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Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt, will undergo a gall bladder operation in Germany on Saturday, Egyptian state television has announced.
It reported on Thursday that the ageing president had complained of gall bladder pain while in Germany for talks with Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany.
"Mubarak is undergoing surgery on his gall bladder because he has been suffering severe inflammation of his gall bladder," state television reported late on Friday.
The operation would take place in Heidelberg, where he had gall bladder tests, it said, adding that his wife and two sons including Gamal, as well as Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali, were with him.
Mubarak temporarily delegated presidential power to Ahmed Nazif, the country's prime minister, the television said.
"He has issued a presidential decree delegating Ahmed Nazif presidential powers until he returns," it said.
The health of Mubarak, who turns 82 this year, is usually a taboo subject in the country he has ruled since 1981, fuelling regular rumors on the subject.
Concerns
Samer Shehata, an Egyptian professor at Georgetown University, told Al Jazeera the fact that Egypt has no vice president, the news of Mubarak's undergoing surgery becomes "a concern to many Egyptians and many outside the country if it does not go well.
"Whenever there is a health issue with president, all of a sudden questions of succession rise to the forefront of Egyptian politics, tremendous speculation, some concern and anxiety, and this is just one of those examples.
"The succession issue is one of the most hotly contested issues in Egypt right now. For good reason, it's tied into the issue of democratization and reform and so on."
In 2007, speculation snowballed to the extent that the president was forced to make an unscheduled public appearance to put a rest to the rumors.
One year later, Ibrahim Eissa, the editor in the chief of the independent daily al-Dustur, was sentenced to two months in jail after his newspaper published rumors on Mubarak's health in 2008, before receiving a presidential pardon.
Successor speculations
Mubarak's fifth six-year term as president will end in 2011 and press reports in Egypt have suggested that his son Gamal is likely to succeed him.
Neither Mubarak or his son however has made any clear statement on the matter.
On Thursday, however, Mubarak said that Mohamed el-Baradei, former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency could run for the presidency provided he respected the constitution.
El-Baradei last month flew to Cairo to a rapturous welcome from supporters and formed the National Association for Change.
He has said he would run for president on condition that the constitution is amended.
Under Egyptian law, a presidential candidate is required to have been a leading member of a party for at least one year and for the party to have existed for at least five years.
The 67-year-old former chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency has also called for democratic reforms of the Egyptian regime.
PHOTO CAPTION
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak addresses a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin on March 4.
Al-Jazeera
