Egypt, Obama

Egypt, (AFP) – The administration of President Barack Obama on Friday expressed “deep concern” by the unrest in the U.S. ally Egypt has urged Cairo to prevent its security forces and embark on immediate reform.

The wave of popular anger that has produced a fourth day of violent mass protests has riveted the attention of the president, who is kept informed of events of each day of multiple briefings, the White House.

Instead of everyday memory of President, Obama received a 40-minute presentation on the situation in Egypt’s National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and other members of his national security team, the White House press secretary, Tommy Vietor said.

They included John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and the fight against t*rror*sm, and Robert Cardillo, deputy director of national intelligence for the integration of intelligence.

And as the U.S. television networks showed street brawls and burning buildings in Cairo, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed concern about events in a country that is an ally of U.S. diplomacy Peace in the Middle East and the fight against t*rror*sm.

“We are deeply concerned about the use of violence by Egyptian police and security forces against demonstrators and we urge the Egyptian government to do everything in his power to prevent the security forces,” Clinton said.

“At the same time, protesters should also refrain from violence and to express themselves peacefully,” the chief U.S. diplomat.

“We urge the Egyptian authorities to allow peaceful demonstrations and to reverse the unprecedented measures taken to cut communications,” she added.

The protest movement in Egypt has mobilized the youth and the middle classes using the Internet and social networks in a challenge for the authorities that saw two Swedish sites Twitter and video-streaming Bambuser blocked.

Dire events “underline that there are deep grievances in Egyptian society” that cannot be resolved through violence; it has the strongest demand yet public policy changes and others.

“As partners, we firmly believe that the Egyptian government should immediately engage with the Egyptian people in the implementation of necessary economic reforms, political and social,” she said.

Recalling a speech she gave in Qatar two weeks ago, just as avant-garde events in Tunisia were reaching a crescendo, “Clinton said Arab leaders should” to see civil society as a partner and not as a threat. ”

Within hours of that speech in Doha, the Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali had fled the country for Saudi Arabia.

Before the protests, U.S. officials had pushed for reform in the wings, but have been criticized for not taking a stronger stance in public, especially in the wake of parliamentary elections in Egypt last November.

Washington has also invested tens of millions of dollars in pro-democracy organizations in Egypt to the chagrin of President Mubarak, according to diplomatic cables obtained by Wikileaks and published by a Norwegian newspaper Friday.

Obama, Robert Gibbs, the press secretary earlier in the balance with the reaction most critical of the White House still in turmoil.

“Very concerned about the violence in Egypt,” Gibbs wrote about the microblogging site Twitter.

– The government must respect the rights of the Egyptian people & run on social networks and the Internet. ”

The State Department also had its say.

“The events in Egypt are of deep concern,” department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Twitter, the latest in a wave of those messages.

Contrary to the concerns expressed, on Friday, Clinton on Tuesday urged all parties to “exercise restraint” during the protests but said the U.S. believes that the Egyptian government is stable.

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