Egypt’s Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, who was hospitalised overnight for exhaustion, will spend the day resting and then finalise a new cabinet, the official MENA news agency reported on Tuesday. The new ministers were originally meant to take their oaths of office on Monday, but the ceremony was postponed for a day amid protests over the embattled premier’s choice of ministers.
Sharaf was admitted briefly Monday night to hospital after suffering exhaustion. “The prime minister is resting today on the advice of doctors after medical examinations following his illness last night, which was the result of hard work,” the agency quoted his spokesman as saying.
The cabinet had said earlier on Tuesday on its Facebook page that the prime minister would resume discussions later in the day to finalise the sweeping shake-up, after resting in the morning. But by the afternoon, Sharaf had yet to arrive to his headquarters, and waiting cameramen were asked to leave, state television reported. Sharaf, who heads a caretaker government after a revolt toppled strongman Hosni Mubarak in February, had hoped the sweeping reshuffle would persuade 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.
