US envoy 'told Mubarak to quit'

US president Barack Obama’s special envoy told Hosni Mubarak that his presidency was at an end and he should prepare for an orderly transition to real democracy, a senior American official said.

The message was delivered to Mr Mubarak on Monday by Frank Wisner, a respected former US ambassador to Egypt, whom Mr Obama dispatched to Cairo amid mounting anti-government protests and demands for the Egyptian leader to step down.

The US official asked not to be named.

Mr Wisner and Mr Mubarak are friends and the official said the retired ambassador made clear that it was the US “view that his tenure as president is coming to close”.f