Mubarak steps down, army takes over

Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak stepped down today and asked the army to run the country, Vice-President Omar Suleiman announced.

The vice-president’s brief statement on national television came a day after Mubarak said he would not resign.

The news of his departure was greeted with jubilation by more than 1 million people gathered in in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

The president and his family had earlier left the presidential palace in Cairo for the Red Sea Resort of Sharm el-Sheihh.

The man who held onto power for 30 years and survived six assassination attempts was ultimately forced to bow to his people’s demands for change.

Mubarak, 82, stepped down today after 18 days of uninterrupted anti-government protests, the biggest in over a generation.

Mubarak dodged many bullets in the past, but the voice of the people proved too much.

Six times assassins tried to kill him. Wars raged on his doorstep. Neighbours bombed his country. His government almost went bankrupt.

Activists have repeatedly cursed him on the streets.

Yet Mohammed Hosny Said Mubarak always managed to survive.

Most Egyptians were not yet born when gunmen killed his predecessor, Anwar Sadat in 1981. Mubarak, then vice-president, was metres away from Sadat, and was shot in the hand. He was sworn in as president eight days later on Oct 14, 1981.

Emergency rule, which has allowed the state sweeping powers of arrest and surveillance, has often been invoked. Mubarak renewed it repeatedly, using the broad powers it bestows to detain thousands of opponents.

Mubarak was born in a small village in the Nile Delta province of al-Menoufiya on May 4, 1928. He is married to Suzanne, and the couple has two sons - Gamal, who was being groomed to take over the presidency - and Alaa.

Distinguished fighter pilot

His biographers say Mubarak stood out because of his seriousness and his skill at football before he joined the military academy.

He also distinguished himself as a fighter pilot, and quickly rose through the military to become chief of staff of the Egyptian Air Force and deputy defence minister in 1969, then vice-president in 1975. His biographers say he rose by virtue of his hard work and his apparent lack of political ambition.

Throughout his presidency, Mubarak’s rule had been defined by an overt dedication to peace and stability - often at the cost of short-term domestic support.

When Israeli soldiers used lethal force to put an end to the Palestinian uprising on Egypt's borders in 2000, many on the streets of Egypt clamoured for war.

“Mr President,” a young interviewer on state television cautiously asked him at the time, “some people are saying Egypt should go to war ...”

Mubarak cut him off. “How old are you?” he asked. The presenter, reddening, said he was not yet 35.

“You were still soiling your diapers when we liberated Sinai,” Mubarak retorted, with characteristic bluntness. “What do you know of war?”

His commitment to stability informed his policies during the 1991 Gulf War, the Palestinian uprising of 2000, the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, Israel’s 2006 war in Lebanon and Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip in January 2009.

Holding to course set by Sadat

In each crisis, protesters took to the streets, and Egypt’s foreign policy came in for criticism at home and in the region.

But Mubarak held to the course Sadat had set by signing a peace agreement with Israel and aligning Egypt with the United States in the last years of the Cold War.

Under his presidency, the economy grew, life-expectancy was extended and adult literacy rates improved.

However, much of the new wealth pouring into Egypt did not trickle down to most of the population, 40 per cent of whom still live on US$2 or less a day.

Mubarak inherited a political system that left little room for dissent.

He also inherited an uneasy relationship with the Arab world’s oldest Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

Throughout Mubarak’s rule, his government conducted an intricate dance with the group, banned in Egypt since 1954.

In an address to the nation on Feb 1, Mubarak said: "History will judge me like it did others."

He had wanted to remain in power until his term of office expired in September, saying he would use the time “to ensure the peaceful transfer of power.”

"I don't care what people say about me," he told a television interviewer as protesters hurled insults at him. "Right now I care about my country, I care about Egypt."

Cairo's streets explode in jubilation

Engage Muslim Brotherhood, Anwar tells US

- dpa