Political
In an interview with Reuters, Interior Minister Ashour Shuwail stated that close to 6,000 rebels, roughly 10% percent of those in the High Security Committees (HSC), have signed up to join the police. He said 37 police training committees under the Ministry of Interior had been set up to handle the new recruits, and that he was prepared to change admission rules to accept recruits as old as 40 or 45, or those lacking a high school diploma. According to several unconfirmed reports over the weekend, there are claims that Mahmoud Jibril’s National Forces Alliance (NFA) has pulled its members from the National Assembly citing concerns over delays in writing a constitution and mismanagement of the assembly, among others
On 7 January it was announced that Mohamed Abdulaziz, the current Minister of International Cooperation would also take on the role of the Minister of Foreign Affairs as the two ministries are merged. They posts were a single ministry under the Kib administration but separated by Ali Zeidan when he announced his government at the end of October 2012. The decision followed last weeks resignation of Ali Al-Aujali, who had originally been appointed by Zeidan to be Foreign Minister, but who never took up the post. His appointment was controversial from the start and although he was cleared by the Integrity Commission, there was persistent opposition in Congress to him taking office. Congress will be asked to endorse Abdulaziz’s appointment as it involves the merging of two ministries, but no serious opposition is expected.
