MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US and Egyptian officials discussing transition plan without Mubarak

Mubarak: “I would never run away. I will die on Egyptian soil”

United States and Egyptian officials are discussing a plan that would see embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak step down immediately, according to a published report.

The New York Times reported Thursday that the plan would see a transitional government led by Vice-President Omar Suleiman brought in with the backing of Egypt's military.

The Times cited unnamed U.S. government officials and Arab diplomats in its report.

Mubarak's immediate departure is just one of several proposals under discussion, The Times said. The newspaper reported that officials said there are no indications Suleiman or the Egyptian military are prepared to stop supporting Mubarak.

“I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go,” Mubarak said in a 20-minute interview with ABC's Christiane Amanpour Thursday at the presidential palace in Cairo.

Mubarak told Amanpour that during a phone conversation earlier this week with U.S. President Barack Obama, he told Obama, “'You don’t understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now?'”

However Mubarak vowed never to leave Egypt, saying: ”I would never run away from this country. I will die on this soil“. Asked how he himself was feeling, he said: ”I am feeling strong. I would never run away. I will die on Egyptian soil.“

At the centre of deadly anti-government protests that are in their 10th day are demands that Mubarak resign immediately. Mubarak had said on Monday night in a speech to the nation that he won't step down before elections in September.

Meanwhile, Monir Abdel Nour, secretary general of the Wafd opposition party in Egypt, is calling Mubarak a ”dead man walking.“

In an interview with CBC's As it Happens Thursday, Nour said he boycotted talks with the government Thursday, because of the ”massacre“ he saw on the streets of Cairo Wednesday. He predicts that if demonstrations continue like they have been, a coup d'etat is inevitable.

Vice-President Suleiman said on state television on Thursday that elections must wait until September because the government needs time to talk to different political parties, and put judicial and constitutional reforms in place.

Suleiman also said that Mubarak's son will not attempt to succeed his father. Gamal Mubarak had long been expected to succeed his father, something widely opposed by Egyptians.

Gunfire and clashes continued in the evening around Cairo's Tahrir Square, with reports of arson and looting around the capital. Gangs supporting the president attacked reporters, foreigners and human rights workers, and the army has rounded up foreign journalists.

Mubarak supporters and opponents have been fighting for more than 24 hours. At least eight people have been killed since the clashes erupted Wednesday afternoon.

On the international front, a joint statement Thursday from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero urged an immediate ”quick and orderly transition to a broad-based government.“

Merkel also insisted that Mubarak's government put a stop to attacks against anti-government protesters and journalists.

In a separate development, the public prosecutor issued a travel ban on three former ministers and a senior member of the ruling party, among them the unpopular former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly.

Correspondents say these legal measures against some of the most powerful people in the country are confirmation of a deep split within the ruling elite.

The public prosecutor's statement said other officials were covered by the ban, which would last ”until national security is restored and the authorities and monitoring bodies have undergone their investigations”.

Unrest has left about 300 people dead across the country over the past 10 days, according to UN estimates.

If Mr Mubarak does not step down, demonstrators have planned to march on the presidential palace on Friday.