Pretoria - The first group of South Africans who were stranded in Cairo, Egypt have arrived in South Africa.
They touched down at OR Tambo International Airport last night as protestors in Egypt refuse to leave the streets demanding the resignation of their President Hosni Mubarak.
Families waited anxiously at the airport until the 10pm flight finally touched down. There are a few South Africans believed to be still stranded in Cairo with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation assuring that there was no immediate threat to them.
Meanwhile, Mubarak, who has been at the helm for 30 years, has pledged not to run for a new term in September but refused to step down immediately. In his speech on Tuesday night, Mubarak said that he did not intend to run for another term after massive anti-government protests have shaken the country in the past eight days.
He said 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 added.
The president announced that he would seek constitutional change, which controls the criteria of the candidacy of the next president.
"I am a military man who served this country during war and peace and I will die on the soil of Egypt," Mubarak said.
Egyptian dissident and former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohammed ElBaradei said on Tuesday via Al Arabia channel that Mubarak's speech did not meet people's demand, and he urged the immediate resignation of Mubarak.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters flooded downtown Cairo on Tuesday morning for a "march of one million," while other groups of smaller scales were calling for resumption of social order under leadership of the embattled president.
Demonstrators shouting slogans "Oust Mubarak" gathered in Tahrir Square, the centre of protests, as the opposition parties called for a general strike and a one-million-people march to the presidential palace after a week of unrest in the country, as the army stood still to protect the people.
