Egypt won't be same again, says Obama

Speaking to US network Fox News, Obama said he hoped to see a representative government emerge in the country.

He said the Egyptian people should be allowed to decide "the process for an orderly transition, but one that is a meaningful transition and that leads to a government that has legitimacy."

Obama would not be drawn into predicting whether Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would step down.

He said the US could not "absolutely dictate" what happens in Egypt but "what we can do is say the time is now for you to start making a change in your country."

"Mubarak's already decided he's not running for re-election again, his term is up this year," he said.

The president also said the Muslim Brotherhood was only "one faction" in Egypt that does not have majority support.

But he said that the Brotherhood, a banned political and religious group in Egypt, was well-organised and he acknowledged that "there are strains of their ideology that are anti-US."

Nearly two weeks into the Egyptian crisis, the Obama administration is still struggling to find a path forward that protects US security interests without abandoning the pro-democracy protesters.

The president said the US had long tried to influence Egypt to avoid the kind of revolt that has unfolded.

"We've also consistently said to him both publicly and privately is, that trying to suppress your own people is something that is not sustainable," he said.


Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/egypt-wont-be-same-again-says-obama-83823?cp