Egypt cabinet talks set to resume

Egypt's embattled PM is preparing the final touches to a new cabinet intended to deflect anger over the slow pace of reform.

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Egypt's embattled Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, hospitalised overnight for exhaustion, was preparing on Tuesday the final touches to a new cabinet intended to deflect anger over the slow pace of reform.

The cabinet, aimed at appeasing protesters who want a purge of old regime figures and quicker reforms, was meant to take office on Monday but a swearing in ceremony was postponed amid objections to the choice of ministers.

The cabinet said on its Facebook page on Tuesday that Sharaf “left hospital after necessary medical tests and will resume his work today in his office to complete consultations on forming the new cabinet.”

But by the afternoon, Egyptian television reported that the premier had yet to show up at his headquarters.

The cabinet had earlier said the premier was taken to hospital late Monday night after a “hard day's work.”

Fourteen new ministers and a deputy premier had been expected to take the oath of office before Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who heads the ruling military council, but state television said the ceremony had been postponed.

There were conflicting reports on when the ceremony would take place.

“The government of Sharaf will take the constitutional oath tomorrow (Tuesday) to allow for the completion of negotiations,” state-run Nile Television reported.

MENA's English service said the date of the ceremony is “still unknown.”

Sharaf, who heads a caretaker government after a revolt toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak in February, had hoped the sweeping reshuffle would persuade the protesters to end a sit-in at Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square.

But the protesters complained that the new cabinet retains ministers they wanted sacked, including Justice Minister Abdel Aziz al-Gindi, whom they accuse of delaying trials of former regime officials including Mubarak.

A protest leader told AFP that activists handed on Monday night a list to Sharaf of ministers they wanted replaced. Chief among them were Gindi, interior minister Mansur Essawy and three ministers who had served under Mubarak.

There were consultations among protest leaders whether to end the sit-in, now in its 12th day, as divisions emerged over the new cabinet.

The liberal Wafd party was reported to have withdrawn from the protest after Sharaf appointed one of its senior members, Ali al-Silmi, as his deputy.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the influential Islamist movement that joined a mass demonstration on July 8 that led to the sit-in, said there was no point to prolonging the protest and the new cabinet should be given a chance.

“We wanted a temporary government of technocrats, and things are headed that way,” said Essam al-Erian, a Brotherhood leader who doubles as vice president of the movement's Freedom and Justice Party.

The protesters also risk the enmity of other Egyptians who accuse them of destabilising the country, which has seen a sharp decline in tourism and a rise in unemployment after the revolt that toppled Mubarak on February 11.

Hardline Islamist groups have called for a mass demonstration for “stability” on Friday. - Sapa -AFP

Source: http://www.iol.co.za/egypt-cabinet-talks-set-to-resume-1.1101971

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