Egypt president should resign, say expatriates

By Nour Abuzant
Staff Reporter

Waleed Abu Needa

Even as Egypt was rocked by protests for the fourth day yesterday, a cross-section of Egyptian expatriates expressed the view that President Hosni Mubarak should step down heeding popular demand.
"It would be better for Egypt if Mubarak steps down and a former military man takes his place,” Doha-based legal consultant Waleed Abu Needa, a former activist for human rights, told Gulf Times.
He was of the view that rooting out corruption in Egypt "is a long process that would take almost five years” but the most important of all is that the culture of fighting corruption should prevail regardless of the rulers.
While blaming the demonstrators for burning cars and damaging public properties, Abu Needa defended their rights to express frustration from the corruption, inflation and high unemployment rates.
"I think that Mohamed ElBeradei is not fitting to be Mubarak’s successor especially that he lives in Europe most of the time,” he said referring to the leading dissident, a Nobel laureate and former UN nuclear watchdog chief.
On bringing the corruptors to trial, Abu Needa said that "anyone who contributed to the mounting corruption or involved in political murders in our country should be held accountable without a minimum immunity.”
However, he believed the demonstrations currently in Egypt were "too limited” to topple  the regime of Husni Mubarak, who still enjoys the support of the army unlike the former Tunisian dictator. He expected that Cairo and surrounding districts would witness even larger numbers of protesters in the coming days to underscore a list of demands.
Abu Needa agreed that the demonstrators were inspired by the coup in Tunisia, but added that "what was enough to oust Bin Ali’s regime is not necessarily enough to have the same effect in Egypt”.
Other Egyptians who spoke to Gulf Times believed it was necessary to keep up the momentum "at least to create the coveted reforms in the country even without necessarily changing the leadership.”
An Egyptian said: "The protesters in Egyptian cities took to the streets seeking to fight the mounting corruption and looking for creating job opportunities for youths and if changing the regime is the only way to achieve that, so let it be.”
Another said he would be "too pleased to hear one morning that Mubarak is no more a president,” adding that "our country is rich of dedicated persons, who are sincerely keen to achieve welfare.”