Cairo:
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in his first Cabinet reshuffle today dropped as many as eight ministers including the powerful Interior minister, following mounting criticism of the failure of security forces to prevent militant attacks in the country.
Egyptian Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim, who was in charge of police and spearheaded the brutal crackdown on supporters of president Mohamed Morsi after his ouster in 2013, was discharged and replaced by another police general, Magdy Abdel-Ghafar.
Major-General Abdel-Ghafar is a leading figure in the National Security set-up and his appointment comes amid a string of bomb explosions and militant attacks here in the country’s capital and elsewhere.
Two powerful explosions on Tuesday outside the Supreme Court building and a police station had shook the capital, killing two civilians and injuring nine others, including five policemen.Seven other ministers were replaced including the minister of antiquities, culture, tourism, agriculture and communications, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said in a statement.
El-Sissi’s first first Cabinet reshuffle since he took office in June 2013 comes close on the heels of a court ruling suspending the March 21 parliamentary elections.
The first parliamentary election, since the overthrow of Morsi by the military in 2013, were scheduled to begin in phases from March 21.
