Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has sworn in a new government Saturday, a week after the previous cabinet resigned in an unanticipated move amid allegations of corruption against some officials.
The new government will be led by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, who formerly held the petroleum portfolio. Most of the key posts, including finance, investment, foreign affairs and interior, remained unchanged as the Arab country prepares to hold long-delayed parliamentary elections starting next month.
Ibrahim Mehleb, the former prime minister, submitted his resignation on Sept. 12 amid a corruption scandal that saw the arrest of the then agriculture minister, who was detained on allegations he accepted cash and properties in exchange for his help in securing some 2,500 acres of land for a businessman, prosecutors said. A cabinet spokesman last week denied local media reports that said the probe would grow to include other ministers and the prime minister himself.
Mr. Mehleb has been appointed as Mr. Sisi’s assistant for national and strategic projects, state television said.
The new cabinet includes 15 new ministers and consists of 34 portfolios, down from 36, as several ministries were merged, state-run Al Ahram newspaper reported.
With an economy hammered by years of political unrest, Egypt’s new government faces some stiff challenges.
The country is fighting to contain an increasingly active extremist insurgency that has swelled beyond its roots in the eastern province of Sinai, claiming operations along the populous delta and, more recently, the Western Desert.
Egypt is still reeling from last week’s killing of at least 12 tourists. including eight Mexicans, near a tourist attraction, when the picnicking group was mistaken for terrorists and attacked by security forces.
A new public prosecutor, Judge Nabil Sadiq, was also appointed on Saturday, state-run television reported. His predecessor, Hisham Barakat, was assassinated in June by a bomb that exploded by his motorcade in the country’s capital.
______________________
ByDahlia Kholaif. http://www.wsj.com/articles/egypt-swears-in-new-government-1442658819