Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is scheduled to undergo gall bladder surgery Saturday in Germany.
Egypt's president has had successful surgery on his gallbladder in Germany.
Hosni Mubarak underwent the operation at Heidelberg University Hospital on Saturday, having earlier issued a decree temporarily handing power to Ahmed Nazif, Egypt's prime minister.
"Prime Minister Dr Ahmed Mahmud Mohammed Nazif assumes all the prerogatives of the president of the republic according to Article 82 of the constitution until he [Mubarak] resumes his responsibilities," the presidential decree said.
Mena, Egypt's state news agency said the president was in the intensive care unit where he was speaking with family members and his medical team.
It had reported days earlier that Mubarak was suffering from "chronic infections in the gallbladder".
The decree temporarily handing power to the prime minister was unusual as the health of Mubarak, who has ruled Egypt since 1981 and who turns 82 this year, is usually a taboo subject in Egypt.
'Concern to many'
Samer Shehata, an Egyptian professor at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera that since Egypt has no vice-president, news of Mubarak's surgery becomes "a concern to many Egyptians and many outside the country if it does not go well".
"Whenever there is a health issue with [the] president, all of a sudden questions of succession rise to the forefront of Egyptian politics, tremendous speculation, some concern and anxiety, and this is just one of those examples," he said.
Mubarak's fifth six-year term as president will end in 2011 and press reports in Egypt have suggested that his son Gamal is likely to succeed him.
Neither Mubarak nor his son have made any clear statements on the matter.
"The succession issue is one of the most hotly contested issues in Egypt right now. For good reason, it's tied into the issue of democratisation and reform and so on," Shehata said.
Succession concerns
Rawya Rageh, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Cairo, said that both the "timing and the announcement were significant".
"This, of course, is an election year in Egypt. We're expecting parliamentary elections later this year followed by presidential elections in 2011," she said.
"President Hosni Mubarak has, of course, never appointed a vice-president and the issue of succession has always loomed over his presidency.
"All this comes at a time when the country is witnessing a heated political debate with the return of the former head of [the] IAEA, [Mohamed] ElBaradei, who has spoken a lot about reforms in Egypt; about the ability of independent candidates to run as presidential candidates for next year's election."
The IAEA is the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency and ElBaradei, its former head, has said he could stand for president, but only if certain constitutional changes are made.
Health scare
Mubarak has said that ElBaradei could run for the presidency, provided he respects the constitution.
Under Egyptian law, a presidential candidate is required to have been a leading member of a party for at least one year and for the party to have existed for at least five years.
ElBaradei, who established the National Association for Change after he returned to Cairo last month has proved popular among Egyptians and enjoys a high profile internationally.
Murbarak's health has been a concern in the past. In 2007, rumours about his poor health were rife to the extent that he was prompted to make an unscheduled public appearance to dispel them.
One year later, Ibrahim Eissa, the editor-in-chief of the independent daily al-Dustur, was sentenced to two months in jail after his newspaper published rumours on Mubarak's health, although he was later granted a presidential pardon.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has handed power temporarily to his prime minister while he is scheduled to undergo gall bladder surgery Saturday in Germany, the state-run MENA news agency reported.
Mubarak has issued a presidential decree delegating Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif executive power until he returns to Cairo, as the constitution requires him to do, according to the report.
State media said on Friday that the president will undergo several medical check-ups in German city of Heidelberg during his visit in Germany.
The operation will take place in Heidelberg, and his wife and two sons including Gamal, as well as Health Minister Hatem el- Gabali, accompanied him, the report said.
President Mubarak is visiting Germany for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
0 comments:
Post a Comment