Egypt’s Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq has resigned, the country’s ruling military council has announced in a statement.
A former transport minister, Essam Sharaf, has been asked to form a new government, the statement addded.
Shafiq was appointed days before President Hosni Mubarak was forced out of office following days of anti-government protests.
Protesters saw Shafiq as too closely associated to Mubarak’s rule, observers say.
“The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces decided to accept the resignation of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq and appointed Essam Sharaf to form the new government,” the army said in a statement on its Facebook page.
Shafiq was appointed by Mubarak just days before he stepped down on February 11 after several weeks of popular protests against his rule.
It had been one of the protesters’ key demands that Shafiq and other top ministers appointed at the end of the Mubarak rule step down. (BBC)
