen shots into the air in front of the museum. Sporadic and sometimes intense gunfire was also heard in other parts of Cairo, as well as in downtown Alexandria.
– [Update 12:24 a.m. Monday in Cairo, 5:24 p.m. ET Sunday] For Americans trapped in Egypt or for concerned relatives and friends back home, the U.S. State Department has released the following information:
People interested in departing Egypt via U.S. government-chartered transportation should contact the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Cairo by sending an e-mail to
EgyptEmergencyUSC@state.gov or by calling 1-202-501-4444.
You should provide the following information:
– Name, age, place of birth and U.S. passport number and any special medical needs.
– Immediate family members (spouses and children) who are not U.S. citizens must be documented for entry into the safe-haven country and/or U.S., if that is your final destination.
– Travelers are permitted only one piece of luggage per person.
For families concerned that a U.S. citizen in Egypt might require assistance, they should send an e-mail to
EgyptEmergencyUSC@state.gov or call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada, or outside the United States and Canada on a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444.
Get more information at
http://egypt.usembassy.gov/ or
http://travel.state.gov/– [Update 11:56 p.m. Cairo, 4:56 p.m. ET] Police forces have returned to the streets in all police districts and all parts of Egypt, according to a report late Sunday on state-run Nile TV. The Egyptian army had been deployed to replace police forces that had clashed brutally with demonstrators.
– [Update 11:08 p.m. Cairo, 4:08 p.m. ET] With many grocers closing shop and food shipments spotty because of unrest, food in Egypt is in short supply, CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports. Some Egyptian families are running out of staples such as bread, beans and rice.
– [Update 10:38 p.m. Cairo, 3:38 p.m. ET] Heavy machine gun fire could be overheard Sunday night as thousands of protesters demanding the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak marched through downtown Alexandria, CNN's Nic Robertson reported. Army troops were positioned in various parts of the port city, having moved some of their checkpoints over the weekend.
– [Update 10:35 p.m. Cairo, 3:35 p.m. ET] A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said this about Cameron's conversation Sunday with U.S. President Barack Obama regarding Egypt: "[Cameron and Obama] were united in their view that Egypt now needed a comprehensive process of political reform, with an orderly, Egyptian-led transition to a government that responded to the grievances of the Egyptian people and to their aspirations for a democratic future."
– [Update 10:14 p.m. Cairo, 3:14 p.m. ET] U.S. President Barack Obama talked about the situation in Egypt during a call Sunday with British Prime Minister David Cameron, according to a White House statement. The previous day, he talked by phone to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi King Abdullah, the White House said Sunday. In those calls, Obama expressed support for "an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people," according to the statement.
– [Update 9:46 p.m. Cairo, 2:46 p.m. ET] On Monday, a state-imposed curfew will start one hour earlier than Sunday's curfew started, state-run Nile TV reported. The curfew will run from 3 p.m. Monday to 8 a.m. Tuesday (8 a.m. ET Monday to 1 a.m. ET Tuesday).
Sunday's curfew started at 4 p.m. (9 a.m. ET) and will end at 8 a.m. Monday (1 a.m. ET).
– [Update 8:18 p.m. Cairo, 1:18 p.m. ET] CNN tape of Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei showed him addressing protesters in Cairo: "I came today to participate today in the lives of Egyptians. Today I look into the eyes of each one of you and everyone is different today," he said. "Today you are an Egyptian demanding your rights and freedom and what we started can never be pushed back. As we said we have one main demand the end of the regime and to start a new phase." Watch ElBaradei address the crowd
– [Update 7 p.m. Cairo, Noon ET] ElBaradei has arrived in Cairo's Tahrir Square to address protesters, witnesses said.
– [Update 5:15 p.m. Cairo, 10:15 a.m. ET] Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has issued a presidential decision today appointing Gen. Gamal Embaba, an army division commander, governor of El Wadi el Jadid, state-run Nile TV reported. Watch live CNN's stream to Nile TV.
The network is also reporting several prison breaks throughout Egypt, but the number of escapees could not be verified.
– [Update 4:40 p.m. Cairo, 9:40 a.m. ET] Egyptian troops fired warning shots into the air in Cairo's Tahrir Square as demonstrators defied a curfew order Sunday evening.
– [Update 4:30 p.m. Cairo, 9:30 a.m. ET] U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared on CNN's State of the Union. Clinton told CNN's Candy Crowley that the U.S. is neither on Mubarak's side or the protesters' side but that the U.S. is on the side of the Egyptian people. Watch CNN's Sunday morning interview with Clinton. Columnist Mona Eltahawy urges global community support for protesters.
Clinton told NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday that the U.S. does not have any reports of American citizens killed or injured in the anti-government protests in Egypt. Clinton said the U.S. has no plans to cut off aid to Egypt Sunday on ABC's "The Week."
– [Update 4 p.m. Cairo, 9 a.m. ET] Fighter planes flew low over the crowds in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Sunday, 10 minutes before the state-imposed curfew. Some in the crowd began holding prayers despite the planes. CNN's Ivan Watson said the fighter jets "show de force" was "dramatic" and that he could see the plane's cockpit from the ground.
– [Update 3:53 p.m. Cairo, 8:53 a.m. ET] Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei on Sunday called for embattled President Hosni Mubarak to "leave today and save the country." Watch ElBaradei on CNN Sunday.
"This is a country that is falling apart," ElBaradei told CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." Egypt is entering a period of transition, and a government of national unity is needed to fill the void and hold "fair and free" elections, ElBaradei said
– British Foreign Secretary William Hague called on Mubarak to start a democratic "transformation" and a process of "peaceful reform" that would lead to a more open and democratic society. "It is not for us to try to pick who should be the president of Egypt. It is a sovereign nation," Hague told Britain's Sky News - but he said reform would be "preferable to Egypt falling into the hands of extremism."
– [Update 3:30 p.m. Cairo, 8:30 a.m. ET] Egypt's defense minister, Gen. Mohamad Tantawi, urged the public Sunday to obey the 4 p.m.-8 a.m. curfew (9 a.m.-1 a.m. ET) Tantawi's statement was carried by state television, and Tantawi was escorted to the network's headquarters by red-helmeted troops in a convoy of sport-utility vehcies. Tantawi is among the Cabinet ministers that embattled President Hosni Mubarak announced he was replacing over the weekend.
In other developments earlier in Cairo on Sunday:
– The U.S. Embassy in Cairo will assist U.S. citizens who want to leave Egypt, said embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Colton. She said flights will depart from Cairo on Monday. Turkey has already sent two planes to Egypt to begin evacuating its citizens.
– The State Department is urging U.S. citizens to avoid travel to Egypt.
– In Sudan, about 100 protesters at an university in Khartoum changed, "No to high prices, no to corruption" and "Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan together as one." Police forced students back to the university and closed the gates, but students came back out of the gates and threw bricks at officers.
– Al Jazeera "strongly denounces" the closure of its Cairo bureau by the Egyptian government, the news network said in a statement Sunday. Egypt's information ministry announced the shutdown of the Al Jazeera channel in Egypt and the withdrawal of its media license to operate in the country, state-run Nile TV reported Sunday.
– A body was found in front of the country's interior ministry Sunday morning, but there was no police presence nearby. Meanwhile, military tanks and hundreds of protesters were out on Cairo's Tahrir Square. No violence was spotted in that area.
– Vandals ripped off the heads off two mummies and tossed relics onto the ground in Cairo's Egyptian Museum, said Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. The vandals were arrested and jailed, Hawass said. The museum has stepped up security and is now guarded by Egypt's army, he said.
– Four people admitted to looting in the Cairo area, according to state-run Nile TV, which aired their confessions.
– People who were trying to protect their property said they are worried about criminal gangs armed with samurai swords, clubs or rifles. Every time a motorcycles drove by, people rushed out to make sure such criminals didn't stop.
– Ahmed Rehab of the Council of American Islamic Relations said police were absent on Cairo streets. "People are walking around with baseball bats and knives," Rehab said early Sunday. "We didn't get any sleep all night."
– In Alexandria, the scene at hospitals was chaotic. The facilities were short-staffed, and injured protesters said they were not being treated quickly enough.
– At least 31 people have been killed in protests in Alexandria, hospital authorities told CNN Saturday. Earlier, the state-run Nile TV earlier reported that at least 38 people died in the country's unrest. It was unclear whether the Alexandria deaths were part of that toll.
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