Arab League chief to run for Egypt president
Arab League chief Amr Mussa said yesterday 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.
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