Good news from Egypt

Seems like things are settling down to a dull roar and that the military is staying classy. From The Houston Chronicle/Associated Press:

Egypt's military appoints first post-Mubarak PM
Egypt's military rulers appointed the first post-Hosni Mubarak prime minister Thursday, replacing an air force pilot close to the ousted leader in a bid to appease thousands of protesters who had threatened to renew the occupation of a central Cairo square.

The opposition hailed the decision as another victory for "people power" but many warned pressure must be maintained on the military to implement other democratic reforms, including an accountable police agency and a new constitution.

Leaders of the 18-day uprising that forced Mubarak to resign had been pressing the military to fire Ahmed Shafiq, arguing that a prime minister sworn in by the ousted leader should not stay in office. They also were angry that his Cabinet was filled with figures from the old regime.

The military's official Facebook page said former Transport Minister Essam Sharaf had been chosen as prime minister and asked to form a caretaker Cabinet during the transition to civilian rule.

Activists say they had recommended the choice of Sharaf.

"First we ousted Mubarak. Second, we got rid of Shafiq. We have become again the owners of this country," said Bassem Kamel, a member of the Youth Coalition, an umbrella group of activists who launched the protests Jan. 25.

Sharaf, who served in the Cabinet for 18 months between 2004 and the end of 2005, has endeared himself to the youth groups by visiting them in Cairo's central Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, the uprising's epicenter. An engineer, Sharaf also appeared to fit the image of a professional civil servant who after leaving office founded a group of like-minded scientists called "the age of science."

"He is a reformer and was a vocal critic" of the old system, said Shady Ghazali, another protest leader.

Do not know anything about the guy but that he is an Engineer makes me feel really good about this appointment. Engineers are by their very nature complex problem solvers -- dealing with a multi-variant problem is beyond the scope of a political hack but mothers milk to an engineer. If Mr. (or most likely Dr.) Sharaf doesn't get sucked into the creeping meatball of politics, Egypt will be in very good hands. That is one part of the world I would love to visit sometime...