New Egypt PM vows to fight 'terrorism', bring back tourists
Egypt's military-installed authorities named a former member
of ousted strongman Hosni Mubarak'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 Mohamed Morsi, 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 militants 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 defence 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 senior official told AFP.
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.
Cairo residents expressed mixed views over his appointment.
"We didn't want anyone from the former regime...
especially at this time of division among the people," said Hassan Yahya,
an oil company employee.
But lawyer Mahmoud El-Melegy backed Mahlab.
"Regardless of his being a (former) member of the
National Democratic Party, Ibrahim Mahlab has a respectable character and is a
first class administrator," he said.
"He succeeded in many fields, he succeeded as a housing
minister."
Beblawi's government had become increasingly unpopular
despite announcing two economic stimulus packages aimed at kickstarting the
foundering economy with funds provided by friendly Gulf Arab states.
But his government's resignation took even Washington by
surprise.
"Obviously we're watching it closely," said State
Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
Sisi, who emerged as the country's most popular political
figure after ending Morsi's divisive one-year rule, has not yet announced his
candidacy for the president, but aides say he has already decided to stand.
The field marshal, who was also first deputy prime minister
in Beblawi's cabinet, has to resign from the government and the army before he
can officially announce his candidacy.
Analysts say the formation of a new government is likely to
work in Sisi's favour.
"If Field Marshal Sisi decides to run, he would like to
run with a government that has a good reputation and can help him by resolving
some of the urgent problems faced by the people," said Mustapha Kamel
al-Sayyid, a political science professor at Cairo University.
Since July, Egypt has been battling deadly street violence
and militant attacks that have scared off foreign investors and tourists alike.
A bloody crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and other
Islamists supporters has left more than 1,400 people dead.
Many Egyptians, weary of the three years of turmoil since
Mubarak's ouster, view Sisi as a strong hand who can restore stability.
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