The president's in town

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President Hosni Mubarak waves to the media after leaving the orthopedic clinic in Munich where he was convalescing after an operation for a slipped disc (photo: Reuters)

PRESIDENT HOSNI Mubarak arrived back in Egypt yesterday following surgery and medical treatment for serious back problems in Germany. Over recent weeks Mubarak's health -- and its impact on national and regional affairs -- have been the subject of widespread rumours as Egypt engaged in a national guessing game over the cabinet reshuffle widely trailed before Mubarak left for Germany. Questions also emerged over the strength and impact of Egypt's role in brokering a coherent and politically worthwhile Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip in Mubarak's absence.

"We have been waiting for him to come back. We are so pleased that he is back because there is so much that we want him to do," said a ticket conductor at the Maadi underground metro station. Like many of the lower and middle classes the Maadi ticket inspector wants to see a new government committed to easing the economic burdens of his life.

But the cabinet re-shuffle actually began while Mubarak was still in Germany with the dramatic exit of former Minister of Information Safwat El-Sherif.

A source close to the president revealed that in Germany he had worked with his closest aides to decide on who should leave the government, who should stay and who will join. According to the source the president will finalise the re-shuffle in "days rather than weeks".

"The president," he said, "is well aware of the state of limbo in which many ministries find themselves and he doesn't like it."

Sources also suggest that before announcing the cabinet re-shuffle and a subsequent shake up of provincial governors Mubarak will hold a meeting with senior National Democratic Party (NDP) figures.

Many predict that reformist figures, particularly those close to Gamal Mubarak, chairman of the NDP policy secretariat, will join the new government. Mubarak's collective and individual meetings with NDP bigwigs could also, some suggest, result in changes in senior NDP posts, with the Party's secretary-general since 2002, Safwat El-Sherif, a possible casualty.

Legal experts have argued that a conflict of interests exists between El-Sherif's new post as Speaker of the Shura Council and the secretary-generalship of the NDP.

In the next few days the president is also expected to undertake some foreign affairs duties. Meetings with caretaker Iraqi President Ghazi Al-Yawer and Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei are being scheduled and Mubarak is expected to devote some of the next few days deliberating over Egypt's next moves on the Palestinian and Iraqi files.

The president is planning to send the head of Egyptian intelligence, Omar Suleiman, to Ramallah and Israel to resume diplomatic efforts to secure an inter- Palestinian dialogue and an Israeli commitment to refrain from attacking Gaza.