Cairo: Arab League chief Amr Mussa
said on Sunday he plans to run for president in his native Egypt
after a popular uprising that toppled veteran strongman Hosni
Mubarak, the official MENA agency reported.
"I intend to run in the next presidential election,
and an (official) announcement will be made at the right
time," MENA quoted him as saying.
Mussa said a new Egyptian figure would be picked
"very soon" to head the 22-member pan-Arab organisation.
The Arab League secretary general`s name has often
been mentioned as a potential new leader of Egypt.
As nationwide protests raged to demand Mubarak`s
ouster, Mussa said he had no objection to running for
president in the Arab world`s most populous country.
"I am of course at the service of my country... I
am ready to serve as a citizen who has the right to be a
candidate," he told France`s Europe 1 radio before making an
appearance at Tahrir Square, the focal point of the
anti-Mubarak protests.
Mussa, 74, a former foreign minister, is a dynamic
figure with a quick sense of humour and charisma that often
eclipsed that of his former boss Mubarak.
His popularity stems from his strong stands against
Israel and language that appeals to the Arab street.
Bureau Report
