Egyptian media said Thursday the country's military rulers have
appointed former Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri to form a new
government after the previous civilian Cabinet of Prime Minister Essam
Sharaf resigned.
State newspaper Al Ahram said on its website that Ganzouri agreed in
principle to lead a national salvation government after meeting with
the head of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF),
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.
The council also insisted that parliamentary elections will go ahead
as planned Monday, despite escalating violence that has left at least
35 people dead. After days of excusing the violent crackdown on
demonstrators, the council reversed course Thursday and apologized for
the deaths.
Meanwhile, thousands of Egyptian protesters and police observed a
fragile truce Thursday, but the crowd remained in Cairo's Tahrir
Square to press ahead with demands for the immediate resignation of
the military leaders.
Major General Mukhtar el-Mallah, of the Supreme Council of the Armed
Forces, said the move would amount to a "betrayal" of trust. "We
[Military Council] will not leave the power according to some demands
and empty slogans. If l leave power now, I would be a traitor of the
people and history and it would be written in the history that the
Military Council abandoned and betrayed its people," he said.
Protest organizers said they would hold another mass demonstration on Friday.
In another development, an Egyptian court has ordered the release of
three American students arrested during a protest in Cairo earlier
this week.
Egyptian media said the Americans, who were students at the American
University in Cairo, were detained along with other protesters while
throwing petrol bombs at police. ---VOA News
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