CAIRO: Egyptian television on Friday aired new footage of President Hosni Mubarak, who has been recovering in Germany after surgery, showing the 81-year-old making phone calls from hospital.
Footage showed Mubarak, wearing a grey cardigan, sitting at a table and going over paperwork with his chief of staff Zakaria Azmi at the Heidelberg University Hospital where he underwent surgery on March 6.
The president was also seen making telephone calls, laughing and joking.
“God willing at the end of the week, Mubarak said on the phone, in a possible reference to his return to Cairo.
“It’s been a tough one, he said, laughing.
The official MENA news agency said Mubarak had made several phone calls on Wednesday, including to Saudi King Abdullah and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to thank them for wishing him well.
“These were pictures of President Mubarak looking well and following up on state matters, the presenter on Egyptian TV said.
Earlier, Mubarak issued a presidential decree appointed Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb the new grand imam of Al-Azhar – Sunni Islam’s main seat of learning – after the sudden death of Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi on March 10.
Mubarak had his gall bladder and a growth on the small intestine removed on March 6, prompting further discussion on his possible successor.
The veteran leader’s fifth six-year term ends in 2011.
Mubarak, who has been in power for 29 years, temporarily handed power to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif before the operation. -AFP
