The first to make a statement on Mubarak's resignation was EU High
Representative for Foreign Policy Catherine Ashton, who said "the
president has listened to the voices of the Egyptian people and has
opened the way to faster and deeper reforms," Novinite.com reports. In
an address from the White House, US President Barack Obama said the
"people of Egypt have spoken, their voices have been heard and Egypt
will never be the same." Obama likened the relatively peaceful ouster
of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to the fall of the Berlin Wall and
to the advances of the American civil rights movement.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle pointed out that Egypt has
started on the road of democracy and that peace, not only in the
country, but in the entire region, must be guaranteed. German
Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed Mubarak's decision to withdraw,
calling it an historic change, and appealed to those who are now
responsible and will be in the future to make the country's progress
irreversible.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for a "transparent, peaceful
and gradual transition in Egypt."
British Prime Minister David Cameron appealed to Egypt for a
transition to a civilian cabinet and benefit from the priceless
opportunity to have a government that would unite the entire country.
China and Japan called on Egypt's new military leaders to accelerate
the process of political change. "China hopes that the latest
development in the situation helps Egypt with the restoration of
national stability and public order as soon as possible," Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he hoped that "a new government
will be born democratically." "We would like to maintain long-time
friendly relations between Japan and Egypt. I want Egypt to continue
playing a constructive role in the Middle East," he added.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday called for swift
democratic change in Egypt, following the mass protests that forced
President Hosni Mubarak from power. "Russia hopes that democratic
procedures in Egypt will be restored in full and that all legitimate
electoral procedures will be used to that end," Medvedev said in
statement. Moscow hopes the changes will be non-violent, the Russian
Foreign Ministry said earlier on Saturday, RIA Novosti reports.
On the other hand, in Israel and Saudi Arabia, both of which depended
heavily on Mubarak, officials are criticizing Washington, arguing that
the United States has abandoned a long-time ally without first
securing guarantees that Egypt's revolution could not be hijacked by
religious extremists.The Saudis, as Mubarak himself does, see the
uprising as the creation of "foreign powers," which was widely
interpreted as code words for Washington and other Western powers.
