Essam Sharaf, the interim prime minister, offered his cabinet’s resignation late on Monday, but a military official said the council was seeking agreement on a new prime minister before it would accept the resignation.

Sources said SCAF had approached Mohamed ElBaradei, the presidential hopeful and opposition politician, to form a new interim government. However, ElBaradei was said to be hesitating over assurances regarding his authority to choose cabinet ministers.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s defence minister of two decades and the head of SCAF, was scheduled to address the nation, according to Egypt’s state television…

Essam Sharaf, the interim prime minister, offered his cabinet’s resignation late on Monday, but a military official said the council was seeking agreement on a new prime minister before it would accept the resignation.

Sources said SCAF had approached Mohamed ElBaradei, the presidential hopeful and opposition politician, to form a new interim government. However, ElBaradei was said to be hesitating over assurances regarding his authority to choose cabinet ministers.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s defence minister of two decades and the head of SCAF, was scheduled to address the nation, according to Egypt’s state television.