Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik vows to bring order back to the country after weeks of turbulent events, reports Gamal Essam El-Din After more than three weeks of street protests and political instability the interim government's Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik announced on Sunday that instilling order comes on top of the coming period's priorities. "Stability and security was lost when street protests swept the country on 25 January. We are doing our best to bring them back," said Shafik. Street protests and labour unrest are the two main obstacles standing in the way of stability and order, argued the interim prime minister. "It is fine for protesters in Tahrir Square to clean it but this should really be left to officials while they go back to their jobs and schools and push the wheels of production forward." Shafik also warned that "state employees who seized the Tahrir Square protests to organise street demonstrations asking for higher salaries could spell disaster for the economy." "Higher salaries for employees in a single organisation was estimated at LE500 million. If things continue this way Egypt will face economic catastrophe and social chaos." Shafik regreted that "so many employees now raise the slogan 'Either you pay more or we will withdraw our labour'". He promised that "the government will do its best to meet the needs of citizens but right now everyone must return to work". In recent days hundreds of employees have taken to the streets demanding higher salaries and the dismissal of many of those in charge. The largest demonstration so far was organised on Sunday when hundreds of employees at the National Bank of Egypt protested against chairman Tarek Amer. As a result the government decided that banks would remain closed on Monday and Tuesday. Minister of Interior Mahmoud Wagdi vowed on 13 February that security services will be back to the streets within 48 hours. "When I took office as new interior minister security conditions were at their worst. The 25 January protests caused the disappearance of 65 per cent of security forces from the streets. I hope by the end of this week that 100 per cent will have returned." On 14 February Wagdi appointed new security chiefs for the governorates of Cairo, Giza, Gharbiya, Qalioubiya and Minya. He identified restoring order to Egypt's network of prisons as one of the biggest challenges, claiming 23,000 of an estimated 80,000 prisoners escaped on 28 January, of which just 10,500 had been recaptured. Security experts believe it will be some time before stability returns to the streets. Amin Radi, chairman of the dissolved parliament's national security and defence committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly that three weeks of protests had exposed the enormity of the rift between policemen and the public, a result, he argued, of "the tough policies of Habib El-Adli". Radi believes "the change should be primarily in policies not personnel". Police officers should receive intensive courses on human rights issues and draw on lessons of other countries in this respect. "I hope democratic reforms will help mend fences between the police and the public and that any new constitution will state in clear- cut terms the rights and duties of both policemen and citizens." Thousands of police officers have taken part in protests in front of the Interior Ministry, taking former interior minister El-Adli to task for the killing of protesters and demanding higher salaries. Minister of Finance Samir Radwan says Egypt has lost $6.2 billion in revenues since 25 January. Though stressing that Egypt is not in need of loans from the International Monetary Fund, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Abul-Gheit said on Monday that he had agreed with several foreign ministers, including those of Saudi Arabia and the United States, that the door would be open for requests for financial help. Gawdat Al-Malt, chairman of the Central Auditing Agency, said on 14 February that Egypt's internal and external debts had reached LE1.08 billion, or 89.5 per cent of GDP. Al-Malt clashed several times with former minister of finance Youssef Boutros Ghali. Shafik said on Sunday that food supplies in Egypt are stable and stocks of wheat sufficient to cover needs for six months. Shafik also announced the formation of a ministerial group, headed by Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi and comprising an additional nine members of cabinet, to take charge of supervising the provision of public services. Representatives of the protesters who met with the Higher Council of the Armed Forces (HCAF) on Monday demanded Shafik be removed and the appointment of at least some opposition figures to the interim government. According to Wael Ghoneim, one of the organisers of 25 January protests, the HCAF promised that there will be changes in the government next week and that opposition figures would be included. Tahrir activists believe that Shafik and other cabinet ministers, particularly the Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marei, are too tainted by their closeness to the Mubarak regime. The tourism, information, culture, and education portfolios remain vacant.
