عصام شرف
On 16 July, Maj. Gen. Tarek el-Mahdi briefly visited a protest camp in Tahrir Square but left after protesters, some holding shoes in anger, booed him off a stage. He had come to persuade a dozen demonstrators to end a hunger strike which had begun several days ago. El-Mahdi later told state television that he was disappointed that a small crowd of protesters managed to drive him out of the square before he could reach the tent housing the hunger strikers. Prime Minister Essam Sharaf also accepted the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammed el-Orabi. He then appointed two new deputies, one of which was prominent economist and former head of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Hazem el-Biblawi.