Feb. 24 Egyptian authorities arrested Anas al-Fiqqi , the country's former information minister, and Osama el-Sheikh, the chairman of state TV and radio on corruption allegations. The arrests were the latest move made by the country's military rulers against figures in the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
March 2 Speculation that former President Hosni Mubarak had departed Egypt for Saudi Arabia heightened with a government-owned newspaper saying that he had gone late last week to a special Saudi military complex at Tabuk for chemotherapy treatment by his usual German doctors. He is suffering from pancreatic and colon cancer, it said.
March 3 Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq resigned, bowing to one of the main demands of Egypt’s opposition movement, which has called for his ouster from its informal headquarters in a resurrected tent city in Tahrir Square. Egypt's stock exchange, which suspended trading a month ago when nationwide anti-regime protests erupted, said it will remain closed until further notice.
March 9 Eleven people died in overnight fighting between Christians and Muslims in the suburbs of Cairo, in the deadliest unrest since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, which was striking for the solidarity between people of different backgrounds. The clashes broke out during a protest by several hundred Christians over the burning of a church in the village of Soul a week earlier, and raged into the early hours of the morning, adding to a sense of unease as the country charts a post-Mubarak future.
March 14 With the referendum over the constitutional amendments that will shape Egypt’s immediate political future just days away, the country’s nascent political forces were agreed on two things. The referendum, a simple up or down vote on about 10 amendments scheduled for March 19, will be a milestone and the first one not rigged outright in about 60 years. Also, and far more important, is that the referendum floats in a sea of confusion: the military has suspended the Constitution to rule, yet is asking the public to approve the reworking of bits of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment