By Dina Zayed and Andrew Hammond /Reuters
CAIRO: A minister has resigned from the Egyptian cabinet formed by President Hosni Mubarak in response to an uprising against his rule, a family member said on Wednesday.
Culture Minister Gaber Asfour resigned for health reasons, a member of his family told Reuters. But the website of Egypt’s state-run daily newspaper Al-Ahram said Asfour, a writer, was under pressure from literary colleagues over the post.
It said he had believed when joining the cabinet, sworn in on Jan. 31, that it would be a national unity government. Many figures in the cabinet retained their posts from the previous government, but Asfour was a new face.
Mubarak has announced a list of concessions including a promise of political reforms, but protesters have continued occupying Tahrir Square in central Cairo and staging daily demonstrations around the country to demand that he resign.
