BERLIN: Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak, who underwent surgery in a German hospital this month, is likely to be released “in the coming days, the clinic said Wednesday.
“I cannot give you a date, a spokeswoman for the University of Heidelberg hospital told AFP, but noted, “Everything went well. We are expecting his release in due course.
Mubarak, 81, had his gall bladder and a growth from his small intestine removed in an operation on March 6.
Before the operation, Mubarak temporarily handed powers to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif.
The veteran leader left intensive care last week for a normal hospital room, and Friday, Egyptian television aired new footage of him making telephone calls, laughing and joking as he resumed some official business.
Analysts say the president’s health, usually a closely guarded secret that has led to journalists being punished for questioning it, has intensified talk over his eventual succession.
Mubarak, president since 1981, has no vice president. The veteran leader’s fifth six-year term ends in 2011, but he has not indicated whether he will run again next year.
His son Gamal has not commented on widespread speculation that he would succeed his father. -AFP
