Obama asks Mubarak to refrain from violence against protesters

US President Barack Obama on Saturday asked his embattled ally Hosni Mubarak to reign in his security forces and stop crackdown on peaceful protesters, as he spoke to the Egyptian president for 30 minutes after the latter sacked his government.

Obama telephoned Mubarak as ranks of protesters continued to swell in Cairo and other Egyptian cities and the 'Quit Mubarak' slogan grew shriller, five days into the unprecedented anti-government protests.

Mubarak has remained defiant in the face of the protests and has shown no indications of quitting, though he ordered his cabinet to resign and promised to launch reforms.

Obama, who spoke to Mubarak for 30 minutes, asked the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protesters.

"The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere," Obama said in his statement to the press.

Obama asked Mubarak to take "concrete steps" towards reform, and said "this moment of volatility" has to be turned into a "moment of promise".

Obama spoke to Mubarak after the latter addressed the nation, in which he ordered his entire Cabinet to resign.

Noting that grievances have built up over time in the absence of reform, Obama said Mubarak had pledged for a better democracy and greater economic opportunity when he addressed the Egyptian people.

"I just spoke to him after his speech and I told him he has a responsibility to give meaning to those words, to take concrete steps and actions that deliver on that promise," Obama said.

The US president also called on the Egyptian government to restore services of Internet and cellphones, which were earlier suspended following the protests.

"At the same time, those protesting in the streets have a responsibility to express themselves peacefully. Violence and destruction will not lead to the reforms that they seek," he said in his remarks addressed to the protesters.

The Tunisia-inspired protests in Egypt started on January 25 with political activists rallying people through phones, Internet and networking websites like Facebook.

Thousands of people demonstrated in the cities of Cairo, Suez, Alexandria, Port Said, Mansura and Giza.

As the situation in the world's most populous Arab nation deteriorated, tens of thousands of protesters returned to the streets in several cities and dissatisfied with Mubarak's promise in his midnight television address to the nation to usher in fresh reforms.