Obama growing impatient over Egypt

US President Barack Obama. Photo / AP

US President Barack Obama says the Egyptian government has yet to put forward a "credible, concrete and unequivocal" path to democracy.

Obama said "too many Egyptians remain unconvinced that the government is serious about a genuine transition to democracy".

Mr Mubarak has reiterated plans to stay in office until September's election, but said he would hand over some powers.

Anti-government protesters have reacted angrily to Mr Mubarak's address, CNN reported.

"The Egyptian people have been told that there was a transition of authority, but it is not yet clear that this transition is immediate, meaningful or sufficient," Obama said in a statement.

"The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity," he said.

The US president's remarks came in the strongest statement yet from the White House on the Egypt protests, and are a sign the White House is not satisfied by Mr Mubarak's announcement, said the BBC's Andrew North in Washington.

Other international leaders have reacted cautiously following Hosni Mubarak's refusal to resign as Egyptian President, amid mass protests across the country.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak said the situation was up to the Egyptian people.

"We should not pretend that we are more important than for the Egyptian people than their own interests," I don't think I have to respond to this. It's up to the Egyptian people to find a way and do it according to their own constitution, norms and practices."

"I am still optimistic," Barak said. "In spite of all the turbulence around us, we should look for opportunities within those difficulties rather than to spiral into a sense of too heavy uncertainty that paralyzes us from acting toward a better and more stable region."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy hoped Egypt's democrat revolution would be fulfilled.

"I hope with all my heart for Egypt's nascent democracy that they take time to create the structures and principles that will help them find the path to democracy and not another form of dictatorship, religious dictatorship, like what happened in Iran," the BBC reported.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Egypt's authorities must protect the right for the Egyptian people to protest.

"All we want in the United Kingdom is for them to be able to settle their own differences in a peaceful and democratic way," the Belfast Telegraph reported. "That is why we have called from the beginning of this crisis for an urgent but orderly transition to a more broadly-based government. In the meantime we look to the Egyptian authorities to protect the right to peaceful protest."

Other Arab leaders are yet to comment on the situation.

- AP, AGENCIES, NZHERALD STAFF