Egypt's unrest hurts economy, prompts new ratings review (2)

But the announcement, a mixture of concession and defiance did not seem to appease the protestors, as many insisted on his immediate exit.

In his speech on Tuesday evening, Mubarak said that he did not intend to run for another term and that he would work in the last months of his term to ensure a smooth transfer of power.

"My main responsibility is to ensure stability, and in the next few months I will work on the country's stability," he said.

The president announced that he would seek constitutional change, which determines the criteria of the candidacy of the next president.

"I am a military man who served this country during war and peace... I will die on the soil of Egypt," said Mubarak, who was an air force commander before becoming president of the country.

The halfway concession did not appease those people who launched million-man protests on Tuesday in Cairo and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria to urge him to step down.

Thousands were still camping out at the Tahrir Square to continue their demand for Mubarak's immediate exit as another eight months of his staying in power is simply unacceptable to them, who said he would only use the time to consolidate the ground of his partisan and doubted his commitment to making the kind of constitutional changes which he has resisted since taking power in 1981.
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