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An Egyptian boy cries with emotion as he and others celebrate the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
AP PHOTO
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday welcomed the peaceful transition of power in Egypt with the resignation of longtime President Hosni Mubarak. “The people of Egypt have spoken. Their voices have been heard. And Egypt will never be the same,” he declared.
In brief remarks in the Grand Foyer of the White House, the president noted that it was “not the end of Egypt’s transition, it’s a beginning.” He said that many important questions remain to be resolved and difficult times lie ahead.
“I’m confident the people of Egypt can find the answers,” Obama said. He spoke hours after Mubarak stepped aside, turning authority over to the military.
But mixed with the messages of hope from the U.S. and other nations were expressions of concern for the future of a critical partner in the Middle East peace process — and guilt over the close partnership that many countries in the West shared with Mubarak’s regime.
Some European and U.S. officials have expressed concern that instability in Egypt could throw the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians into chaos — and provide an opening for Islamist forces such as Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. Many are also worried that the military takeover may not necessarily spell an end to the rights abuses perpetuated during Mubarak’s nearly three decades in power.
Said Obama: “Egyptians have inspired us, and they’ve done so by putting the lie to the idea that justice is best gained by violence.”
“For Egypt, it was the moral force of nonviolence, not terrorism, not mindless killing, but nonviolence, moral force, that bent the arc of history toward justice.”
Obama singled out the military for praise, saying it helpfully as a “caretaker” in defusing the situation and securing the country.
“We saw a military that would not fire bullets at the people they were sworn to protect,” he said. But, he added a note of warning. The military, he said, will have to “ensure a transition that is credible in the eyes of the Egyptian people.”
Obama said that means lifting Egypt’s hated 30-year-old police powers laws, revising the constitution and enacting other safeguards to “make this change irreversible” and set the path for free and fair elections.
The president began his remarks by noting that “President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people’s hunger for change.” That was the only time he mentioned the resigned president.
Obama said he is confident that a democratic Egypt can assert its role as an influential player in the Mideast and beyond.
Fireworks and celebratory gunfire rang out in Tunisia and Lebanon, South Africans recalled Nelson Mandela’s euphoric release from prison and two words — “Congrats Egypt” — dominated social media sites as the world cheered the ouster of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak.
European officials on Friday saluted the resilience of the demonstrators in Cairo — who mobbed the capital for 18 days to demand their rights despite attacks from pro-government thugs — and pledged assistance to help Egypt transition to democracy.
“In their eyes, you can see what power freedom can have,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said of the protesters, adding that, by stepping down, Mubarak had rendered “a last service to the Egyptian people.” Merkel herself had lived under another autocratic regime, growing up behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany.
Merkel also sounded a cautionary note, expressing hope that whoever comes to power works to “uphold peace in the Middle East and respect the treaties concluded with Israel.”
Whatever the uncertainty, euphoria ruled the streets. In Tunisia, whose people-powered revolution pushed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile just last month and sparked the Egyptian protests, cries of joy and a thunderous honking of horns greeted the news that Mubarak had stepped down.
In Beirut, fireworks and celebratory gunfire erupted over the capital only moments after Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement that Mubarak had handed power over to the military.