I had previously written a different version of above headline, with a different name as the appointee.
But this time, the designation of a new leader for Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, replacing long-time antiquities head Zahi Hawass, may actually stick.
Nevine El-Aref of Al-Ahram reports:
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf appointed Mohamed Abdel
Fattah the new Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities
(SCA).
Abdel Fattah was the head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities sector at
the SCA. He previously served as head of the Museums sectors and
director of antiquities in Upper Egypt.
So far, the response to this appointment—on Egyptology-related blogs and on Facebook—seems to be cautiously positive, unlike the sharply negative response to the previous, immediately rescinded nomination of a non-archaeologist, Abdel-Fattah El-Banna, to the same post.
As for Hawass: Zahi updated his blog on Aug. 15 (after a month-long hiatus) with a Message to all my friends, in which he described “how so many Egyptians respect and love me,” notwithstanding what he characterized as “false accusations” leveled against him. Regarding those, he stated: “I am now waiting for the Office of the Attorney General to finish their investigation; after this, I will be free to publish the details of these ridiculous allegations [my link, not his].”
Outwardly undaunted by the vagaries of his uncertain circumstances, Hawass says that he is now writing “a book about the Egyptian Revolution and its effect on our antiquities. I am also getting ready to start the second part of my archaeological autobiography.”
The Zahi Saga continues…