OPPOSITION REJECTS TALKS OFFER Govt slaps travel ban on ex-ministersCAIRO: President Hosni Mubarak said Thursday he wanted to quit but he feared his resignation would bring chaos to Egypt, as protesters demanding an end to his 30-year rule confronted his supporters on Cairo streets. Mubarak's government has struggled to regain control of an angry nation, inviting opponents to talks and apologizing for bloodshed in Cairo that left 10 people dead. A bitter and bloody confrontation gripped central Cairo where armed government loyalists fought pro-democracy demonstrators. “I am fed up. After 62 years in public service, I have had enough. I want to go,” Mubarak said in an interview with ABC. “If I resign today, there will be chaos,” he added. In a move to try to calm the disorder, Vice President Omar Suleiman said 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 Jan. 25, indicating the giant strides made by the reformist movement. But scenting victory, they have refused negotiations until Mubarak goes. 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. “As officials and a state which must protect its sons, I thought it was necessary for me to apologize and to say that this matter will not be repeated,” the prime minister said. The premier also lamented the lack of police, who disappeared from the streets Friday night after two days of running street battles that caused most of the casualties so far. “I do not have enough police,” Shafiq said. “When the army moved in many of the riot police went back to their villages and we can't get them to come back.” Protesters, who numbered 10,000 in Tahrir Square, prepared once again to defy a curfew and sleep there in preparation for big demonstrations called for Friday, their designated “departure day” for Mubarak. United Nations human rights chief Navi Pillay said up to 300 people may have died in the bloody uprising. Meanwhile, Egypt's public prosecutor said Thursday that several ministers and officials, including former interior minister Habib Al-Adly, have been banned from travel and their accounts frozen pending investigation. Vice President Omar Suleiman, addressing protesters hunkered down in Tahrir Square, said: “End your sit-in. Your demands have been answered.” “We will look into (the violence), into the fact it was a conspiracy,” Suleiman said, adding that it could have been instigated by some “with foreign agendas, the Muslim Brotherhood, certain parties or businessmen.” Protesters 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. The army's role in shaping events is crucial. Only Thursday did soldiers set up a clear buffer zone around the square to separate factions after having held back. That did not prevent new clashes. Doctors in makeshift hospitals at the scene said at least 10 people were dead and 800 wounded after gunmen and stick-wielding Mubarak supporters attacked protesters on the streets for a tenth day to demand the president end his 30-year rule. Close to the Egyptian Museum, home to 7,000 years of civilization in the most populous Arab state, men fought with rocks, clubs and makeshift shields, as army tanks made sporadic efforts to intervene. The opposition won increasingly vocal support from Mubarak's long-time Western backers for a swifter handover of power. “This process of transition must start now,” the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain said in a statement. They all echoed the message from US President Barack Obama that an orderly transition of power must start immediately. Mubarak described Obama as a very good man, but when asked by ABC if he felt that the United States had betrayed him, he said he told the US president: “You don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now.” Suleiman, seen as a possible interim successor to Mubarak, took up the theme of reconciliation, promising to release detained demonstrators and to punish those who fomented trouble. He confirmed that Mubarak's businessman son Gamal would not run for president to succeed his father. Ten days ago, that would have been shock news. It surprised no one today. There were also protests in the port city of Alexandria. Meanwhile, mobile operator Vodafone accused the Egyptian authorities of using its network to send pro-government text messages to subscribers, as telecom firms became further embroiled in the crisis. Vodafone was told by the government last week to switch off its network in Egypt after the anti-Mubarak protests broke out. Other operators were also forced to cut their service and rights groups have heavily criticised the development. Vodafone said at the time that it had no choice and on Thursday it stepped up its attack, saying it was being forced to send text messages without making clear the attribution.
