Mubarak names deputy as protest deaths top 100

Cairo: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak tapped the military intelligence chief as his first-ever vice president and named a new premier, as the death toll in a mass revolt against his autocratic rule topped 100.

Fresh riots Saturday, the fifth day of the revolt, left 22 people dead in the town of Beni Sueif, south of Cairo, where protesters tried to burn down a police station, witnesses and a security source said.

Another three protesters died in Cairo and three police were killed in the Sinai town of Rafah, raising to at least 102 the number of people killed since the unrest erupted on Tuesday, including 33 on Saturday, according to medics.

As tens of thousands flooded central Cairo demanding he step down, Mubarak went into crisis talks with officials, after which it was announced that Mubarak confidant General Omar Sulaiman had been sworn in as his deputy.

Sulaiman, 75, is a career army man and chief of military intelligence.

He has spearheaded years of Egyptian efforts to clinch an elusive Israeli-Palestinian peace deal and tried so far in vain to mediate an inter-Palestinian reconciliation.

Demonstrators have dismissed the 82-year-old president's vague promises of political and economic reform as too little, too late and were not impressed with Suleiman's appointment.

The crowd in Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the epicentre of the revolt in the Egyptian capital, chanted "Neither Mubarak nor Suleiman; we're sick of Americans."

In line with Mubarak's orders, the cabinet resigned on Saturday and the president later tapped the outgoing aviation minister, Ahmad Shafiq, to form a new government.

Shafiq, 69, is respected by the Egyptian elite, even among the opposition, and has often been mooted as a potential successor to Mubarak.

But Mohammad Al Baradei, the Nobel laureate and former UN chief nuclear inspector who has emerged as a dissident leader in his homeland, said the appointments were insufficient.

"I tell President Mubarak and his regime to leave Egypt as soon as possible. It will be better for Egypt and for you," he said in remarks to Al Jazeera television.

Egyptians were watching to see if widely hated Interior Minister Habib Al Adly, in office since 1997 and responsible for the security apparatus, will keep his job.

Along with the demonstrations in several cities, looting broke out in the capital after the  police appeared to have faded from the scene, prompting the army to call on citizens to defend themselves.

The army announced that a night-time curfew would be enforced and extended in key cities. But when the new 4pm to 8am lockdown went into effect, demonstrators in Cairo paid no heed.

Later, the army stood back as protesters fought running battles with police in front of the interior ministry.

Hundreds of demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails at police near the heart of five days of protests, and policemen responded with live rounds of gunfire, witnesses said. Medics said three people were killed.

By late evening most people had gone home, apart from vigilante protection committees seeking to deter looters on residential streets and over 1,000 people camped out on Tahrir Square.

As Mubarak stood his ground, influential Arab cleric Yusuf Al Qaradawi called on him to quit, in an interview with Al Jazeera.

"Leave Mubarak. Have pity on the people and get lost before the destruction spreads in Egypt," said the Egyptian-born president of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, who called the president "deaf, dumb and blind."

And the banned Muslim Brotherhood called for a peaceful transfer of power through a transitional cabinet.

The United States said Saturday that Mubarak should carry out "real reform" beyond a government reshuffle, as the US president met top aides on the crisis and anti-Mubarak  protests spread to US cities.

President Barack Obama gathered his national security team at the White House for a session lasting just over an hour on latest developments in Egypt.

The US president "reiterated our focus on opposing violence and calling for restraint; supporting universal rights; and supporting concrete steps that advance political reform  within Egypt," a White House statement said.

Protesters want not only Mubarak's departure but an end to endemic corruption and police brutality that have become systemic under the president's 30-year rule.

Earlier on Saturday, young Egyptians had already formed a human chain to protect the Cairo Museum, which is located in Tahrir Square and houses the famous Tutankhamun mask and other priceless antiquities.

Elsewhere, clashes erupted in the key port city of Esmailiya, northeast of Cairo, where  thousands of workers fought running battles with police.

In Alexandria, hundreds of people camped out by the main mosque in the centre of the Mediterranean city vowing to protest again, with several police stations still burning amid sporadic looting.

As in Cairo, tanks were deployed and the police were absent. Civilians directed traffic and conducted clean-up efforts.

Despite the ongoing protests, two Cairo mobile phone networks came back on line on Saturday, a day after all Egyptian operators were told to suspend services.

The demonstrations, inspired by events in Tunisia, are unprecedented in Mubarak's Egypt and have sent shock waves across the region. At least 1,500 civilians and 1,000 police have been injured since Tuesday.

Hundreds of demonstrators calling for Mubarak to go rallied outside Egyptian embassies in Paris and Washington on Saturday as well as at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Travel agencies postponed departures for popular tourist destinations, as capitals warned their citizens to avoid visiting Egypt, which counts on tourism as a prime source of foreign exchange.

Cabinet resigns

Egyptian state television says the Cabinet of Prime Minister Ahmad Nadeef has resigned on the president's orders.

The Cabinet's resignation on Saturday follows days of anti-government protests and just hours after embattled President Hosni Mubarak told the nation in a televised address that he has decided the sack the Cabinet.

The protests are the most serious challenge to Mubarak's rule since he came to office nearly 30 years ago, but the 82-year-old leader has made no mention in his address of the calls for him to step down.

Earlier on Saturday morning, Mubarak addressed Egypt for the first time since deadly protests erupted against his regime, vowing reform but showing no sign of resigning from his position.

US President Obama called on the Egyptian authorities not to use violence against the political protests, driving home his message in a 30-minute phone call with Mubarak.

Four days after angry protesters first took to the street and with at least 27 people killed in subsequent street battles, a stoney-faced Mubarak said he had sacked the government and would pursue economic and political reforms.

Protesters who have been demanding Mubarak step down, as well as an end to endemic state corruption and police brutality that have become systematic under his rule, dismissed the speech as too little, too late. "We don't care if the government resigns, we want him to resign," said demonstrator Khaled, 22, in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.

Student Abdo, 20, said: "Prices are still high, the problems are still there, this doesn't solve anything."

Key allies including the United States, Britain and Germany on Friday expressed concern about the violence, with Britain saying the protesters had "legitimate grievances."

Thousands of people ignored an overnight 6pm (1600 GMT) to 7am am curfew in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez announced by state television, with many protesters urging soldiers to join them.

Protesters poured out of mosques after Friday prayers and ran rampant through the streets, throwing stones and torching two police stations. Police chased them with batons, firing tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.

Demonstrators torched the Cairo headquarters of Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party, with television showing footage of the building overlooking the Nile still burning on Saturday morning. In Suez, protesters overran a police station, seized weapons and set fire to security force vehicles.

The demonstrations, inspired by events in Tunisia, are the largest in Egypt in the three decades of Mubarak's rule, sending shock waves across the region.

Looting broke out in several parts of Cairo after nightfall, including at government-linked offices in the upmarket Mohandeseen neighbourhood, with people taking office equipment without any police intervention.

In Washington, the Pentagon said the visiting Egyptian army's chief of staff and other senior officers departed on Friday, cutting short a planned week-long visit.

With input from agencies