Egypt’s new cabinet sworn in

The new 34-member cabinet, led by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, took the oath of office in an early morning ceremony broadcast live on state television.

CAIRO // Egypt’s newly elected president Abdel Fattah El Sisi chaired the first meeting of his new cabinet on Tuesday, shortly after its members were sworn in at the presidential palace in Cairo.

The new 34-member cabinet took the oath of office in an early morning ceremony broadcast live on state television.

After an hours-long meeting, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said the government plans to work around the clock to combat corruption, ensure the return of security and build what he described as a “strong state”.

“Failure, reluctance, incompetence and shaking hands are no option,” Mr Mahlab said. He said Mr El Sisi asked ministers to be in their offices by 7 am each work day.

There are 13 new members in the cabinet, including Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri, who was Egypt’s ambassador to Washington. He replaces veteran diplomat Nabil Fahmy.

“The president must have had a say in choosing the new foreign minister as usually he chooses ministers of interior, foreign, defence and justice,” said Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid, political science professor at Cairo University.

The new government includes four women and several technocrats and is led by Mr Mahlab, who also served as the interim premier for the past five months.

Mr Mahlab was the second person to fill the post of prime minister since Mr El Sisi ousted Egypt’s first freely-elected president, Mohammed Morsi, last July, following massive protests against the Islamist leader and his Muslim Brotherhood group.

The cabinet retains Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, who has overseen a massive police crackdown on Morsi’s supporters.

General Sedki Sobhi, who is the army chief, also stays on as defence minister.

The post of investment minister has been created in an apparent attempt to bolster an economy roiled by turmoil since the 2011 popular uprising that forced out long-time autocratic president Hosni Mubarak.

It was filled by Ashraf Salman, a former prominent investment banker.

Mr El Sisi, the country's former army chief and defence minister, was sworn in as president earlier this month following his landslide election victory. He has pledged to restore security, improve the country's battered economy and build a more stable future after three turbulent years that followed with Mubarak's removal.

Mr El Sisi has also said there will be no tolerance for those who take up arms against the government and Egyptians – a thinly veiled reference to Morsi’s supporters.

Since Morsi’s removal, his supporters have held near-daily demonstrations, which have been met by a fierce crackdown by security forces, which has left 1,400 people dead and seen more than 15,000 jailed.

Suicide bombings and Islamic militant attacks prompted the government to declare the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation.

Morsi and many of the top Brotherhood leaders have been jailed and are facing a series of trials, mostly in connection to violence associated with the protests.

For the first time, the cabinet doesn’t include the Information Ministry, the government body that for decades has overseen state media. The move is in line with the newly adopted constitution, which calls for an “independent institution” to regulate media and the press.

After Mubarak was ousted in 2011, activists and free media advocates called for the ministry and state media to be abolished. The transitional military council that took power after Mubarak initially agreed to the move, but then reinstated the ministry. Egypt’s new parliament – which is to be elected within months – has a mandate to pass legislation that will regulate the work of the new media body.

Also missing in the new cabinet is the Ministry of Administrative Development. A newly created ministry is supposed to tackle the problems of Cairo's sprawling slums and major Egyptian cities.

* Associated Press, with additional reporting from Agence France-Presse