CAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak sacked Egypt's government and vowed to bring in democratic and economic reforms, in a televised address early on Saturday after deadly anti-regime protests. "I have asked the government to resign and tomorrow there will be a new government," a stoney-faced Mubarak said after four days of protests demanding his resignation in which at least 27 people have been killed.
He vowed to pursue economic and political reforms.
"We will not backtrack on reforms. We will continue with new steps which will ensure the independence of the judiciary and its rulings, and more freedom for citizens," Mubarak said.
New steps will be taken "to contain unemployment, raise living standards, improve services and stand by the poor."
Mubarak, in power for three decades, vowed to bring in "new measures" for democracy and justice without giving any indication of other major changes, even as protests raged in Cairo and other cities despite a night-time curfew.
Obama urges reform
US President Barack Obama on Friday called on Mubarak to take concrete steps towards political reform, and to refrain from using violence against protesters.
"I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters," Obama said in a statement shortly after speaking with Mubarak by telephone for 30 minutes.
"The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association. The right to free speech and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights."
Obama said he told Mubarak to deliver on promises made in a speech to the Egyptian people to introduce democratic and economic reforms.
"I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words. To take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise," Obama said.
- AFP/fa
