Egypt’s military rulers eye ElBaradei for a national salvation government

Egypt’s military rulers consider assigning presidential hopeful Dr Mohammed ElBaradei to form a national salvation government following the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Dr Essam Sharaf, an Egyptian daily reported on Tuesday citing political sources. The sources told Egypt’s al-Youm al-Sabe daily that the members of the new proposed government have not been decided yet. ElBaradei, the former chief of the U.N. atomic watchdog, on Monday denounced violence against protesters and called for a national salvation government. He called on the SCAF to meet the demands of protesters that include the cancelling of military trials of civilians. Egypt’s cabinet said on Monday it had resigned, as clashes raged for a third day in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. “The government of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has handed its resignation to the (ruling) Supreme Council of the Armed Forces,” cabinet spokesman Mohammed Hegazy said in a statement carried by the official MENA news agency. State television quoted a military source as saying the ruling military council had rejected the resignation, but Information Minister Osama Heikal told MENA the matter had not yet been decided. Sharaf's resignation, if accepted, threatens to derail parliamentary elections scheduled for Nov. 28 -- the first polls since Mubarak was toppled in February. But the military council is seeking agreement on a new prime minister before it accepts Sharaf’s resignation, a military source told Reuters. The source said no formal announcement would be made until the ruling military council had agreed on the candidate. He did not provide further details.