Egytians rejoice over Mubarak’s departure
Fireworks lit the skies of Cairo and protesters shed tears of joy in Egypt as they celebrated the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s 30 years of power.
Mr Mubarak stepped down as leader on Friday, after 18 days of widespread anti-government demonstrations.
The country is now in the hands of the high command of the armed forces, headed by the defence minister.
US President Barack Obama called Egypt an inspiration, but said it must now move to civilian and democratic rule.
Demonstrators in central Cairo continued to celebrate the departure of Mr Mubarak into the night, dancing, chanting slogans and singing songs.
In Cairo’s Tahrir Square – the heart of the demonstrations – the news was greeted with jubilation by a crowd of tens of thousands.
A huge poster hanging in the square read, “Breaking news: The people have brought down the regime.”
Mr Mubarak has already left Cairo and is in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where he has a residence, officials say.
The anti-government protests that began on 25 January were triggered by widespread unrest in Egypt over unemployment, poverty and corruption.
The BBC’s Jon Leyne in Cairo said the announcement caught everyone by surprise: all over the city, drivers honked their horns and people fired guns into the air.
“Egypt is free,” Mahmoud Elhetta, a protester, shouted.
“We are a great people and we did something great. This is the expected end for every dictator.”
The celebrations continued in other cities, with hundreds of protesters in Alexandria waving flags, whistling and dancing.
In the southern city of Assiut, people fired guns in the air and roamed the streets on motorcycles or pick-up trucks, while coffee houses handed out free drinks.
Egypt’s state television, a bastion of support for Mr Mubarak’s government, started reporting the celebrations across the country.
Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei described it as “the greatest day of my life.”
Announcing Mr Mubarak’s resignation on Friday, Vice-President Omar Suleiman said the president had handed power to the army.
Mr Suleiman said on state TV that the high command of the armed forces had taken over, a body composed of high-ranking generals and headed by Defence Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
“During these very difficult circumstances Egypt is going through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to step down from the office of president of the republic and has charged the high council of the armed forces to administer the affairs of the country,” he said.
“May God help everybody.”
After Mubarak’s resignation, a military spokesman appeared on state TV and promised the army would not act as a substitute to a “legitimate government acceptable to 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.
US diplomatic cables published by Wikileaks described Field Marshal Tantawi as “aged and change-resistant”, but committed to avoiding another war with Israel.
China warning
There was jubilation throughout the Middle East and North Africa, including in Tunisia, where people overthrew their own president last month.
President Obama described the Egyptian people as an inspiration to the world for carrying out a non-violent revolution, adding: “Egypt will never be the same again.”
The BBC’s Mark Mardell in Washington says that Egypt is a vital ally of America in the region and some are nervous about what change will mean.
But the message from the White House is that demonstrators represented a broad range of people not dominated by a single ideology, and that there is nothing to fear from democracy, our correspondent says.
A senior Israeli official expressed the hope that Mr Mubarak’s departure would “bring no change to its peaceful relations with Cairo”.
An official Chinese newspaper however has warned in an editorial that the situation could become “nightmarish” if stability is not restored.
“Social stability should be of overriding importance. Any political changes will be meaningless if the country falls prey to chaos in the end,” the China Daily newspaper said.
Source: BBC