Obama and world leaders call for a transition in Egypt

AFP- The United States called Sunday for an "orderly transition" to a new government in Egypt but stopped short of demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down as protests engulf his regime.
             
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hammered home the US position with appearances on five cable news shows and President Barack Obama had used the same language in telephone calls to regional leaders, the White House said.
             
Mubarak has appointed military intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as his first ever vice president and named a new premier to try to assuage his people's thirst for political change, but Clinton said he must go further.
             
"That is the beginning, the bare beginning of what needs to happen, which is a process that leads to the kind of concrete steps to achieve democratic and economic reform that we've been urging," she told ABC News.
             

By Guillaume MEYER, Washington correspondent

As the anti-government revolt raged into a sixth day with opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei addressing protesters in Cairo, Clinton said the Egyptian people should be allowed to pursue "real democracy" through "national dialogue."
             
The Obama administration has performed a delicate balancing act over the past week, backing reform but at the same time refusing to cut off vital support for Mubarak's regime.
             
"There is no discussion as of this time about cutting off any aid," Clinton said, rowing back on earlier suggestions that Washington was reviewing $1.3 billion of annual military funding.
             
The White House issued a statement saying that Obama had telephoned the leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Saturday to discuss the crisis and ask for their assessment of the situation.
             
"During his calls, the president reiterated his focus on opposing violence and calling for restraint; supporting universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly, association, and speech; and supporting an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people," the statement said.
             
Obama spoke on Sunday with British Prime Minister David Cameron, whose office issued more details about their conversation.
             
"The prime minister and president Obama were united in their view that Egypt now needed a comprehensive process of political reform, with an orderly, Egyptian-led transition leading to a government that responded to the grievances of the Egyptian people and to their aspirations for a democratic future," a statement said.
             
The Obama administration has taken flak from critics who accuse it of being more concerned about protecting a key regional security ally than in supporting an oppressed people's pleas for democracy.
             
Clinton betrayed US concern that Islamists might fill the power vacuum when she told journalists on board a plane for Haiti that Washington did not want to see a new regime that would "foment violence or chaos" in the region.
             
Egypt has been a cornerstone of Arab-Israeli peace and a fulcrum of US Middle East policy for decades, and Mubarak has been a steadfast partner in Washington's global anti-terror campaign and efforts to contain Iran.
             
"We want to recognize: Egypt has been our partner," Clinton told Fox News Sunday. "They've been our partner in a peace process that has kept the region from war for over 30 years, which has saved a lot of lives."
             
ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning former head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, who told a sea of protesters in Cairo on Sunday that a new era was beginning, hit out at the United States for continuing to sit on the fence.
             
"The American government cannot ask the Egyptian people to believe that a dictator who has been in power for 30 years will be the one to implement  democracy," he told CBS from Cairo.
             
"You are losing credibility by the day. On one hand you're talking about democracy, rule of law and human rights, and on the other hand you're lending still your support to a dictator that continues to oppress his people."
             
The United States, like a raft of other countries, has authorized the departure of embassy families and advised its nationals to avoid travel to Egypt.
             
With fears of insecurity rising and a death toll of at least 125, thousands of convicts broke out of prisons across Egypt overnight, fueling the country's state of lawlessness.

Protest graffiti on the streets of Cairo "Go away, Suzanne, Hosni has fallen" Outside the ruling party's (PDN) headquarters, demonstrators tagged the walls sending a message to the first lady: "Go away, Suzanne, Hosni has fallen". (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) "Down with Mubarak the collaborator" Demonstrators blame Mubarak for his allegiance to US and Israel, "Down with Mubarak the collaborator”. (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) "No to the corrupt party" Inscription on a torched police vehicle abandoned outside the ruling NDP's headquarters. (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) "Judgment and justice" 'They will not escape of the country'. 'We demand judgment and justice'. (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) 'Down with Mubarak' "Down Mubarak." The outer walls of the National Museum in Cairo The Egyptian Museum's outer walls have also been tagged. (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) 'The army is with us' Days after the protests, Egyptians use city walls to express themselves--even on armoured tanks. (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) 'No to rampage' A police vehicle sits abandoned and wrecked in front of the Egyptian Museum marked. (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) 'We are all against the regime' The Islamic crescent and the Christian cross represented side by side. (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) 'Revolution until death' (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo) 'Until the end of tyranny' (Photo credit : Marc Daou, special correspondent in Cairo)