Egypt government announced as Tantawi keeps his job

The cabinet is due to be sworn in by President Mohammed Mursi, who took office last month.

The military retains broad powers, including legislative authority.

Mr Mursi, from the Muslim Brotherhood, promised an inclusive government, with women and Christians represented.

The new information minister will be Salah Abd-al-Maqsud, Mr Qandil told a news conference, according to Egypt's Mena news agency.

Mr Qandil will hold a meeting with members of his government on Saturday to discuss the next steps on seeking an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, he said, according to the Reuters news agency.

Field Marshal Tantawi ruled the country after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year, before handing power to Mr Mursi following his election in June.

Mr Mursi has been criticised for the time he has taken to name a prime minister and form a government.

His nomination of Mr Qandil, the outgoing water resources minister, surprised many observers, who had been expecting a well-known figure.

On Wednesday, state media reported that the prime minister-designate had told Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamal Amr and Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said that they would keep their posts.

Maj-Gen Ahmed Jamal al-Din, the current assistant interior minister for security, was meanwhile asked to be interior minister, Mena said.

"Given the circumstances that have been taking place in the country the coming period will need us all - the government and the people - to work together to maintain stability," the general told reporters in Cairo.

The re-appointment of Field Marshal Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), is in line with an interim constitutional declaration issued after June's presidential election run-off.

The Scaf assumed presidential powers after Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down as president in February 2011.

Its declaration and decision to dissolve parliament only days before caused outrage and overshadowed the nominal transfer of power to President Mursi on 30 June.

Of the 18 ministers named so far by state media, two are members of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which Mr Mursi used to lead.

Mustafa Musaad, who was responsible for educational policies during the president's election campaign, will become education minister, while Tariq Wafiq, head of the FJP's housing committee, will be housing minister.

Another key post, the minister of religious endowments (Awqaf), went Osama al-Abd, the president of al-Azhar University. There had been speculation that an ultraconservative Salafist cleric, Mohammed Yusri Ibrahim, would be appointed.

Source & Image : BBC