February 25- March 1, 2014
Weekly Media Monitoring report for Egypt
Posted on March 3, 2014
Contents
Compiled by Vanessa Bassal, MIGS Desk Officer for Egypt
Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi Resigns
Privately owned Media
Daily News Egypt (24/02/1014):
- Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi, appointed by President Adly Mansour a few days following the overthrowing of the Muslim Brotherhood President Muhammad Morsi, has announced his resignation from the cabinet on Monday afternoon. The causes of his resignation are still vague, yet El-Beblawi cites “current circumstances the country is experiencing,” including a slow economy and decreased activity in the tourism industry, amongst other things as one of the great motivating factors for the sudden resignation.
- Minutes after the announcement was made, criticism on all sides of the Egyptian political spectrum arose with the Muslim Brotherhood confirming the fragility of al-Sisi’s position (i.e the Egyptian Army) and emphasizing the importance of uniting all political parties in Egypt as the only solution to ending the current turmoil in the country.
- Representatives from the April 6 Movement, a movement that arose in response to the Mahalla Strike movement back in 2008, has stated that the resignation of El-Beblawi is attributed to the failure on the part of his government representatives to live up to the expectations of the Egyptian people, citing the initiation of security restorations in the country as having failed.
- Al-Nour Party representative noted the failure of the El-Bebawi government to address issues presented in workers strikes as one of the fundamental factors for his resignation.
- An important member of the Twitter community and expert on Egypt @TheBigPharaoh has cited the continued labour strikes as the reason for El-Bebawi’s sudden resignation.
Ibrahim Mehleb appointed as New Prime Minister of Egypt
Privately owned Media
(25/02/2014) Egypt Independent
- Ibrahim Mehleb, the housing minister under the El-Beblawi has been appointed as Egypt’s new Prime Minister and upon requests, he has promised to form a new cabinet in the next three to four days.
- Criticism in Egypt has risen following Mehleb’s appointment as a result of his former ties with the overthrown Mubarak regime. The critics, the opposition fear the coming of another military government in Egypt, therefore defying the goal of the January 25 revolution.
- Mehleb is hopeful in trying to restore security and safety in Egypt through the removal of terrorist acts in the country and has promised the people of Egypt that his government will put all of its efforts in trying to properly serve its citizens. Thus, Mehleb’s ultimate goal is to assure a stable roadmap for the upcoming elections in Egypt which are said to occur between the months of February and April 2014, although given recent events in the country they will most probably occur at a later time.
Abdel Fatah al-Sissi Begins establishing his Political Campaign
Privately Owned Media
(26/02/2014) Al-Masry al-Youm (Arabic)
- In a televised private report on MBC Egypt, Muhammad Hosneen, a prominent Egyptian journalist has announced that presidential candidate Abdel al-Fatah al-Sissi is beginning to mount for his political campaign this coming April.
- Those members responsible for helping in mounting his political campaign come from solid political backgrounds in Egypt and include Ibrahim ‘Aissa, an Egyptian journalist as well as ‘Amr Moussa, a previous presidential candidate and Moustafa Hajazi who is a political advisor to the Egyptian Senate.
- The Committee made up of these five prestigious members have met a total of three times until now.