Outgoing PM Hazem al-Beblawy says in televised speech that Egyptians must make sacrifices to help solve country's problems
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- theguardian.com, Monday 24 February 2014 08.00 EST
Egypt's prime minister, Hazem el-Beblawi, announced the cabinet's decision during a televised statement. Photograph: Reuters
Egypt
is braced for its sixth government since the start of the 2011
uprising, after the prime minister announced the early resignation of
the entire interim cabinet on Monday afternoon.
Hazem al-Beblawy,
appointed in the days following the removal of Mohamed Morsi last July,
was meant to head Egypt's government until the election of a new
president, but resigned on Monday after weeks of mounting criticism.
In
a televised speech, Beblawy appeared to respond to the attacks by
asking Egyptians to take more personal responsibility for solving the
country's ingrained economic and social challenges.
"It is time we
all sacrificed for the good of the country. Rather than asking what has
Egypt given us, we should instead be asking what we have done for
Egypt," Beblawy was quoted as saying in state-run media.
He said
his government had "made every effort to get Egypt out of the narrow
tunnel in terms of security, economic pressures and political
confusion".
Criticism of his government had peaked in recent weeks
amid large strikes in industrial cities, and widespread electricity
blackouts.
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Ex-Mubarak crony named to form new Egyptian government
Stepping down: Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi.
Photo: AP
Cairo: The surprise announcement by
Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi that his seven-month-old
government would resign just two months ahead of expected presidential
elections seems destined to clear the way for a new cabinet led by
politicians close to ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak.
The departing cabinet was the fifth government to rule Egypt
in three years. The interim president, Adly Mansour, accepted Mr
Beblawi's resignation and named as his successor the housing minister,
Ibrahim Mahlab, a former member of Mr Mubarak's National Democratic
Party who has business interests in Saudi Arabia and whom Mr Mubarak
appointed to the legislature's upper house, the Shura Council, in 2010.
Under Egyptian law, when the prime minister resigns, the rest
of his cabinet resigns with him. But the announcement appeared to catch
some of the ministers by surprise.
Saudi ties: Ibrahim Mahlab is expected to be named as Mr Beblawi's replacement.
Photo: Reuters
A government official told McClatchy that Mr Mahlab would
return most ministers to their former posts in the next days but that
there might be a shift in the cabinet's overall composition. Where Mr
Beblawi's cabinet consisted of those tied to the Mubarak regime as well
as newcomers since the 2011 uprising that removed Mr Mubarak from power,
Mr Mahlab is expected to stack his cabinet with remnants of the old
regime.
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Analysts saw Mr Mahlab's appointment as helping the expected
presidential candidacy of Egypt's de facto ruler, Field Marshal
Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi. Field Marshal Sisi was once Egypt's defence
attache in Saudi Arabia, his country's largest financial benefactor.
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