# the winds of change?



## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has begun his promised cabinet reshuffle as protests continue over the slow pace of political reform.

Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Orabi has resigned while two new deputy prime ministers have been appointed.

Among protesters' demands are for corrupt officials who served under President Hosni Mubarak to be tried.

A general who went to Tahrir Square, the heart of the revolt that toppled Mr Mubarak, was booed by demonstrators.

Under intense pressure from a new wave of protests, Mr Sharaf has embarked on what are expected to be sweeping changes to his government.

Official media say up to 15 ministers are expected to be replaced in the reshuffle. It is being seen as a purge of those with links to Mr Mubarak, who was ousted in February.

Mr Orabi, considered too close to the Mubarak regime, has resigned after less than a month in the foreign minister's post.

He was going "to spare the prime minister any embarrassment during the current negotiations on the ministerial changes", Egypt's state-run Mena news agency quoted him as saying.

Shoe protest
Mr Sharaf, who heads a caretake administration and has limited powers under the military rulers, has appointed two new deputy prime ministers.

They are economist Hazem El Beblawi, 74, and 75-year-old Ali al-Silmi, a leader of the Wafd party, Egypt's oldest political party.


Mr Sharaf took part in the protests that brought down Mr Mubarak
The cabinet changes have taken more than week to take effect - an indication, says BBC Cairo correspondent Jon Leyne, that Mr Sharaf is in a behind-the scenes battle with the ruling military council.

The military council have meanwhile announced that they will restrict the use of military courts to try civilians - a focus of much of the opposition's anger.

Many Egyptians are becoming impatient with the military council that replaced Mr Mubarak.

Major-General Tarek el-Mahdi went to Tahrir Square on Saturday to try to persuade some protesters to end a hunger strike.

As he spoke from a podium he was booed and had shoes shaken at him in a traditional expression of contempt, forcing him to cut short his visit.

The square was at the centre of the uprising that produced Mr Mubarak's downfall and is the focus of renewed protests.

There have also been demonstrations in other cities.

Protesters want a new government, limited power for the military council, the release of civilians being tried in military tribunals, and speedy public trials for former regime officials.


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

Unless El-Essawy (interior) and Al-Guindy (justice) ministers are replaced the sit-in and protests will continue, any reshuffle that does not take them off will be a complete waste of everyone's time. People have made it very clear what their priority is right now: swift justice for everyone. 

Today has been a slow news drip on the new cabinet. Apparently Zahi is gone


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

New cabinet in Egypt has been announced. It seems like for the first time it will be a real revolutionary cabinet. Zahi Hawas has been sacked from his position. About 16 or 17 ministers are expected to be replaced with mainly younger and experts in their fields.


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

and right on cue: Mubarak is in a coma

CAIRO: Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in February and who has been detained in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, has fallen into a coma, his lawyer said on Sunday.

"I was informed about the sudden deterioration in Mubarak's health and I am now on my way to Sharm El-Sheikh. All that I know so far is that the president is a full coma," Mubarak's lawyer Farid El-Deeb told Reuters.

He did not give more details.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> and right on cue: Mubarak is in a coma
> 
> CAIRO: Egypt's former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in February and who has been detained in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh, has fallen into a coma, his lawyer said on Sunday.
> 
> ...




Well I did ask what the chances of him ever getting to court :clap2:


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Personally I wont believe he is dead unless they parade his body across Midan Tahrir


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Well I did ask what the chances of him ever getting to court :clap2:


It's conflicting news at the moment, the head of Sharm's hospital is denying that Mubarak is in a coma


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Personally I wont believe he is dead unless they parade his body across Midan Tahrir


I had a vision of him being Ceacescu-ed a few months back, pleasantly surprised that Egyptians demanded justice not execution :clap2:


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> It's conflicting news at the moment, the head of Sharm's hospital is denying that Mubarak is in a coma



probably because he is not in a coma


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> probably because he is not in a coma


after all, this is the land of the rumor it seems he falls in and out of coma at will, since is not the first time this is reported


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> after all, this is the land of the rumor it seems he falls in and out of coma at will, since is not the first time this is reported




Well sending for the lawyer says it all really, what the heck would you need your lawyer for when your in a coma??? A priest would be more apt


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Well sending for the lawyer says it all really, what the heck would you need your lawyer for when your in a coma??? A priest would be more apt


you mean a sheikh?


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> you mean a sheikh?




No a good catholic priest is what he needs


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## hurghadapat (Mar 26, 2010)

aykalam said:


> you mean a sheikh?


Maybe Maiden was right......a priest going to give a muslim the Last Rites is enough to bring out of his coma


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

hurghadapat said:


> Maybe Maiden was right......a priest going to give a muslim the Last Rites is enough to bring out of his coma




Exactly... a miracle will happen and then we will have Saint Hosni


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

hurghadapat said:


> Maybe Maiden was right......a priest going to give a muslim the Last Rites is enough to bring out of his coma


or make him croak at last 


AlAhram: Meanwhile the hospital has countered the claims: "Mubarak's condition remains stable and he falls into coma occasionally so nothing is new in his condition," a doctor in the Sharm El-Sheikh International Hospital told Reuters. He asked not to be named.

Is that even possible, to fall into a coma occasionally?


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

:focus:

Interior and justice ministers remain in place. SCAF only gave Sharaf (and more to the point, Egyptians) a made over cabinet.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

aykalam said:


> :focus:
> 
> Interior and justice ministers remain in place. SCAF only gave Sharaf (and more to the point, Egyptians) a made over cabinet.




Not unexpected


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Hosni Mubarak's lead doctor has denied claims that the deposed Egyptian president has suffered a stroke or fallen into a coma.

Dr Assem Azzam said he had suffered a bout of low blood pressure, and was in stable condition.

Mr Mubarak has been receiving treatment in a hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh since he was ousted in February.

He is being held on charges of corruption and ordering the killings of protesters during Egypt's uprising.

Mr Mubarak is due to go on trial on 3 August.

"I checked on him. He is in stable condition. What happened is he got a little dizzy because his blood pressure was low. The doctors are dealing with that," said Dr Azzam. "It is only hypotension, not a coma."

Mr Mubarak's lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, had earlier said: "The president had a sudden stroke. Doctors are trying to bring him to consciousness. He is in a total coma."

The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Cairo, says supporters of the opposition believe that Egypt's military rulers do not want the trial to go ahead, for fear of the embarrassment if might cause them.

He adds that this latest episode will only increase their scepticism about any reports on Mr Mubarak's health.

Cabinet reshuffle
Meanwhile, Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has begun his promised cabinet reshuffle as protests continue over the slow pace of political reform.

Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Orabi has resigned and has been replaced by Mohammed Kamel Amr.

Two new deputy prime ministers have been appointed: economist Hazem El Beblawi, 74, and 75-year-old Ali al-Silmi, a leader of the Wafd party, Egypt's oldest political party.

Among protesters' demands are for corrupt officials who served under President Mubarak to be tried.


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