International reaction to the ongoing protests in Egypt has been mixed, with Barack Obama, the US president, voicing support for an “orderly transition” in Egypt in phone calls with foreign leaders.

Obama spoke by phone on Saturday with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish prime minister and Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister. He also spoke to David Cameron, British prime minister, on Sunday.

“During his calls, the president reiterated his focus on opposing violence and calling for restraint; supporting universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly, association, and speech; and supporting an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people,” the White House said.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera’s Rosalind Jordan, reporting from Washington DC, said that Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, would “not favour any transition to a new government where oppression … would take root.”

It’s unclear if that includes if such a government would, in the US’s view, include the Muslim Brotherhood party.

Jordan noted that in making the rounds on Sunday television shows, Clinton sidestepped the question of whether Mubarak would be given asylum in the US or in another allied country.Clinton also pressed Mubarak to ensure that the coming elections are free and fair and to live up to his promises of reform but insisted Egypt must avoid a result like that of Iran, which she called a “faux democracy.”

US remains non-committal

Clinton kept up the US’s  cautious balancing act. It is trying to avoid abandoning Mubarak – a strategic ally of 30 years – while supporting protesters who seek broader rights and demand his ouster. But Washington has limited options to influence the situation.

From the US perspective, the worst-case scenario in Egypt’s crisis would be the rise of an Islamist government potentially aligned with Iran. But so far there has been no sign of Muslim fundamentalism driving the protest movement.

Read more on Al Jazeera: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/201113014218302425.html