The Egyptian government retreated Monday, July 16, on plans to limit civil service employment on the basis of age, following demonstrations in which 22 people were injured over the weekend, government sources said.
Prime Minister Atef Ebeid decided to lift the age restrictions on public employment announced last Friday, sparking protests in nine Egyptian governates, the source said.
"During a Sunday night meeting, Ebeid gave his orders to government branches to consider all requests for work, without letting age be a factor" Information Minister Safuat Al-Sherif was also quoted saying Monday in the official Al-Ahram newspaper.
Ebeid is to meet soon with representatives from government office recruitment agencies to ensure compliance, Sherif said.
Egypt has guaranteed for more than 50 years a job in the public sector to anyone with a diploma from a university or professional school. It is a provision, which critics say is a drain on public funds and helps maintain a bloated bureaucracy.
Demonstrators took to the streets Saturday after Egypt's State Minister for Administrative Development Mohamed Zaki Abu Amer called for a maximum entry age into Egypt's civil service of 24 for those with less than a full university degree, and of 28 for those holding university diplomas.
Twenty-two Egyptians were slightly hurt when police fired tear gas to disperse 3,000 people demonstrating against the proposed reforms in the Nile Delta town of Zagazig, capital of the northern governorate of Sharquiya. ― (AFP, Cairo)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
