US President Barack Obama says he believes Egypt will not go “back to what it was” as pro-democracy demonstrators have made known their demands for free and fair elections through nearly two weeks of continuous street protests. In an interview broadcast on US television on Sunday, Mr. Obama said only Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak knows how quickly he will leave office. He said, the United States cannot forcefully dictate how quickly Mr. Mubarak steps down, but he hopes a representative government will soon emerge, one that the US can work with as a partner.

Obama said, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood – Egypt’s largest and best organized opposition group – is only one of many political factions in the Arab country and that it does not have majority support. He acknowledged some strains of their ideology are anti-American.