Hillary Clinton says Egypt needs transition towards democracy

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Sunday made a strong pitch for an "orderly transition" towards a democratic government in Egypt, but did not directly call for long-term American ally Hosni Mubarak to step down in the face of an unprecedented mass uprising.

Clinton said though a move towards a participatory government has to be initiated but cautioned that the Egyptian establishment should make sure there is no political vacuum in the process of transition.

"We want to see an orderly transition so that no one fills a void, that there not be a void, that there be a well thought-out plan that will bring about a democratic, participatory government," she was quoted as saying by Fox News.

She said Washington is sending "a very clear message" that quick movement in the direction of an orderly transition is needed to avoid "some takeover that would lead not to democracy, but to oppression and the end of aspirations of the Egyptian people."

President Barack Obama had yesterday asked America's embattled ally Mubarak to make sure force is not used against peaceful protesters, tens of thousands of whom have been flocking the streets for the past six days to seek the ouster of Mubarak, who has been at the helm in Egypt for 30 years.

The mass protests has so far claimed as many as 150 lives and at many places protesters have clashed with security forces.

Clinton said it would be in the long-term interest of Egypt as well as the US-Egypt partnership that sweeping reforms are undertaken in the political system.

While stopping short of clearly asking a defiant Mubarak to step down, Clinton said the response to the street protests has been unsatisfactory.

"... but now is the time to pursue greater political freedom, economic opportunity and a path to democracy," she said.

"For 30 years, the United States, Republican and Democratic administrations, have been urging Mubarak to take certain steps. In fact, we have been urging that a vice president be appointed for decades, and that finally has happened, but there's a long way to go," Clinton said.

Scrambling to find ways out of the crisis, the 82-year-old Mubarak appointed his intelligence chief Omar Suleiman as his first ever vice-president after sacking his cabinet.

Today, Mubarak visited the military headquarters and met Suleiman and top commanders after which more troops and armoured vehicles moved on to the streets.

Clinton acknowledged Mubarak's role in securing peace regionally over the past 30 years, but said the time has come for him to respond to the Egyptian people's "legitimate grievances."

Mubarak has been one of the staunchest allies of the US and Israel in the Middle east for decades.

"We see a dialogue opening that reflects the full diversity of Egyptian civil society that has the concrete steps for democratic and economic reform that Mubarak himself said that he was going to pursue," she said.

The US today asked its citizens to avoid travelling to Egypt and authorised voluntary departure of dependents and non-emergency employees of its mission in the country as anti-government protests entered their sixth day.

Clinton said an estimated 50,000 Americans are currently stationed in Egypt and none of them have been harmed.