Egypt Postpones New Cabinet Swearing-In

Posted July 18th, 2011 at 10:35 am (UTC-5)
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Egypt on Monday postponed the swearing-in of a new Cabinet for at least a day as protesters vowed to continue a sit-in at Cairo's main square, saying government reforms do not go far enough.

Egypt's military-appointed Prime Minister Essam Sharaf announced Sunday that he has chosen one of his two newly-appointed deputies to serve as finance minister in the reshuffled Cabinet, which was due to be fully unveiled on Monday.

The French news agency reported on Monday that Mr. Sharaf's choice for antiquities minister has come under fire and delayed the Cabinet unveiling. Egypt state media did not go into details of the delay.

Egypt's new finance minister, Hazem el-Biblawi, was named to replace Samir Radwan, who assumed the post shortly before Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February after an uprising against his three-decade-long autocratic rule.

Prime Minister Sharaf had named Biblawi, a veteran economist, as one of his two deputies on Saturday.

Mr. Sharaf also said he is appointing new ministers of transport, communications and higher education. Egyptian officials said the prime minister is likely to retain his existing ministers of justice, interior, education and culture.

Egyptian reformists are pressing the military council that replaced Mr. Mubarak to speed up the purging and prosecution of Mubarak-era officials they blame for corruption and the killing of almost 900 protesters during the revolution.

On Sunday, the head of an Egyptian hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh denied that the 83-year-old former president had fallen into a coma.

That claim had come earlier Sunday from Mr. Mubarak's lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, who said the deposed leader was in a “full coma” after suffering a sudden deterioration in his health at the hospital.