Egypt's new prime minister faces labor crisis, strikes
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb risks inflaming unrest if he takes a tough stance on the current public sector strikes.
CAIRO — "Security and stability in the entire country and crushing terrorism will pave the way for investment." So Ibrahim Mehleb introduced himself as Egypt's new prime minister on Feb. 25, promising that security solutions would finally bring economic prosperity to a country very much ready for it.
But the mass Cabinet resignation announced by former Prime Minister Hazem el-Biblawi Feb. 24 means a consensus on how to deal with growing labor unrest may now start to crumble, complicated further by the reported exit of leftist Kamal Abu Eita as Egypt's manpower minister. Mehleb, housing minister under Biblawi and a member of deposed President Hosni Mubarak's disgraced National Democratic Party before that, has a difficult road ahead.
