RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- President Mahmoud Abbas contacted his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak on Saturday, state media said.

“President Abbas affirmed the Palestinian leadership's support for Egyptian security and stability,” Abbas was quoted as saying.

Embattled Hosni Mubarak tapped Egypt's military intelligence chief as his first-ever vice president and named a new premier on Saturday, as a mass revolt against his autocratic rule raged into a fifth day.

Fresh riots in several cities on Saturday left three protesters dead in Cairo and three police in the Sinai town of Rafah, bringing to at least 51 the number of people killed nationwide since the angry protests first erupted on Tuesday.

As tens of thousands flooded central Cairo demanding Mubarak's ouster, the president late Saturday afternoon went into crisis talks with officials, after which it was announced that career army man and Mubarak confidante General Omar Suleiman had been sworn in as his deputy.

Suleiman, 75, is chief of military intelligence and a well-known player on the world scene. He has spearheaded years of Egyptian efforts to encourage an eventual Israeli-Palestinian peace deal and of mediating internal Palestinian disputes.

Demonstrators have dismissed the 82-year-old president's vague promises of political and economic reform as too little, too late and were not impressed with Suleiman's appointment.


AFP contributed to this report.