Mubarak flees, army takes control

Ecstatic protesters hoisted soldiers onto their shoulders and families posed for pictures in front of tanks in streets flooded with residents of the capital of 18 million people streaming out to celebrate. Strangers hugged strangers, some fell to kiss the ground, and others stood stunned in disbelief. Chants of “Hold your heads high, you’re Egyptian” roared with each burst of fireworks overhead.

“I’m 21 years old and this is the first time in my life I feel free,” an ebullient Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, born eight years after Mubarak came to power, said as he hugged fellow protesters in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square.

The military, which effectively carried out a coup at the pleas of protesters that it push Mubarak out, announced on state television that it was committed to shepherding demands for greater democracy and that it would announce the next steps soon, possibly including the dissolving of parliament and creation of a transitional government to lead reforms.

Mubarak’s downfall at the hands of the biggest popular uprising in the modern history of the Arab world had stunning implications for the United States and the West, Israel, and the region, unsettling authoritarian rulers across the Mideast.

The 82-year-old leader was the epitome of the implicit deal the United States was locked into in the Middle East for decades: Support for autocratic leaders in return for their guarantee of stability, a bulwark against Islamic militants and peace — or at least an effort at peace — with Israel.

The question for Washington now was whether that same arrangement will hold as the Arab world’s most populous state makes a potentially rocky transition to democracy, with no guarantee of the results.

At the White House, President Barack Obama said “Egyptians have inspired us” and said of the important questions that lay ahead, “I’m confident the people of Egypt can find the answers.”

Mubarak, a former air force commander came to power after the 1981 assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat by Islamic radicals.

Throughout his rule, he showed a near obsession with stability, using rigged elections and a hated police force accused of widespread torture to ensure his control. He resisted calls for reform even as public bitterness grew over corruption, deteriorating infrastructure and rampant poverty in a country where 40 percent live below or near the poverty line.

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Up to the last hours, Mubarak sought to cling to power, handing some of his authorities vice president Omar Suleiman while keeping his title.

But an explosion of protests yesterday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely. Hundreds of thousands marched throughout the day in cities across the country as soldiers stood by, besieging his palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and the state TV building. A governor of a southern province was forced to flee to safety in the face of protests there.

Mubarak himself flew to his isolated palace in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 250 miles from the turmoil in Cairo.

Suleiman — who appears to have lost his post as well in the military takeover — appeared grim as he delivered the short announcement.

“In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic,” he said. “He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor.”

Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young supporters were among the organisers of the protest movement, told The Associated Press, “This is the greatest day of my life.”

“The country has been liberated after decades of repression,” he said adding that he expects a “beautiful” transition of power.

The question now turned to what happens next. Protesters yesterday had overtly pleaded for the army to oust Mubarak. The country is now ruled by the Armed Forces Supreme Council, the military’s top body consisting of its highest ranking generals and headed by Defence Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

After Mubarak’s resignation, a military spokesman appeared on state TV and promised the army would not act as a substitute for a government based on the “legitimacy of the people.”

He said the military was preparing the next steps needed “to achieve the ambitions of our great nation” and would announce them soon. He praised Mubarak for his contributions to the country. Pointedly he did not salute his former commander-in-chief. Instead he stood at attention and raised his hand to his cap in a salute to protesters killed in the unrest.

Earlier in the day, the council vowed to guide the country to greater democracy. It said it was committed “to shepherding the legitimate demands of the people and endeavouring to their implementation within a defined timetable until a peaceful transition to a democratic society aspired to by the people.”

Abdel-Rahman Samir, one of the protest organisers, said the movement would now open negotiations with the military over democratic reforms but vowed protests would continue to ensure change is carried out.

“We still don’t have any guarantees yet — if we end the whole situation now the it’s like we haven’t done anything,” he said. “So we need to keep sitting in Tahrir until we get all our demands.”

But, he added, “I feel fantastic. .... I feel like we have worked so hard, we planted a seed for a year and a half and now we are finally sowing the fruits.”

Sally Toma, another of the organisers, said she did not expect the military would try to clear the square. “We still have to sit and talk. We have to hear the army first,” she said.

For the moment, concerns over the next step were overwhelmed by the wave of joy and disbelief.

Outside the Oruba presidential palace in northern Cairo, where tens of thousands had marched during the day, one man sprawled on the grass, saying he couldn’t believe it. Protesters began to form a march toward Tahrir in a sea of Egyptian flags.

Thousands from across the capital of 18 million streamed into Tahrir, where protesters hugged, kissed and wept. Whole families took pictures of each other posing with Egyptian flags with their mobile phones as bridges over the Nile jammed with throngs more flowing into the square.

Mahmoud Ghanem, who came from the northern Nile Delta five days ago to join the Tahrir protest camp, proclaimed, “My children can finally live in freedom.”