Egypt’s government reshuffle is theatrical – Cairo professor

Those who participated in the revolution in Egypt feel fooled by the new government’s appointments, and now start to remember Hosni Mubarak’s rule as a better time.

Mubarak was ousted in a national uprising in February, but since then critics complained little had changed.After six months of pointless waiting and quite expectable pressure from protesters who once again gathered in Tahrir Square demanding faster reforms after the revolution, a new cabinet has been sworn in. Despite the Egyptian people’s expectation that the nation would be cleaned of the past regime, the newly appointed cabinet consists of many familiar faces to the Egyptian public. People now are not merely disappointed and tired by the developments of the revolution, they are consider another revolution, according to Abdallah Al Ashal, a professor at the American University in Cairo and former Egyptian Foreign Ministry official.“The only difference now is that Mubarak is not there [in Cairo], he is in Sharm el-Sheikh,” Al Ashal said. “So, Mubarak is either still controlling the country through the [interim] council, or the council is greatly confused. It does not know how to get Egypt out of the impasse, and is afraid of its own people.”“Now, after six months, Egypt is deteriorating, nothing has changed to being much better than it was before,” he stated.Now there is no trust between the people and the authorities, he added, because those who committed crimes against the Egyptian people during this spring’s revolution have not been put on trial.