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Egypt’s first Islamist president takes oath | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Egyptian men hold up a national flag as they celebrate as president-elect Mohamed Morsi addressed tens of thousands in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square on June 29, 2012. (AFP)


Egyptian men hold up a national flag as they celebrate as president-elect Mohamed Morsi addressed tens of thousands in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on June 29, 2012. (AFP)

Egyptian men hold up a national flag as they celebrate as president-elect Mohamed Morsi addressed tens of thousands in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square on June 29, 2012. (AFP)

CAIRO, (Reuters) – Egypt’s first Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, was sworn in on Saturday, propelling his Muslim Brotherhood into power after 84 years of struggle, although the military remains determined to call the shots.

Immediately after taking his oath, Mursi said a civilian and constitutional state had been “born today”.

The bearded U.S.-trained engineer is Egypt’s first non-military president since army officers toppled the king in 1952. For the Brotherhood, banned and repressed under ousted leader Hosni Mubarak, it marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes.

“I swear by Almighty God that I will sincerely protect the republican system and that I will respect the constitution and the rule of law,” Mursi told judges at the Supreme Constitutional Court, repeating vows he had uttered the day before to supporters thronging Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

“I will look after the interests of the people and protect the independence of the nation and safety of its territory.”

Mursi, 60, took his oath in the constitutional court, instead of parliament as is usual, because the court had dissolved the Islamist-led lower house earlier this month amid a raft of measures to ensure enduring military influence.

Mursi had shown his distaste for this by his symbolic oath-taking in Tahrir, crucible of the anti-Mubarak revolt, where he said the people were the only source of power, in a dig at the generals who see themselves as the state’s ultimate arbiters.

State television showed the inauguration ceremony nearly two hours after its scheduled time of 11 a.m. (0900 GMT). There was no immediate explanation for the delay. Mursi led the court in Muslim prayers before swearing his oath, a security source said.

A military council has guided Egypt’s chaotic and sometimes bloody transition since Mubarak’s overthrow, holding elections, but ruling by decree with arbitrary and often contradictory decisions, even as the economy shrinks with millions jobless.

A few dozen pro-military demonstrators blocked a highway in Cairo’s Nasser City on Saturday, holding banners reading: “Yes to the constitutional declaration” – referring to an army decree on June 17, the last day of the presidential run-off vote.

The decree clipped presidential powers, denying the head of state his role as supreme commander of the armed forces with the right to decide on war and peace. It also gave the army council legislative powers until a new parliament is elected, as well as veto rights over the writing of a new constitution.

PEOPLE POWER

The constitutional court building is next to the plush military hospital where Mubarak was transferred last week from the prison where he had begun a life term for failing to stop police killings of people protesting against his 30-year rule.

Security was relatively light and in contrast to the Mubarak era, police did not block traffic for hours outside the court.

In his Tahrir appearance, Mursi had taken pains to show he is a man close to the people, unlike his lofty predecessor. At one point he opened his jacket to show he wore no body armor. He brushed aside his own security cordon to wave to the crowd.

“There is no power above people power,” Mursi said in Tahrir. “Today you are the source of this power.”

Addressing the “Muslims and Christians of Egypt”, Mursi promised a “civil, nationalist, constitutional state”, making no mention of the Brotherhood’s dream of creating an Islamic order.

Mursi promised to work for the release of Omar Abdul Rahman, a blind Egyptian militant cleric jailed for life in the United States over a 1993 bomb attack on New York’s World Trade Centre.

That seemed to signal an intention to carve out a more independent line towards the United States, which provides $1.3 billion a year in military aid in support of Egypt’s 1979 peace treaty with Israel. Mursi has said he will respect his country’s international obligations, an oblique reference to the treaty.

Israel has watched the rise of the Brotherhood in Egypt with apprehension since the fall of Mubarak, who staunchly upheld peace with the Jewish state, even if relations were never warm.

The army council, determined to control foreign and defense policy, named a National Defence Council this month in which generals will outnumber civilians represented by Mursi and his future prime minister. Decisions are to be by majority vote.

LIVING IN LIMBO

After the oath-taking, Mursi was due to speak at Cairo University at the podium used by U.S. President Barack Obama to reach out to the Islamic world early in his term in 2009.

The army council headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who served as Mubarak’s defence minister for two decades, will formally hand over to Mursi later, fulfilling a pledge to make way for an elected president by July 1.

The ceremony, at the Heikstep base used in Mubarak’s era for military trials of Islamist militants, was to be televised.

Egypt remains in political limbo, without a constitution, a lower house of parliament or any clarity about the role of a military establishment anxious to stay in the driving seat.

An assembly that is supposed to write a new constitution has begun work after its predecessor fell apart amid disputes over whether Islamists were over-represented in a country with a 10 percent Christian minority and many secular-minded liberals.

Egypt’s 82 million people are more polarized than ever.

Mursi narrowly won a run-off vote against Ahmed Shafik, a former air force chief and Mubarak’s last prime minister, but many voters were dismayed at having to choose between an Islamist and a man seen as a remnant of Mubarak’s era.

Egypt will find it hard to attract the investment, loans and foreign aid it needs to revive an economy blighted by months of turmoil and uncertainty until political stability returns.

The International Monetary Fund’s head, Christine Lagarde, called Mursi to discuss Egypt’s economic challenges and how the IMF can best help, an IMF spokeswoman said on Friday.

Lagarde hailed Mursi’s election as “an important step forward in Egypt’s transition”, but the Fund has set no date for a staff visit to discuss a proposed $3.2 billion IMF loan, pending the formation of a new government.

In Tahrir, where demonstrators have camped out for weeks to demand an end to military rule, one man said the protest would go on. “We will not leave until parliament is restored and the president gets all his authorities,” said Mahmoud Arafa, 41.

Arafa, a shopkeeper from Shabin al-Kom in the Nile Delta, said he wanted Mursi to fulfill the promises he made for his first 100 days in office. “If he cannot, we will help him.”

Egypt's Islamist president-elect Mohamed Morsi addresses tens of thousands of Egyptians in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square on June 29, 2012. (AFP)

Egypt’s Islamist president-elect Mohamed Morsi addresses tens of thousands of Egyptians in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square on June 29, 2012. (AFP)

A supporter of Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Mursi attends a sit-in demonstration against the military council and the decision to dissolve parliament, at Tahrir Square in Cairo June 28, 2012. (Reuters)

A supporter of Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Mursi attends a sit-in demonstration against the military council and the decision to dissolve parliament, at Tahrir Square in Cairo June 28, 2012. (Reuters)