Hosni Mubarak, Ex President of Egypt.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: Hosni Mubarak has stepped down as president of Egypt after more than two weeks of anti-government protests which have left hundreds of people dead and injured, news reports said on Friday. In a national address, Egypt’s vice president Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned and that responsibility for running the nation's affairs had been handed to the higher military council, according to Reuters.
Political unrest in the country, which began on 25 January, has disrupted chemicals markets and had pushed the price of crude oil up to more than $100/bbl over fears that supply could be affected.
On Thursday, Mubarak said he would not step down until elections in September, although he added he would hand over some of his powers to his vice president and confirmed he would not run for the presidency again. However, mounting pressure from both protestors, including mass demonstrations in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and other heads of state finally led to the end of Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
Crude oil prices, which pushed up to more than $101/bbl on Friday over fears that civil unrest would disrupt oil shipments through the Suez Canal and flows through the Suez-Mediterranean (SUMED) pipeline, fell slightly on the news, wiping out earlier gains. Egypt’s political unrest has left hundreds of people dead and injured. It has also caused disruption to the chemicals markets with a number of plants being forced to shut down and stop operations altogether.
(C) ICIS News