CAIRO — Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former chief of the United Nations nuclear agency, said Wednesday that he intended to run for president, although he set conditions under which he would pursue the office vacated last month by Egypt’s longtime leader, Hosni Mubarak.
“When the door for presidential nominations opens, I intend to nominate myself,” Mr. ElBaradei said on a talk show broadcast live by the Egyptian satellite channel ON TV.
The announcement came amid a growing sense of uncertainty as Egypt begins to chart its future after decades of autocratic rule and as violence has begun to escalate.
On Tuesday night into early Wednesday, 13 people were killed and 140 wounded in fighting between Muslims and Christians in the suburbs of Cairo, the Health Ministry said. The clashes, which broke out during a protest by several hundred Christians over the burning last week of a church in the village of Soul, were a significant departure from the sense of solidarity that had prevailed among people of different backgrounds throughout the weeks of protests that led to Mr. Mubarak’s resignation.
The attack against the church was said to result from village tensions surrounding a love affair between a Muslim woman and a Christian man.
Thousands gathered peacefully in front of the state television headquarters on Wednesday to demand that the transitional government rebuild the church, prosecute the attackers and pledge to improve conditions for Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority. The military has promised to rebuild the church and meet the demands, but this has done little to assuage the anger.
“We are persecuted and killed here by Muslims,” said Bishoi Edmund, 24, who was among the protesters outside the TV building. “The Egyptian media does not show these things.”
Only blocks away, men attacked, beat and chased hundreds of protesters out of Tahrir Square. Egypt’s armed forces, which had promised not to use force against demonstrators, participated. Protesters have continued to occupy the square to press for a new constitution with democratic principles.
“There’s a feeling that as long as we have the square, we have the power,” said Laila Maged, 21, who is among those still adamant about keeping a hold over the symbolic ground.
Ms. Maged acknowledged, however, that the square had recently lost its singular focus as more people have arrived with their own sets of demands. “I’m very confused — there are people talking about raising salaries while we are still trying to figure out who will run the country,” she said.
Many here share Ms. Maged’s concerns about the future. It is still unclear how the country will move forward in coming months.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which is formally in charge, has expressed its intention to hand over power to an elected government by the end of the summer. Meanwhile, it has taken timid steps toward bringing about the large-scale changes that have been promised. The military has continued to govern in a bureaucratic fashion close to the style of Mr. Mubarak.
Mr. ElBaradei, a leading opposition figure, made clear that he would run for president only if a real democratic system were put into place. He criticized the reforms that military leaders were proposing as superficial, and he appealed to the military to scrap them or to delay a scheduled March 19 referendum on them.
Neil MacFarquhar contributed reporting.