MUBARAK SURVIVES THIRD ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

"Suddenly I found a blue van blocking the road, and somebody jumped on the ground and a machine-gun started, and I realized there were bullets coming at our car."Egyptian President Hosni Mubarakdescribed the moment when seven gunmen opened fire on his motorcade this morning as he arrived in Ethiopa for a summit of African heads of state. The 67-year-old Mubarak, who was unharmed, immediately returned to Cairo. At a news conference hours later, the President said he suspected the fundamentalist Islamic regime in neighboring Sudan, which had been accused of supporting Egyptian radicals who want to replace Mubarak's secular government with strict Islamic rule.TIME's Dean Fischernotes that Mubarak, who began a crackdown on Islamic militants in 1992, has now survived three assassination plots and can expect more: "It ought to be regarded by Mubarak and his handlers as another warning shot." More disturbing, Fischer notes, none of the violence has prompted Mubarak to designate a vice president who could quickly assume the office if the president were killed. Mubarak, who once held that post, was himself elevated to the presidency after the assassination of Anwar Sadat in 1981.