The Egyptian government is to be reshuffled within the next 48 hours, according to news reports late Sunday in Egypt.
Parliamentary speaker Saad al-Katatni of the influential Muslim Brotherhood said he had received a telephone call from Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of Egypt’s ruling military council, informing him of the imminent reshuffling, according to a report in Al Ahram newspaper online.
The move came just hours after the Islamist-dominated parliament said it would temporarily halt its sessions in protest against the military rulers’ refusal to sack the government. Al-Katatni said in a televised address that the sessions would be suspended for a week.
Al-Ahram reported that the cabinet reshuffle would include new ministers from Islamist—oriented and other parties currently represented in Parliament.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which holds nearly half of the seats in parliament, has repeatedly called on the junta to sack the government of Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri. The group has accused the government, appointed in December, of incompetence.
The suspension signals growing tensions between the Brotherhood and the military, which has ruled Egypt since a popular revolt deposed Hosny Mubarak from power in February 2011.
