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Egypt's government to resign Egypt's prime minister and cabinet resign
(35 minutes later)
Egypt's interim prime minister has announced the resignation of his cabinet, a surprise move that could be designed in part to pave the way for the nation's military chief to leave his defence minister's post to run for president. 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 el-Beblawi's military-backed government was sworn in on 16 July, less than two weeks after General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the defence minister, ousted the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi after a year in office. 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.
The government's resignation, announced by Beblawi in a live TV broadcast, came amid a host of strikes, including one by public transport workers and rubbish collectors. An acute shortage of cooking gas has also been making frontpage news over the past few days. In a televised speech, Beblawy appeared to respond to the attacks by asking Egyptians to take more personal responsibility for solving the country's engrained economic and social challenges.
It was not immediately clear whether Beblawi would stay at the helm of a new government or step aside for a new prime minister. "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.
Beblawi has often been derided in the media for his perceived indecisiveness and inability to introduce effective remedies to the country's economic woes. He has also been criticised for the security forces' inability to prevent high-profile terror attacks blamed on militants sympathetic to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. 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".
The outgoing prime minister acknowledged the difficult conditions in which his cabinet functioned, but suggested that Egypt was in a better place now that it was when he first took office. Criticism of his government had peaked in recent weeks amid large strikes in industrial cities, and widespread electricity blackouts.
"The cabinet has over the past six or seven months shouldered a very difficult responsibility … in most cases the results were good," Beblawi said. Senior officials gave conflicting advice on whether the mass resignation signalled that Egypt's defence minister, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, had imminent plans to make a formal announcement about a widely expected presidential run. One told Reuters that the move was necessary to give Sisi political cover to step down from military duties. Another told the Guardian: "You don't need to change a government to remove one person."
The goal, he added, was to take Egypt out of a "narrow tunnel" brought about by security, political and economic pressures. The move took many inside government by surprise, with one minister and some ministry spokesmen telling the Guardian they had no foreknowledge of their departure from government.
A presidential bid by the popular Sisi has been widely anticipated. Leaving him out of the next cabinet will most likely be accompanied by an announcement that the 59-year-old soldier is running. Beblawy's successor was not immediately announced, nor was it clear whether any of his ministers would be reappointed. But there has been speculation for weeks that Beblawy will be succeeded at some stage by the outgoing housing minister, Ibrahim Mahlab. The former head of Egypt's largest building firm, Arab Contractors, Mahlab is seen by Egypt's political class as a more active and decisive leader than the 77-year-old Beblawy.
"He gets things done," said Samir Radwan, Egypt's former finance minister. "He is a doer, a man of action. I've never seen him in an office. I've only ever seen him on a building site."