Thursday, February 24, 2011

CAIRO: Egypt’s new Cabinet met for the first time Wednesday with security high on its agenda and under attack from the Muslim Brotherhood and others who want it purged of ministers who had been appointed by ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

In preparation for polls that military rulers have promised to hand over power to civilian rule in six months, activists announced the forming of a new political party Wednesday.
The Brotherhood and other political groups have called for another million-man-march Friday to fill Cairo’s central Tahrir Square to call for a new Cabinet.

Banned under Mubarak and playing an increasingly active role in Egyptian political life since the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak, the Brotherhood wants the lifting of emergency law, freeing of political prisoners and a purge of the Cabinet.
The Cabinet will discuss security issues in the post-Mubarak era and the provision of basic foods and subsidies Wednesday, political sources said. Despite political pressure, there are unlikely to be further changes in the Cabinet, they added. 

Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that is running the Arab world’s most populous nation, swore in 10 new ministers Tuesday, some who had opposed Mubarak, but key portfolios were unchanged.
Reacting to the new line-up, senior Brotherhood member Essam al-Erian, had previously said that the main Defense, Justice, Interior and Foreign portfolios remained unchanged, signaling Egypt’s politics remained in the hands of Mubarak and his cronies.

In the run-up to presidential and parliamentary elections, a committee is amending the Constitution to dismantle the apparatus that propped up Mubarak’s rule and political parties are being registered ahead of the polls.
A former diplomat, Abdullah Alashaal, was quoted by MENA news agency Wednesday as saying he was setting up a new political party “Egypt the Free” to participate in the polls.

“The establishment of the party comes within the framework and desire to make a real representation of the youth of Jan. 25 revolution during the coming period,” Alashaal said.

The Muslim Brotherhood and youth groups are anxious for the emergency law be lifted.
About six vehicles were set on fire outside the Interior Ministry in Cairo Wednesday, and witnesses said the blazes were caused by police officers demanding their jobs back.

A security source earlier said a fire had erupted at a building used to store evidence near the Interior Ministry.
Plain-clothed policemen and soldiers cordoned off the area around the ministry Wednesday, pushing away hundreds of onlookers who came to see the burning vehicles.

Witnesses to Wednesday’s incidents said the former officers poured petrol over the vehicles and set them alight. At least four fire trucks and four ambulances rushed to the scene. It was not clear if the perpetrators had escaped.

“The ministry had told them they could have their jobs back, but when they went with their papers they were told to use the paper to drink water out of,” said one witness, 30, who gave his name as Ashraf and had come to the ministry with his brother, a police officer who had lost his job.
Elsewhere, the killing of a Coptic Christian priest in southern Egypt triggered street demonstrations by several thousand Christians.

The priest was found dead in his home. A fellow clergyman, Danoub Thabet, says his body had several stab wounds. He says neighbors reported seeing several masked men leaving the apartment and shouting “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” suggesting the killing was motivated by the divide between Egypt’s Muslims and its minority Coptic community.

About 3,000 protesters scuffled with Muslim shop owners Tuesday night and smashed the windows of a police car in the city, Assiut.
Egypt’s religious tension spiked in January when a suicide bomber killed 21 people outside a Coptic church in the port city of Alexandria. Days of protests followed. – Agencies