President Mubarak has said he will not seek re-election when the country goes to the polls in September 2011. That's not soon enough for the anti-government protesters who have given him until today - Friday 4 February - to stand down.

As the confrontation between anti- and pro-Mubarak forces turns uglier, the world watches anxiously.

In an extended Middle East Analysis, my latest podcast for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales (http://www.catholicchurch.org.uk/egypt-protests [1]) discusses the uprising and its impact on the region.

The whole broadcast is available here: http://www.catholicchurch.org.uk/content/download/8021/55335/file/hagopi... [2]

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Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU political consultant. He also acts as a Middle East and inter-faith advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales and as Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in Politics) in Paris, and he is a regular Ekklesia contributor (http://www.ekklesia.co.ukHarryHagopian [3]). Formerly, he was Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches. His own website is www.epektasis.net [4]