ABC interview: Mubarak fears chaos if he steps down

Hosni Mubarak says he would like to step down but he fears there would be chaos if he did so.

WASHINGTON: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Thursday he would like to step down after a wave of massive public protests but he fears there would be chaos if he did so.

“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’s Christiane Amanpour. “If I resign today there will be chaos,” he said.

Mubarak, who remains inside his heavily guarded presidential palace in Cairo, said he was troubled by the violence that erupted during the protests and that his government was not responsible for it, ABC said. He wavered when asked if he felt that the United States had betrayed him, ABC said.

Mubarak said he told Obama: “You don’t understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now,” according to ABC.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th, 2011.