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ElBaradei rejects Mubarak speech, says he must go

by (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Click For Restrictions. http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Wednesday, 2 February 2011 01:16 GMT

(Adds ElBaradei comments in interview with NBC)

WASHINGTON, Feb 1 (Reuters) - Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei said on Tuesday that President Hosni Mubarak had failed to meet the demands of protesters and his pledge not to stand again for the presidency was an act of deception.

ElBaradei, a Nobel peace prize winner as head of the U.N. nuclear agency, said in an interview with CNN that if Mubarak did not heed the call to leave power at once he would be "not only a lame duck president but a dead man walking."

Under mounting pressure from Washington and a week of street demonstrations, Mubarak said in a broadcast statement he would not run in presidential elections scheduled for September but would work for a peaceful transfer of power.

"He's unfortunately going to extend the agony here for another six, seven months. He continues to polarize the country. He continues to get people even more angry and could (resort) to violence," ElBaradei said.

The diplomat, who has emerged as a central figure after he returned from abroad and took part in the demonstrations, called Mubarak "a dictator who doesn't want to listen to the voice of the people."

He said Mubarak's move was "clearly an act of deception."

"Whoever gave him that advice gave him absolutely the wrong advice. He just has to let go."

Every Egyptian was united in one demand -- that Mubarak should go, ElBaradei said in a separate interview on NBC.

ElBaradei, who said he was offering himself as a transitional leader to prepare Egypt for democracy, said he did not particularly want to follow Mubarak as president.

"I'm not necessarily interested in running the country," he told NBC. "Without democracy there's no life. The issue of who is going to run doesn't really matter. The important thing is how he's going to be chosen." (Editing by David Storey and Paul Simao)

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