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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has appointed General Ashraf Salem Zaher Mansour as the country’s new defence minister as part of a relatively limited cabinet reshuffle.
Mansour, who was the Commandant of the Egyptian Military Academy, replaced General Abdel Majeed Saqr, who had only been the country’s defence minister since July 2024.
The lower house of the Egyptian parliament, the House of Representatives, approved the cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday, according to state media. Mansour’s appointment was not announced at that time.
The shake-up mainly targeted economic and service portfolios, as the country seeks a way out of years of crisis.
The President has directed the cabinet’s economic ministries to reduce public debt.
He has also reportedly scrapped the ministries of planning, economic development, and international cooperation, which were led by Rania al-Mashat, an economist who has been a fixture of Sisi’s administration in various roles since 2018.
According to Central Bank figures, Egyptian public debt has increased over the past decade, reaching $161 billion in the last fiscal year.
As part of an $8 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, a long-delayed state privatisation plan aims to reduce the military’s economic influence.
Former World Bank specialist Ahmed Rostom has been named minister of planning, while Mahmoud Helmy al-Sherif has been appointed to the justice ministry.
The reshuffle also appointed Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service, as state minister for information, the first in five years.
Former handball champion and three-time Olympian Gohar Nabil has also been named Egypt’s new minister for youth and sport.
