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| Africa North |
| New Egypt PM Vows to Fight 'Terrorism', Bring Back Tourists |
| 2014-02-26 |
| [An Nahar] Egypt's military-installed authorities named a former member of ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... 's ruling party as prime minister Tuesday ahead of a presidential election expected to bring the army chief to power. Ibrahim Mahlab, a former state-sector construction boss, vowed to fight "terrorism" and bring back tourists as he began work on forming a new cabinet after the surprise resignation on Monday of prime minister Hazem al-Beblawi. Beblawi's government had been installed in July after the military ousted Islamist Mohammed Morsi ...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Timeprinciple, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator... , Egypt's first freely elected president and its first civilian one. But it resigned in the face of mounting criticism of its failure to get to grips with a floundering economy and worsening industrial unrest. Mahlab, who served as housing minister in Beblawi's cabinet, said that interim president Adly Mansour had tasked him with forming a new government "in three to four days". He promised to work hard to improve services for Egyptians and fight "terrorism". "This will create the conditions for investment and the return of tourism," he said. Since Morsi's overthrow, Islamist gunnies have killed several foreign tourists as well as scores of security personnel in attacks that have severely dented the economically vital tourism sector. A limited reshuffle had been expected to allow army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to step down as defense minister and run for president. But Sisi, who is expected to win the election this spring, will retain his post in Mahlab's cabinet for around two weeks until an electoral law has been passed, a bigwig told Agence La Belle France Presse. Mahlab, a former chairman of Egypt's state-owned Arab Contractors Company, one of the Middle East's leading construction conglomerates, was named to the upper house of parliament in 2010, the year before Mubarak's overthrow in the Arab Spring uprising. Mahlab, who is now in his 60s, resigned from the company in September 2012 after heading it for 11 years, the state-owned daily Al-Ahram said. |
| Posted by:Fred |