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The message from Obama was conveyed by former US ambassador to Egypt, Frank Wisner, who was dispatched to Cairo on Monday by the US administration, the influential US daily said, quoting American diplomats.

“Mr. Wisner’s message, they said, was not a blunt demand for Mr. Mubarak to step aside now, but firm counsel that he should make way for a reform process that would culminate in free and fair elections in September to elect a new Egyptian leader,” the Times wrote.

The paper added that the back channel message had been authorized directly by Obama, who on Tuesday called a high-level White House meeting of his national security team to address the fast-evolving crisis.

It would appear to signal that the administration is withdrawing support from one of its closest regional allies.

Tides of protesters flooded onto the streets of Cairo and Alexandria Tuesday for the eighth day demanding that Mubarak should step down after 30 years in power.-AFP