Mubarak says he won’t seek reelection but will stay in office ‘for the next few months’

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, unable to calm a week of unrest and unprecedented protest against his government, announced Tuesday night that he would not seek reelection, but indicated he would remain in power “for the next few months.”

“I tell you in all sincerity that I did not intend to seek reelection,” Mubarak said in a national address on state television. “But I am keen to end my presidency in a manner that will enable whoever succeeds me to take over the country in a stable climate.”

Mubarak was not clear if he would stay in power until the September presidential election.

He blamed unnamed “political forces with private agendas” for exploiting what he deemed “legitimate demands” of the people for democratic reforms. He said the forces bent on creating chaos “threw oil on the fire.”

The president’s statement, coming hours after more than 200,000 protesters streamed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square, was the latest dramatic development as he maneuvered to stay in power amid demonstrations, international pressure to resign and an economy that has slid into turmoil. The decision may ease a bit of the public fury against him, but it was unlikely to stop calls for him to immediately step aside.

Earlier in the day, a special U.S. envoy and former ambassador to Egypt, Frank G. Wisner, met with Mubarak to deliver a message from Washington that he needed to resign and make way for a new government to take shape without him, according to Middle East experts who discussed the matter with the Obama administration. The sources said Wisner was rebuffed by Mubarak.

During a day billed by protesters as a million-strong march on Cairo, Army tanks and soldiers took positions across the city, but as on other days, there was little tension between the military and the protesters. Demonstrators at checkpoints helped troops examine identification cards of those flowing into the square. Voices blared from megaphones as the crowd chanted the Egyptian national anthem, while military helicopters buzzed overhead.

The Mubarak government in recent days has offered concessions, such as opening talks with opposition groups and reforming the constitution, but they have done little to placate a nationwide revolt calling for the president’s removal. There seems scant compromise between the government and the masses, while the military balances precariously between the two.

The unrest in Egypt has mesmerized the region. Some wonder whether Mubarak -- who for 30 years in power has skillfully crushed dissent -- might be forced to step down or risk pulling the nation into a prolonged crisis that could further damage its economy, most notably tourism. More than 120 people have died over the last week.

In harsh words aimed at Mubarak, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an increasingly pivotal figure in Middle Eastern affairs, said Tuesday: “No government can survive against the will of its people. The era of governments persisting on pressure and repression is over. … We are all passing and will be judged on what we leave behind.”

Protesters came from all ages and walks of life: high school students; workers, medical professionals, married couples and gray-bearded Islamists.

“Leave Mubarak,” they chanted. “We don’t want you.”

Ahmed Ali, a businessman in a gray suit, said he had come to the square because he was tired of government corruption. Ali, who imports marble from abroad, complained about the ritual of government bribes he must pay every time he goes to the airport to pick up goods.

“I have to pay them money at the airport because their salaries are so low,” he said. “The government pushes them to demand kickbacks.”

Mohammed, a 22-year-old tennis coach dressed in a blue track suit, had come even after being caught up a week ago in clashes with police who raided a mosque where he was praying.

“We can’t find work. We have problems with bread, problems with electricity,” he said. “Our biggest problem is to get Mubarak to go away.”

The huge crowd descended on the square after protest organizers called for a million compatriots to flood the streets.

Egyptian authorities shut down Internet traffic and cellphone service ahead of the protest, in the apparent hope that it would prevent demonstrators from coming to the square.

Al Arabiya reported that authorities had blocked the road between the cities of Suez and Cairo to stymie the flow of protesters. The ruling National Democratic Party also has called for a counter-demonstration in support of Mubarak. Meanwhile, a coalition of Egyptian human-rights groups has issued a call for Mubarak to step down.

Crowds inside the key expanse at the heart of the Egyptian capital have been growing day after day since Saturday, when security forces stopped trying to halt demonstrators from gathering in the square.

Tuesday’s new arrivals seemed to energize protesters who had spent another chilly night in the plaza, and the crowd broke into a full-bodied roar of “Down, Mubarak, down!”

Sparked by the popular protests that overthrew Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali on Jan. 14, huge numbers of Egyptians have revolted against Mubarak, his allies in the security forces and his National Democratic Party.

The protesters demand an end to what they describe as a repressive, incompetent and corrupt regime that has failed to improve the lives of ordinary people while restricting civil liberties and violating human rights. Though leaderless, they appear to have coalesced around Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and former secretary general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings have galvanized the Arab world. Protests have erupted in Jordan, Yemen, Algeria and Lebanon. There have been calls for fresh protests in Yemen on Thursday and Syria on Saturday. Even Iran’s dormant opposition “green movement” has begun stirring back to life.

“Everyone knows that what is happening in Egypt is shaping the future of the Arab world,” commentator Rafiq Khouri wrote Tuesday in the Lebanese daily Al Anwar. “If democracy prevails in Egypt, there will be no dictatorial rule in the Arab world.”

But the unrest, sparked in part by economic grievances, for now has stifled the economy of Egypt and caused volatile shifts in equity and commodity prices worldwide. Tourists, a mainstay of Egypt’s economy, have flooded Cairo’s airport, struggling to leave the country. Looters and bandits, some with suspected ties to Mubarak’s security forces, have wrought havoc throughout the country, spurring ordinary Egyptians to set up makeshift, round-the-clock checkpoints in their neighborhoods.

The unrest also has worried Israel. The staunch U.S. strategic ally shares a border with Egypt, which is among the few Arab countries that has a peace treaty with Israel. Egypt also plays a critical role in stemming the flow of weapons into the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the militant group Hamas. On Monday night, three rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel, according to Israeli media.

Media outlets in Israel have dispatched reporters to Egypt. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced worries late Monday that radical Islamists could fill any power vacuum should Mubarak’s regime collapse.

Over the last two days, the crowd in the square was drawn from all walks of life, including secular middle-class professionals and pious Muslims of modest means. But the bearded, religious element has become more visible, and dawn brought a long audio burst of Koranic verses. After being caught off guard by the protests, the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group and one of the cornerstones of political Islam in the Middle East, has thrown its support behind the movement and endorsed ElBaradei as a transitional figure.

Some suspect a ploy.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is using ElBaradei,” analyst Yoni Ben-Menahem told Israeli radio. “They are allowing him to negotiate, and the world is impressed to see the Nobel laureate.”

But others, including in Israel, noted that the brotherhood lacked a charismatic leader, has been decimated by the Egyptian security forces, discredited politically and also has moderated its politics in recent years.

Among those streaming toward Tahrir Square, there was a sense of anticipation, with an overlay of anxiety.

“The government has made many mistakes,” said Ali Ramadan, a 54-year-old flower seller. “We pray to God that all will be well.”

jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com

ned.parker@latimes.com

Times staff writers Laura King in Cairo and Borzou Daragahi in Beirut, and Batsheva Sobelman in the Los Angeles Times’ Jerusalem bureau, contributed to this report.