PLAINS, Ga. (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter says the political unrest and rioting in Egypt is an earth-shaking event and that President Hosni Mubarak probably will have to leave office.
The former president brokered a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978. He calls the unrest the most profound situation in the Middle East since he left office in 1981.
The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer reported Carter's remarks to the Sunday school class he teaches at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains.
Mubarak was vice president when the peace accord was signed and became president in 1981 when Anwar al-Sadat was assassinated by opponents of the agreement with Israel.
Carter said that as Mubarak's 30-year rule has continued, the Egyptian leader has become more politically corrupt.
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