The sources said 19 business jets transported senior members of the
Mubarak regime and their families from Cairo to the United Arab Emirates'
port of Dubai on late Jan. 29. They said Saudi Arabia has also offered
asylum to Mubarak associates.
On Jan. 31, Egypt's security chief fled his office but was said to have
remained in Cairo, Middle East Newsline reported. Interior Minister Habib Adli was rushed out of the
besieged ministry amid gunfire and later ordered the return of police to the
Egyptian capital.
"It is necessary that the police role is quickly restored and that there
should be cooperation in the field with the armed forces to defend the
presence and future of the nation," Adli was quoted by Egypt's state-owned
media as saying.
Adli was said to have been trapped for nearly 48 hours as Egyptian
protesters tried to rush the Interior Ministry compound. About 25 people
were said to have been killed by fire from the compound.
Mubarak has appointed a new Cabinet led by former Air Force chief Ahmed
Shafik as well as a vice president, Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman. On Jan. 31,
Mubarak was reported by state television to have visited military
headquarters as protests continued throughout the country.
At the same time, Hussein Tantawi, the defense minister said to have
been ousted in the Cabinet shakeup, was seen on Egyptian state television in
a soldier's uniform in Cairo. Tantawi, who secretly went to Washington in
late January to discuss a post-Mubarak regime, greeted soldiers.
So far, the Egyptian Army has not moved to quell the anti-Mubarak
protests or enforce the nightly curfew. But on Jan. 30, the Air Force sent
U.S.-origin F-16 multi-role fighters to fly low over the main opposition
demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square as organizers discussed strategy.
"Our essential demand is the departure of the regime and the beginning
of a new Egypt in which each Egyptian lives in virtue, freedom and dignity,"
opposition leader Mohammed El Baradei said. "What we've begun cannot be
reversed."
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