ElBaradei may form next government

Egypt's supreme military council said it is considering asking presidential hopeful Mohammed ElBaradei to form a national salvation government. Al-Youm al-Sabe reported Tuesday the decision to appoint ElBaradei follows the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Shara's government Monday in response to the wave of violence that has swept the country in recent days. Initially the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces rejected the resignation but Tuesday appeared to be leaning toward accepting it and assigning ElBaradei the task of forming a transitional government, Israel Radio said. Amnesty International said Tuesday Egypt's military rulers had "completely failed to live up their promises to Egyptians to improve human rights." More than 30 people have been killed and 1,700 injured in clashes with Egyptian security forces since Saturday. A fresh wave of violence erupted in Cairo's Tahrir Square Tuesday morning amid reports of a planned million-person march in the capital to demand the military rulers step down, CNN said. Egyptian police responded with tear gas and rubber bullets, and ambulances rushed in and out of the square, the network said. The ruling council's Gen. Sayed Abbas accused demonstrators of provoking the violence, saying they "have a right to protest, but we must stand between them and the Interior Ministry." He said "unknown people" fired live ammunition at protesters from atop buildings to ignite rancor between the military and the people. Several political groups delivered a collective apology to the protesters for not joining them sooner and "for not providing them with a political cover for the past 72 hours," Egyptian political scientist, human-rights activist and public intellectual Amr Hamzawy said on Twitter. Three hospital doctors treating patients told The New York Times they saw as many as 10 patients killed by live ammunition, despite Interior Ministry denials. The doctors said administrators had told them to deny any evidence of bullet wounds, the Times said. Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Selmi said the parliamentary vote scheduled for Nov. 28, would be held on time regardless of whether the government stays in office or is replaced MENA reported. Former Arab League chief and presidential candidate Amr Moussa accused the protesters of attempting to spread more chaos and unrest in the country, al-Arabiya said. Moussa said the current violence sweeping the country is not a new revolution but the outcome of a misunderstanding due to the weakness of the government and the slowness in implementing its decisions. He called on the ruling military council to specify a timeline for handing powers over to a civilian authority, al-Arabiya said. Meanwhile the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party said in a statement Monday it would no longer participate in the protests, al-Masry al-Youm said.