Egyptian ministers of information, youths exchange posts

A limited ministerial reshuffle was announced on Tuesday in the government of the Egyptian prime minister Ahmad Nazif during which the ministers of information and youths exchanged their posts.

An Egyptian presidential statement explained that Mamdouh al-Beltaji quit the post of the minister of information for Anas al-Faqi and replaced him in his post as a minister of youths and sports.

Anas al-Faqi ( 38 year old) is described as one of the supporters of Jamal Mubarak, the younger son for the Egyptian President, who occupies the post of the secretary of the politics committee in the ruling party, whose political role was heightened during the two past years.

Mamdouh al-Beltaji ( 67 year old) spent 10 years in the ministry of tourism before he assumed the post of information in Nazif's government in July 2004.

Al-Beltaji underwent a surgery in Paris in September 2004 to remove an aneurysm in the brain. His project to introduce reforms to the Egyptian radio and TV federation -- the premises of the official media where scores of journalists, technicians and employees are recruited -- met with great opposition.

The Egyptian papers said that al-Beltaji was intending to privatize regional networks, but he denied that.

During last weeks, al-Beltaji faced protests from the Egyptian TV drama writers because of his decision to found a committee for licensing drama works broadcast by the Egyptian TV, with the aim to produce a "Drama that promotes the values and traditions of the Egyptian society." Last Ramadan, the Egyptian minister refused to broadcast a series called "girl from Shubra" which focuses on a "love and marriage story of a Muslim man from a Christian woman" with the events taking place during the years of militant struggle for Egypt's independence in the 1930 s and 1940s, considering that the series violate national unity.