Egypt plans constitutional reform in two months

A panel of legal experts says it will submit a revised version of Egypt's constitution to a referendum within two months. In continuing unrest, workers at a huge textile factory whose past strikes have inspired anti-Mubarak campaigners have downed tools again.

AFP/MOHAMMED ABED

On Tuesday, Egypt’s military appointed a panel of experts and gave it ten days to revise the constitution.

"We will finish the revisions in 10 days, and the referendum and the results will be completed in two months," said Sobhi Saleh, a member of the panel that includes judges and constitutional experts.

The panel is to abolish articles in the constitution giving presidents unlimited terms in office and the right to refer cases to military courts.

Saleh, who is a prominent member of the opposition Muslim brotherhood, also said the referendum process would be guarded by the military and the police.

On Sunday, the military suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament, promising to oversee a rapid transition to democratic rule.

On Wednesday, workers at Egypt’s largest factory renewed their strike for high wages, one day after the military claimed that a wave of industrial action was having a disastrous impact on the economy.

The 24,000 workers at the Misr Spinning and Weaving Company in the Nile Delta town of el-Mahalla el-Kubra suspended industrial action on Tuesday to celebrate the birth of the Prophet Mohammed.

The strikers are demanding higher wages and the resignation of two of the factory’s directors.

"The Supreme Council is aware of the economic and social circumstances society is undergoing, but these issues cannot be resolved before the strikes and sit-ins end," the state news agency quoted military sources as saying.