Egypt’s Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq has resigned and been replaced by the former Transport Minister Essam Sharraf.

Shafiq was appointed by deposed president Hosni Mubarak as a concession to opposition protesters in the final days before he stepped down in mid February.

But the move was insufficient for the Muslim Brotherhood and other political groups who wanted a clean break from the Mubarak regime, with which Shafiq had been closely associated.