Egypt Oil Minister To Form New Cabinet

The Egyptian president, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, accepted the resignation of his prime minister and Cabinet on Saturday after a series of high-profile accusations of corruption.

On Monday, Agriculture Minister Salah Helal and some aides were arrested for what local media described as the biggest corruption case to be uncovered since al-Sissi took office more than a year ago.

Further details to follow.

Sisi’s election victory came almost a year after he deposed his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi (right) meets outgoing oil minister Sharif Ismail at the presidential palace in the capital yesterday. On 7 September, the country’s agriculture minister quit and was arrested amid an investigation into allegations of corruption, according to state-run Nile News.

Mr El Sisi is reinforcing “the rationale that the president is cleaning up the country and fighting corruption”, said Ziad Akl, senior researcher at Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, a think tank in Cairo. Mehleb also failed to pressure his ministers into following through on memorandums of understanding that el-Sissi signed during a much-publicized economic summit in March, they said.

However, the President ordered the cabinet to continue carrying out their duties until a new cabinet is formed.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, is due to hold long-delayed parliamentary elections next month, the final step in a process the government has said would deliver democracy.