New ministers in a sweeping reshuffle of Egypt’s Cabinet were sworn in before the military ruler yesterday, as the Prime Minister sought to appease protesters over the pace of reform.

“The new ministers in the government of (Prime Minister) Essam Sharaf took their oaths ... in front of the commander of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi,” the official Mena news agency reported.

Roughly half of the ministers in the reshuffled Cabinet are new.

The changed line-up was meant to take office on Monday but the ceremony was delayed amid wrangling that led to Mr Sharaf’s brief hospitalisation with exhaustion.

Mr Sharaf had hoped the new Cabinet would mollify activists who have been camped out in Cairo’s Tahrir Square since July 8, but they have rejected the new line-up, which retains several ministers they want sacked.

“This government does not in any shape express our aspirations for the revolution,” said Tareq al-Khouli, a leader of the April 6 movement and organiser of the sit-in.

According to a list published on Mena, several controversial ministers kept their posts, including two appointed under ousted president Hosni Mubarak – Electricity Minister Hassan Yunis and International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga.

But Mr Mubarak’s Environment Minister, Maged George, the only remaining Coptic Christian in the Cabinet, was replaced by Maged Ilyas Ghattas, another Copt, according to Mena.

“We don’t understand why they are being so obstinate about keeping former Mubarak party members, rather than replacing them with respectable people,” Mr Khouli said, adding the sit-in would continue.