Posted on 07/09/2004 11:08:48 AM PDT by areafiftyone
The Egyptian cabinet has resigned, according to the country's planning minister.
More to follow...
He goes in for a slipped disc and now he is on his deathbed? Remind me not to get sick if I go to any socialist European country.
Then Atlantis, next week.
I wonder if he planned this?
hopefully his medicine cabinet is still intact.
WOW! If the liquor cabinet gets up and walks out.... either I had too much of it or this is getting series.
Now two versions of SG-1. No doubt a Gao'ould plot to keep our attention diverted before the next attack!
CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian cabinet offered its resignation Friday, clearing the way for President Hosni Mubarak to name new ministers with the emphasis on stimulating the economy, officials said.
Planning Minister Osman Mohamed Osman said resignation was the purpose of a special cabinet session Friday evening.
"The meeting was for the government to present its resignation and that has happened," Osman said.
Communications Minister Ahmed Nazif, tipped as a possible prime minister, left the cabinet meeting early and officials said he was going to the presidency.
Mubarak, who returned from back surgery in Germany only on Wednesday, now has a free hand to name a new cabinet and is expected to replace about 14 of the current 27 ministers, including outgoing prime minister Atef Obeid.
A cabinet reshuffle has been expected on and off for months and was about to take place when Mubarak flew to Germany at short notice on June 20 because of a slipped disc.
Some opposition figures have called the reshuffle an attempt to deflect criticism of Mubarak, who has led the most populous Arab country for the past 22 years.
The prime minister and his cabinet do not have much influence over major affairs of state, such as foreign relations, defense or the political system.
Those decisions are in the hands of Mubarak and his close advisers, some of whom are not well known.
The semi-official al-Ahram newspaper Friday said that after the reshuffle Obeid, 72, would probably occupy a new economic post reporting directly to the 76-year-old president.
A new premier would probably be chosen and could be brought in from outside the present government, it added.
But Nazif's departure from the meeting was understood as confirmation of speculation that he was under consideration for the premiership, officials said.
Nazif, 52, studied computer engineering at McGill University in Canada and played a leading role in introducing the Egyptian bureaucracy to information technology.
Al-Ahram said: "It is expected that about 14 new ministers will enter the new government, representing about half the current number of ministers." The aim is to pump "youthful and fresh blood" into the administration, it added.
Already, at the end of June, Safwat el-Sherif resigned as information minister after 22 years in the job.
The nation of 70 million has faced pressure from Washington to undertake political reform. But a reshuffle will not meet opposition parties' demands.
Mubarak may run for a fifth term in 2005. He has not appointed a vice president and has no obvious successor.
Atef Obeid, a former academic and business consultant, took the premiership in 1999 with a mandate to expand the country's economic reform program.
But the privatization program has ground to a halt and growth has not been enough in recent years to absorb all the young Egyptians entering the labor market.
He's gonna need to .. this could be painful
One of the best sci-fi shows since Babylon 5. I hope the spinoff is good.
As hard it is to imagine, there may be even more turmoil in the mid east if he dies without a VP.
The $19.95 window fan died, so they up and quit.
fyi
Jaffa! Kree!
July 09 2004 at 05:27AM
Cairo - President Hosni Mubarak's return home from medical treatment in Germany has renewed calls for a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle and for political and economic reforms in Egypt.
The Egyptian leader arrived back late Wednesday after spending more than two weeks at a private German clinic, where he underwent successful surgery to repair a slipped disc.
"The political forces welcome Mubarak's return and demand reform," read a headline in the Thursday issue of the independent daily al-Masry al-Youm.
Mubarak had been widely expected to announce a cabinet reshuffle at the end of June, but it did not happen due to his sudden departure for Germany.
The shower cabinet is suspiciously absent as well. Need to see Isis and her towel handlers to make sure all is well.
2:36 Egypt's prime minister, entire cabinet resigns - AP
Hope this didn't come as a "surprise" to the administration!!!
So you're saying that they WALKED like Egyptians?
Best
Episode
Ever
So, does that mean Mubarak is Egypt's sole executive?
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