Mubarak tells ABC his resignation will bring chaos to Egypt

Cairo, Feb 4: Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak would like to leave office now but worries that the country would sink into chaos, he told

on Thursday.

"If I resign today there will be chaos," Mubarak said in a 30-minute interview with ABC correspondent Christiane Amanpour. He told Amanpour that he's fed up and would like to leave now, but if he did the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned political party, would take over. The president is troubled by the violence in Tahrir Square, and blamed the political party for it, according to a summary of the interview on the ABC News website.

At least eight people have died and hundreds were injured in clashes between Egypt's anti-government protesters and supporters of Mubarak in Tahrir Square.

"I was very unhappy about yesterday. I do not want to see Egyptians fighting each other," the president said.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Barack Obama urged an immediate and orderly transition of government. Mubarak wavered when asked if he felt the U.S. had betrayed him. "You don't understand the Egyptian culture and what would happen if I step down now," he said he told Obama.

Mubarak, who's been in power for 30 years, also said on Tuesday that he will not run for another term in the next elections but will remain at the helm of the African nation until September when his current term ends.

Egypt plunged into chaos last week when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Cairo and other major cities to demand the resignation of Mubarak. Some of them clashed with security forces, killing at least 150 people and injuring more than 4,000 others.

Mubarak remains in the presidential palace with his family, heavily guarded by armed troops, tanks and barbed wire.

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