German Chanellor Angela Merkel Saturday phoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to congratulate hiim on the success of gallbladder surgery, reported the official Middle East News Agency. Mubarak, who is recovering in Germany from the March 6 surgery, resumed his activities on Friday. Egyptian officials said he would return home within days. "President Mubarak made several phone calls this day morning to follow up on the country's affairs and the development of current events," a report on the official Egyptian television said on Friday. Mubarak phoned Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, the chiefs of the Parliament's two houses and ministers of defence, interior and foreign affairs as well as the chief of Egyptian intelligence, added the State-run Nile TV. Mubarak also called Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. He is also expected to call a number of other heads of state during the coming hours, the report added. Mubarak issued a number of presidential decrees including one by which he appointed a new sheikh for Al-Azhar. He also referred a bill on modifying the constituencies for the Shura Council (the Upper House of Parliament) and signed a number of agreements ratified by the Parliament. Mubarak, 81, received successful cholecystectomy surgery on March 6 in Germany after he suffered acute gall bladder inflammation, accompanied by gall stones.
