New dawn for Egypt as Mubarak toppled

GEO
CAIRO: Thousands of Egyptians were still singing and waving flags as dawn broke over a nation reborn on Saturday, after a popular uprising forced president Hosni Mubarak from power.

The streets and squares of downtown Cairo were still in the hands of the mostly young demonstrators whose determined 18-day revolt overturned 30 years of autocratic rule and triggered an outpouring of national solidarity.

But political power now rests with the military commanders who stepped into the vacuum left by Mubarak's departure, and many people were anxiously waiting to see whether they will make good their promise to respect the popular will.

In Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the revolt, many of the anti-regime protesters who had occupied the city's vast central plaza since January 28 were still sleeping in makeshift shelters, now joined by exhausted wellwishers.

"It's party time! We are born again," declared 40-year-old agricultural engineer Osama Saadallah. "We were behind other countries, now we are worth something in the eyes of others, of the Arab world."

The army began moving tanks to the sides of roads leading into the central square and dragging away the metal barriers, barbed wire and burned wrecks of cars that had served as a cordon during the revolt.

The Cairo press, including state-run titles that had initially dismissed the uprising or charged that it was being fomented by foreigners, hailed the "Revolution of the Youth."

But if Egypt's revolution is indeed to serve as an example to the region, as Tunisia's revolt inspired Egypt, much will depend on the stance of the junta that stepped into the breach when Mubarak's nerve broke.

Headed by a longtime Mubarak loyalist, 75-year-old Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was expected to make a statement about its plans to form a transitional government.

So far, it has given little clue as to the direction it will take. In its "Statement Number Three" since announcing that it was taking charge, it said simply that it would respect the mood of the newly energised street.

The council "will issue further statements that will announce forthcoming steps, measures and arrangements, and it affirms at the same time that it is not a replacement for the legitimacy that is acceptable to the people."

If the generals go back on their word, the protests could start again.

"We're waiting for a new statement from the army," said Mohammed Rida, a 26-year-old activist. "We don't want to be ruled by the military. We want a coalition government with experienced figures."

In the euphoric atmosphere -- all night Egyptians had drummed, sang and danced, firing jets of flame from aerosol bottles -- it was hard to believe the news had broken just hours earlier.

A grim-faced Vice President Omar Suleiman announced the handover on state television late Friday after more than a million furious marchers took to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, Port Said and beyond.