CAIRO: US-Based Egyptian scientist Ahmed Zewail, who once received a medal from President Hosni Mubarak and is a Nobel Laureate, said that it is time for the Egyptian leader to heed the demonstrators' demands and make his departure. “He should step down and allow for a transitional government,” Zewail said in an interview on Wednesday. Zewail, 64, who won the Nobel prize for physics in 1999 and was awarded the Grand Collar of the Nile by Mubarak the same year, has long enjoyed a celebrity cachet in his native land. Despite all his access to the ruling elite, Zewail said, his own efforts over 15 years to promote science, technology and education in Egypt had proved futile against the dead weight of corruption and bureaucracy. “Really we didn't get anywhere,” he said. Since he returned to Egypt one week ago, Zuwail has met Mubarak's new Vice-President Omar Suleiman, Arab League chief Amr Moussa, the head of al-Azhar and leaders of the protesters occupying Cairo's Tahrir Square. He was exploring what a “wise man” role he might play between regime and revolution, but the rift may be too wide. “I thought in the beginning there might be middle ground, but I'm not sure anymore,” he said. “In a situation like that, you cannot negotiate. You cannot slow things down. “I know exactly what the youth want. They want to see a new Egypt. It's as simple as that,” said Zewail, who serves as US President Barack Obama's science envoy to the Middle East. Zewail stressed he has no interest in insulting Mubarak or attacking him personally. “It's an attack on the whole system, which is corrupt and not functioning properly. Egypt deserves a new, fresh system, a new window on the world. “The army can play a significant role in this, in protecting the nation in the transition period,” he added, praising the way troops had so far avoided shooting at demonstrators. “The people of Egypt will achieve what they want. I just hope it will not require a bloody situation in order to complete the journey. That's the only fear that remains in me,” he said. He dismissed the idea that the Muslim Brotherhood might hijack events or that Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel was in peril, saying democracy could only benefit the region. The outcry against Mubarak's rule is sure to resonate far beyond Egypt's borders, Zewail said. “They always said Egypt is the heart of the Arab world. That heart is beating. The music will have to be listened to somewhere else,” he added. BM
