friday of departure

WASHINGTON, Feb 7, 2011 (AFP)
US President Barack Obama said Monday he believed there was progress in Egypt a day after Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met with opposition groups to appease an anti-government revolt.

"Obviously, Egypt has to negotiate a path and they're making progress," he told journalists after addressing the US Chamber of Commerce.

On Sunday, Suleiman -- key lieutenant and possible successor to beleaguered President Hosni Mubarak -- invited several opposition groups to join him on a panel to pilot democratic reform.

But the demonstrators were unimpressed and vowed to maintain their two-week vigil in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

Opposition parties, including the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, repeated their demand that Mubarak himself must stand down or immediately delegate his powers to Suleiman.

At the White House, Obama's spokesmsan Robert Gibbs stressed that the United States will be a partner to a new Egypt but its future leadership will need to "uphold" existing treaties, in apparent reference to that country's peace deal with Israel.

Washington "will be a partner" to an Egyptian government "we would expect that that partner would uphold particularly the treaties and the obligations that the government of Egypt, and ultimately the people of Egypt, have entered into."

The spokesman was responding to a question about the possible participation of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood in the transition to a new Egyptian government.

Gibbs said, however, that the Obama administration has not been in contact with the Muslim Brotherhood, noting significant disagreements with the powerful Islamist movement that has long been officially banned from Egyptian politics.

"We have many disagreements with the rhetoric of some of the leaders in that organization."

Some Western observers have expressed concern the Brotherhood could sweep to power and institute an Islamist regime that would be no more democratic and might break Egypt's close alliance with Washington.

There are also worries, particularly in Israel, that under the Brotherhood Egypt could adopt a much more hostile stance towards the Jewish state, even tearing up their 1979 peace treaty, signed after four wars.

Mubarak has been a key diplomatic figure in regional diplomacy in his three decades in power, mediating between the Israelis and the rest of the Arab world, and the Palestinians in particular.

The longtime leader has refused to immediately step down but announced last week he would not seek re-election.

Mubarak's announcement was quickly rejected by the Muslim Brotherhood, which rejected his offer to leave after his mandate ends in September.

Muslim Brotherhood says won't bid for presidency in Egypt
Topic: Clashes in Egypt
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Riots in EgyptRiots in Egypt

Riots in Egypt
© REUTERS/ Goran Tomasevic

Riots in Egypt
© RIA Novosti. Andrei Stenin
10:53 04/02/2011



Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood movement has no plans to put forward a candidate to stand in presidential elections set for September, spokesman Mohammed al-Beltagi told the Al Jazeera TV channel on Friday.

"We have said clearly that we have no ambitions to run for the presidency, or posts in a coalition government," he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been under the spotlight amid mass anti-government protests in Egypt, which broke out on January 25. The disorder has already claimed the lives of up to 300 people, with another 4,000 reported injured. A number of observers have voiced concern that the banned Islamic movement could eventually take power in Egypt.

Saying that government representatives had invited the Muslim Brotherhood to talks on political reform, al-Beltagi hinted that the group would receive official recognition as a party.

"We are ready to negotiate after [the end of] the [president Hosni] Mubarak regime," al-Beltagi said.

The deeply conservative Islamic movement, which wants to move Egypt from secularism and return to the rules of the Quran, failed to win a single seat in the 2010 Egyptian parliamentary elections.

MOSCOW, February 4 (RIA Novosti)
Suleiman Transition Talks With Egypt Opposition Win Clinton's Endorsement
By Ola Galal, Mariam Fam and Alaa Shahine - Feb 5, 2011

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman met with opposition leaders to discuss how to transition power away from President Hosni Mubarak before elections in September, a process backed by the White House and allies.

As the Wafd and Tagammu parties met Suleiman yesterday in Cairo, Mubarak’s son resigned as head of the ruling National Democratic Party. Gamal Mubarak’s leadership of the party’s policy committee was taken by Hossam Badrawi, who also replaced Safwat el-Sherif as secretary-general, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.

Suleiman will name today a committee of 25 people to prepare constitutional amendments, the state-run Al Ahram newspaper reported, citing Nabil Zaki, spokesman for the Tagammu party. Egyptian opposition groups say they want the government to ease constitutional curbs that make it difficult for independents to run for president.

The U.S. administration voiced support and kept up the pressure.

“It’s important to support the transition process announced by the Egyptian government, actually headed now by Vice President Omar Suleiman,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a speech at a security conference in Munich.

Vice President Joe Biden, in a telephone call with Suleiman yesterday, “stressed the need for a concrete reform agenda, a clear timeline and immediate steps that demonstrate to the public and the opposition that the Egyptian government is committed to reform,” according to a White House statement.

Obama Calling

In Washington, President Barack Obama telephoned leaders including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister David Cameron of the U.K. and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, according to a White House statement.

Last week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate start to the transition and the EU issued a statement calling on the Mubarak government to enter “serious and open dialogue” with the opposition. A reformed political order “needs to start now,” Cameron said in Munich, adding that the choice of a new leader was up to Egypt.

Demonstrations continued in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square yesterday for a 12th day. The army cordoned off the historic site with barbed wire, allowing only Egyptian citizens and journalists inside.

The orderly scene contrasted with rallies Feb. 2 and Feb. 3 when Mubarak supporters clashed violently with protesters, resulting in 11 deaths, according to official Egyptian figures.

Suez Security

Meanwhile, Egypt tightened security along the Suez Canal, based on information that members of Hamas and Hezbollah infiltrated the country, the state-run Al Ahram newspaper reported, citing an unnamed security official. The Islamic militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah are classified as terrorist organizations by the U.S.

Egypt’s banks planned to open today for the first time in more than a week, the central bank announced.

Yields on Egypt’s treasury bills may surge about a third, said Shahinaz Foda, head of treasury at BNP Paribas Egypt. The country plans to auction 11 billion Egyptian pounds ($1.9 billion) this week in T-bills. Credit Agricole CIB expects the pound to slump 20 percent in the short term.

With the violence ebbing, oil prices fell on Friday. Egyptian credit-default swaps also fell, indicating a declining risk of default, as Finance Minister Samir Radwan said the country would honor its obligations.

Bourse Closed

While banks are opening, Egypt’s stock market will remain closed today, Hisham Turk, communications manager at the exchange, said by telephone in Cairo yesterday. It may open during the week, he said.

Egypt’s courts are also to resume business today, Al Arabiya television reported, citing the Justice Ministry. Railways are now working normally after being halted due to the demonstrations, Egyptian state television reported.

A transition that would have Mubarak give up his power to Suleiman, 74, who has run Egypt’s intelligence service since 1993, would avoid dealing with complex provisions of the Egyptian constitution that likely would take months to change.

Among possible steps Suleiman discussed with military leaders was moving Mubarak to his home in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the New York Times reported, citing unidentified Egyptian and American officials. Germany would admit Mubarak for medical treatment, Bild am Sonntag reported, citing government sources the newspaper didn’t identify. Mubarak had surgery in Germany last year.

‘Rigged Parliament’

The opposition Wafd party was in talks with Suleiman “to pave the way for a peaceful power transition as fast as possible,” party spokesman Mohamed Sherdy said. Wafd also “wants to see the current parliament dissolved,” he said. “This is a rigged parliament.”

Tagammu party head Refaat El-Saeed also met with the vice president, party spokesman Nabil Zaki said. Suleiman told El- Saeed that the Egyptian government planned to issue a statement tomorrow to pledge carrying out constitutional amendments and to form a 25-member committee to draft potential constitutional changes, Zaki said in a telephone interview.

The prospect of a disruption to shipments through the Suez Canal sent North Sea Brent above $100 a barrel for the first time since October 2008 last week. Brent crude dropped $1.90 to $99.86 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London as of 5:19 p.m. local time Feb. 4.

Pipeline Explosion

An Egyptian pipeline that carries natural gas to Israel exploded in the northern Sinai desert, the Middle East News Agency reported. It said that “subversive elements” were behind the explosion. Earlier, the oil ministry reported that it was caused by a gas leak. Repairs to the pipeline, which carries gas to Israel and Jordan, may take two weeks, according to the Oil Ministry.

Concern that turmoil in Egypt would spread sent the Dubai Financial Market General Index down 4.3 percent on Jan. 30. Since then, the index has recovered and closed on Feb. 3 at 1581.01, down 2 percent from 1612.63 on Jan. 27.

Other Arab countries have been gripped by spreading instability in the Middle East. In Yemen, police used tear gas against anti-government protests Feb. 3, and Jordan sacked its government this week. Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Feb. 3 that a 19-year-old state of emergency will be lifted “in the very near future.” The protests began in Tunisia, where President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from office last month after two decades in power.

‘Strategic Necessity’

Clinton said in Munich that governments in the Middle East must make the transition to openness and democracy “a strategic necessity,” warning that “all of our interests will be at risk” if they don’t.

The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that as many as 2,000 people have been injured over the past few days, and some reports put the number as high as 5,000.

Radwan, the finance minister, said the North African nation would meet all its debt commitments. “We are not defaulting on any obligations,” he said yesterday by phone in Cairo.

The cost of insuring Egypt’s debt for five years with credit-default swaps fell 14 basis points to 365 after hitting 430 on Jan. 28, the highest since April 2009, CMA prices in London show. The contracts remain 62 basis points higher than before thousands of protesters took to the streets Jan. 25.
Jumat, 04/02/2011 11:30 WIB
Demo Besar di Mesir Usai Salat Jumat, WNI Dievakuasi ke Posko di Kairo
Indra Subagja - detikNews



Jakarta - Demo besar di Mesir diperkirakan akan dilakukan usai Salat Jumat. Kabar ini sudah menyebar di seantero Mesir, demikian pula di media setempat. KBRI di Kairo pun melakukan antisipasi. Warga yang rentan seperti mahasiswi dan anak-anak dibawa ke posko di Kairo.

"Informasinya setelah salat Jumat," kata Atase Penerangan KBRI di Kairo, Ali Andika saat dihubungi detikcom, Jumat (4/2/2011). Perbedaan waktu Indonesia dan Mesir, Jakarta lebih cepat 5 jam.

KBRI mencoba mengeluarkan WNI dari kota-kota di sekitar Kairo, yang berjarak 20-30 km, untuk diamankan di posko di Kairo.

"Saat ini sudah ada rombongan dari Kota Alexandria, ada 24 mahasiswi dan keluarganya yang kita evakuasi," imbuhnya.

Selanjutnya, setelah dibawa dari kota-kota di luar Kairo, akan dibawa dengan menggunakan pesawat, dievakuasi ke Indonesia.

"Pengamatan kami, demonstrasi besar terpusat di satu titik, tidak meluas. KBRI masih tetap mengimbau warga negaranya tidak mendekati unjuk rasa di Kairo, di Lapangan Tahrir. Kita tidak ingin warga kita terkena dampak, alhamdulillah warga kita mematuhi imbauan," terangnya.

Untuk evakuasi, KBRI menggunakan kendaraan-kendaraan sewa dan kendaraan KBRI. "Kami khawatir kondisi memanas, dan melakukan antisipasi. Kita utamakan ibu-ibu dan anak-anak," imbuhnya.

Sementara itu, saat ini, meski di sejumlah titik relatif tenang. Warga Mesir di malam hari melakukan pengamanan swakarsa di lingkungan masing-masing.

"Masyarakat ronda mengamankan lingkungannya," tutupnya.

(ndr/fay)
Mubarak says resigning would bring chaos


By Jonathan Wright and Marwa Awad

CAIRO | Thu Feb 3, 2011 5:49pm EST

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Hosni Mubarak said on Thursday he wanted to quit but that he feared his resignation would bring chaos to Egypt, as protesters demanding an end to his 30-year rule clashed with his supporters on Cairo's streets.

Mubarak's government has struggled to regain control of a nation angry about poverty, recession and political repression, inviting Islamist opponents to talks and apologizing for bloodshed in Cairo that left 10 people dead.

A bloody confrontation gripped central Cairo where armed government loyalists fought pro-democracy demonstrators on Thursday in an uprising which is reshaping the modern history of this key U.S. ally and the Arab world's most populous nation.

"I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go," Mubarak, 82, who remains inside his heavily guarded palace in Cairo, said in an interview with ABC.

"If I resign today, there will be chaos," he added. Asked to comment on calls for him to resign, he said: "I don't care what people say about me. Right now I care about my country."

Protesters, who numbered some 10,000 in Tahrir (Liberation) Square during the day, prepared to defy a curfew and sleep there ahead of a big demonstration they are calling the "Friday of Departure" to mark last week's bloody "Day of Wrath" protest.

In a move to try to calm the disorder, Vice President Omar Suleiman said on Thursday the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's most organized opposition movement, had been invited to meet with the new government as part of a national dialogue with all parties.

An offer to talk to the banned group would have been unthinkable before protests erupted on January 25, indicating the giant strides made by the reformist movement since then. But scenting victory, they have refused talks until Mubarak goes.

ARMY ROLE CRITICAL

Protesters in Tahrir Square, dominated now by a youthful hard core including secular middle-class graduates and mostly poorer Islamist activists from the Brotherhood, barely listened, saying the concessions were too little and too late.

"Suleiman has not listened to the people's needs. We want Mubarak to leave immediately, not to stick around for another six months," said Mohamed Anis, 29, who works at the bourse.

"We have refused dialogue and negotiation with Suleiman until Mubarak steps down," he added.

Opposition leaders including the liberal figurehead Mohamed ElBaradei and the Muslim Brotherhood said again that Mubarak, who wants to stay on until September elections, must go before they would negotiate with the government.

The overture came after new Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq apologized for the violence and the breakdown in law and order. Shafiq said he did not know who was responsible for the bloodshed, blamed by protesters on undercover police.

United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said up to 300 people may have died in the bloody uprising.

Egypt's Mubarak Says He Won't Bow to Demands to Quit
By Ahmed A. Namatalla, Alaa Shahine and Caroline Alexander - Feb 3, 2011

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman asked protesters demanding the end of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime to go home, after opposition groups rejected talks with the government and held a 10th day of demonstrations.

“I say to the young people, we thank you for what you did, you are the flame that ignited reform,” Suleiman said in an interview broadcast live on state television late today. “The state has heeded all the demands that were made, please give a chance to the state to carry out its duty.”

Mubarak, in an interview on ABC News, rejected demands that he step down immediately. He said he was “fed up” with his job but feared “there will be chaos” if he quit, according to a summary posted on ABC’s website.

While Egypt’s stock market remains closed, crude oil has risen 3.7 percent since Jan. 24 to $91.15 a barrel in New York and in Dubai the benchmark index was down 0.9 percent on the continued violence.

Clashes between pro- and anti-Mubarak demonstrators continued in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square. Journalists, human rights activists and aid workers were attacked by pro-government mobs.

Foreigners continued to flee the country, costing Egypt at least $1 billion in tourist dollars, Suleiman said, urging the protesters to allow order to return and a political transition to begin.

Opposition groups rejected any deal before the removal from office of Mubarak, who told ABC News his premature departure would usher into power the Muslim Brotherhood.

In Washington, President Barack Obama’s spokesman condemned the targeting of journalists for attack and detentions today and said the Egyptian government must ensure the rights of its citizens to protest peacefully.

‘World is Watching’

Mubarak, in an interview with ABC News correspondent Christiane Amanpour, said today he told President Barack Obama that the U.S. doesn’t “understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now,” according to an ABC News account of the interview on its website.

The Egyptian leader, who has been in power for nearly 30 years, said he was “fed up with being president” and “never intended to run again. I never intended Gamal to be president after me,” ABC News quoted him as saying. Gamal Mubarak is the president’s son, who was widely seen by Egyptians and U.S. diplomats as being groomed to succeed his father.

“The world is watching the actions that are taking place right now in Egypt,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters traveling with the president to an event in Pennsylvania. The Egyptian government must make good on its promise to hold accountable those responsible for attacks on demonstrators, he said.

800 Injured

Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik told reporters today that some Mubarak supporters instigated the clashes in the square yesterday, in which more than 800 were injured, and that those responsible would be prosecuted. He heads a new Cabinet appointed by Mubarak in the past week as the president sought to placate protesters calling for his resignation.

The political turmoil that has engulfed the Middle East spread to Yemen, where thousands of demonstrators gathered today in the capital and police used tear gas in the port city of Aden. European leaders called for a quick transition toward democracy in Egypt, the most populous Arab country and a key ally of the U.S. and Israel. Persian Gulf shares fell, oil prices rose and Fitch lowered its rating on Egyptian debt. The unrest continued in downtown Cairo as night fell.

Egypt’s stock market, closed since Jan. 27 after a 16 percent plunge in the benchmark index last week, is provisionally due to resume trading Feb. 7, a day after banks are scheduled to reopen. The bourse said it may impose limits to prevent price fluctuations, and curtail trading sessions.

Markets React

Dubai’s benchmark share index dropped 0.9 percent at the close of trading, and the cost of insuring Egyptian debt rose 9 basis points to 386, according to CMA prices for credit-default swaps.

Crude oil has climbed 3.7 percent in New York trading since Jan. 24, to $91.15 a barrel. By comparison, Iran’s 1979 revolution sent the price of Saudi Arabia’s Arab light crude to about $34 a barrel at the end of 1980 from $14 two years earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The army set up a barrier in Tahrir Square after yesterday’s clashes at the square, the focus of protests that began Jan. 25. Leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest opposition group, said they were not prepared to negotiate with the government as it had instigated the violence.

Talks Rejected

“We are not ready to talk because of the current situation and what is happening in Tahrir Square, where citizens are being hurt and shot,” Mohamed Saad el-Katatni, member of the Guidance Council, the group’s top executive body, said by telephone from Cairo. “Enough of this regime. Enough of Hosni Mubarak.”

El-Katatni said he didn’t know if tomorrow would see a repeat of the mass gatherings after Friday prayers on Jan. 28, when protesters in Cairo and other major cities fought with security forces. “We don’t call on the youths to protest, but we will sure take part if there are protests,” he said.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said it had reports of local and foreign journalists being detained in Cairo by security police. “We have multiple reports of dozens being arrested today and we are looking to confirm these reports,” Gypsy Guillen Kaiser, spokeswoman for the group, said in a telephone interview. “This is very serious.”

Hotels Stormed

Supporters of President Hosni Mubarak stormed hotels in the capital searching for journalists, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya television channels reported today. Many members of the foreign press have been staying in hotels near Tahrir Square, a focal point for nine consecutive days of protests aimed at forcing Mubarak to resign.

Egypt has sought to curb the flow of information since rallies began. Authorities Jan. 29 cut off access to the Internet for five days, and mobile services were down for at least two. Al Jazeera said it had to switch its transmission to another frequency as its signal on Nilesat was jammed.

The army has maintained a presence in the center of Cairo since police and security forces withdrew from the streets after the Jan. 28 clashes.

“The most important player is the army right now,” Kate Nevens, an analyst in the Middle East and North Africa program at the Chatham House research institute in London, said today. “Things have really taken a turn for the worse. The army definitely sees itself as the protector of the state and its people rather than the regime,” and may be prepared to side against the pro-Mubarak supporters, she said.

Oil Markets

“All eyes in the oil market are on the riots and protests in Egypt right now,” said Robert Montefusco, senior broker at Sucden Financial in London. “That’s keeping prices strong, though there hasn’t been any disruption to supplies.”

Egypt’s stock market, closed since Jan. 27 after a 16 percent plunge in the benchmark index last week, is provisionally due to resume trading Feb. 7, a day after banks are scheduled to reopen. The bourse said it may impose restrictions to prevent price fluctuations, and curtail trading sessions.

International companies including Heineken NA have halted operations in the country and evacuated expatriate staff since the protests began. BG Group said it had suspended infill drilling activities, though its offshore production & LNG operations continue unaffected by the unrest.

The economy lost at least $1 billion in the past nine days as 1 million tourists fled the country as a result of the unrest, Suleiman said today.

Opposition Rejects Suleiman

The opposition has rejected the president’s response to the crisis, which included the appointment of Suleiman, the intelligence chief, as his first-ever vice president. Mubarak also said he ordered the Cabinet to loosen curbs that make it hard for the Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition candidates to run for office.

Mubarak hasn’t spoken publicly since the Feb. 1 televised address in which he announced that he won’t seek re-election in September and warned that the country must choose between “chaos and stability.”

The protest movement, whose disparate factions range from secular activists who organize support online to the religiously oriented Brotherhood, needs to coalesce around a concrete program to break the stalemate, and “it has to happen very soon,” said Christopher Davidson, who teaches Middle East politics at Durham University in the U.K.

What’s Next?

The anti-government demonstrators “have to get a published timetable with a basic manifesto to give the world an idea of what is coming next: a gentle authoritarian government with a transition toward democracy,” he said. “The protesters are right to think they could outlast the regime, because they can, but at the same time, a lot of instability and violence could be spared by some very simple acts.”

John McCain, the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it’s “almost inevitable” that Mubarak will go, and violence will escalate if he doesn’t. “The army has to play the lead role,” McCain said in a Bloomberg Television interview today.

Mubarak, though, is a military man himself who “will not flee the battlefield,” said Naguib Sawiris, Egyptian billionaire and chief executive officer of Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, in another Bloomberg TV interview. A better solution would be for Mubarak to dissolve parliament, form “a unity government” with the opposition and “hold free elections under international supervision within six months,” he said.

Regional Unrest

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leaders of the other five largest Western European countries called for a “quick and orderly transition” in a joint statement, echoing a similar call by U.S. President Barack Obama. None of those leaders has openly said that Mubarak should step down earlier than his announced date of September.

Obama said today that he prays for peace in Egypt and for the fulfillment of the “rights and aspirations of Egyptians.”

The regional unrest began in Tunisia, where President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted and forced to flee last month after two decades in power. Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said yesterday he won’t seek to extend his term ends in 2013. Jordan’s King Abdullah sacked his government this week, and police and protesters have clashed in Algeria.

Shafik warned that further unrest in Egypt may damage the economy, which relies on tourism and foreign investment. Growth has slowed since the global economic crisis to less than the 7 percent that the government says is necessary to reduce unemployment.

High Unemployment

Egypt’s “unemployment, underemployment and informal work have remained among the highest in the world,” and have “triggered this historic outpouring of popular demands,” International Labour Organization Director-General Juan Somavia said today in an e-mailed statement.

Egypt is the worst performer among 12 Middle Eastern, North African and Gulf countries in terms of gross domestic product growth per capita. Egyptian average GDP per capita increased to $2,160.04 in 2009 from $2,155.49 in 1989, according to data from the International Monetary Fund, and about 40 percent of Egyptians live below the poverty line.

Reopening the financial system won’t create problems because the country’s lenders are “very liquid,” Deputy Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez said in a telephone interview from Cairo today. He said government debt auctions will resume next week and the Finance Ministry will announce a schedule. Two planned sales were canceled this week.

Fitch Downgrade

Fitch Ratings today cut Egypt’s bonds to BB, two steps below investment grade, from BB+, matching similar moves by other ratings companies. The central bank may increase rates to avoid an outflow of bank deposits and capital, Standard & Poor’s said yesterday. Yields on Egypt’s dollar bonds maturing in 2020 fell 2 basis points to 6.59 percent today.

The Suez Canal, linking the Mediterranean with the Red Sea, is functioning normally, Shafik said today. Concern that oil supplies through the canal may be disrupted has helped push crude prices higher this week.

“At present, the canal remains open and, despite reports of isolated incidents, the ports are largely functioning as normal,” Lloyd’s Market Association said today in an e-mailed statement. “Unless the situation changes drastically, and there is extensive disruption over an extended period, the current situation is unlikely to have a major impact for insurances.”

Suez Traffic

While Suez is a key artery carrying some 8 percent of global sea trade, it’s Egypt’s role in the Middle East peace process that has made it central to U.S. policy in the region since 1979, when Egypt signed a U.S.-brokered peace treaty with Israel. Since then it has been one of the biggest recipients of American aid, receiving about $1.5 billion last year. Most of the aid has been earmarked for Mubarak’s security forces.

Mubarak has backed efforts to encourage Arab acceptance of Israel, oppose Iran’s nuclear program and isolate Hamas, the Islamic militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.

U.S. administration officials are sticking to Obama’s insistence that the new leadership of Egypt is a matter for the Egyptian people. “We do not have a favorite candidate or candidates. We are not going to anoint any successor to President Mubarak. These are decisions to be made by the Egyptian people,” State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in Washington.