CAIRO: New ministers in a sweeping reshuffle of Egypt's cabinet took their oaths in front of the country's military ruler on Thursday, as the prime minister sought to appease protests over the pace of reform.
"The new ministers in the government of (Prime Minister) Essam Sharaf took their oaths today in front of the commander of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi," the official MENA news agency reported.
Roughly half of the ministers in the reshuffled cabinet are new.
The changed line-up was meant to take office on Monday but the ceremony was delayed amid wrangling that led to Sharaf's brief hospitalisation with exhaustion.
Sharaf had hoped the new cabinet would mollify activists who have been camped out in Cairo's Tahrir Square since July 8, but they have rejected the new line-up, which retains several ministers they want sacked.
According to a list published on MENA, several controversial ministers kept their posts, including two appointed under ousted president Hosni Mubarak - Electricity Minister Hassan Yunis and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga.
But Mubarak's environment minister, Maged George, the only remaining Coptic Christian in the cabinet, has been replaced by Maged Ilyas Ghattas, another Copt, according to MENA.
The protesters wanted Sharaf to replace Justice Minister Abdel Aziz al-Gindi, whom they accused of delaying trials of former regime officials, including Mubarak himself.
Mansur Essawy, the interior minister protesters wanted fired, also kept his post.
No minister for antiquities was named. Sharaf's first choice, Islamic relics expert Abdel Fatah al-Banna, came under fire shortly after his appointment was announced on Monday.
State media reported that the ministry itself, which was created only in Mubarak's final year, was being abolished.
Activists have called for a mass demonstration on Friday, dubbing it the "Decisive Friday", while hardline Islamist groups say they are organising a counter-demonstration for "stability".
It will be the second cabinet to take office in the face of protests since a nationwide revolt overthrew Mubarak in February.
He is now under arrest on murder and corruption charges in a hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, undergoing treatment for a heart condition.
Sharaf's cabinet was sworn in weeks after the strongman's resignation on February 11, after mass protests persuaded the ruling military to sack Mubarak's last cabinet.
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