Mubarak Clings to Power After Twelve Days of Protests

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, seemed to cling to power on Saturday after 12 days of mass protests that called for his immediate resignation, while a bomb attack on a pipeline interrupted the supply of gas to Jordan and Israel.

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Faced with protests in Egypt and fears of spreading to other countries in the region, the secretary general of the Arab League, Ahmed Ben Heli, announced the postponement of the III Summit of South American and Arab Countries (ASPA), which be held from 13 to 16 February in Lima. “Discussions are under way to set another date,” he added, AFP said.

Thousands of people returned on Saturday to demonstrate against the president in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests since 25 January, which left more than 300 deaths, according to a UN assessment, and over 5,000 injured, balance according to a Health Ministry official.

In the morning, some demonstrators tried to stop army tanks left the plaza and removed the charred vehicles used in their barricades erected to prevent Mubarak supporters launch another attack like the one on Wednesday which left eight dead.

“I swear by God that the tanks will not move”, had to explain a general to appease the opponents of Mubarak, 82, and for 30 in power.

After twelve days of protests, the country is paralyzed, held in Cairo announced to postpone the reopening scheduled for Monday, without giving another date. Financial exchanges have been suspended since 27 January after a sharp drop of 10% after two days of accumulating losses of 12,000 million dollars.

Moreover, unknown tomorrow with explosives attacked a pipeline that supplies to Jordan, located 10 km from the Gaza Strip, Sheikh Zuwayed, northern Sinai. The same pipeline is also used to supply Israel, but this section was not affected. However, it stopped the supply of gas to both countries.

The army and emergency services took measures to prevent fire spread. “We have no details yet about what happened,” said a local leader.

Egypt Israel supplies about 40% of its natural gas. In December, four Israeli firms signed a 20-year contract for an amount of 10,000 million dollars to import gas from Egypt.

In the political sphere, or Mubarak or the government offered statements after the massive demonstrations of yesterday, when hundreds of thousands of Egyptians turned out into the streets of major cities.

Mubarak, who announced Tuesday he would not run for elections in September, showed no signs of wanting to leave and, despite domestic and international pressures.

According to the New York Times, Vice President of Egypt, Omar Suleiman, and senior military commanders are studying plans to limit the authority of Mubarak and possibly remove him from the presidential palace in Cairo.

Citing anonymous U.S. responsible and Egypt, the newspaper says those plans are not intended to immediately strip the presidency of Mubarak. Its aim would be to allow the formation of a transitional government, headed by Suleiman, who negotiate with the opposition amendments to the Constitution and other democratic changes.

In Cairo, Mubarak met with Prime Minister Ahmad Shafic, which ruled on Saturday that President Suleiman left office. He also met with Oil Minister Sahmeh Fahmy, Central Bank chief Faruk Oqda and Finance Minister Samir Radwan.

From the German city of Munich, the U.S. diplomat, welcomed the “moderation” of the security forces during demonstrations on Friday after several days of repression, which is also characterized by their attacks on the media .