Military pledges support to Mursi

Cairo, July 1: Egypt’s President Mohamed Mursi began his first full day in office on Sunday with his powers circumscribed by the military as he tries to pick a new cabinet to carry out his campaign pledges.

After being sworn in as the country’s first freely elected civilian president on Saturday, Mursi formally received a transfer of power and pledge of support from the military.

But the 60-year-old’s swearing-in ceremony took place at the constitutional court in Cairo, despite Mursi’s wish that it take place before the now disbanded Islamist-led parliament. The military dissolved parliament last month following a court order in what the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, from which Mursi stood down after his election, described as a “soft coup.”

In Saturday’s handover in

In Saturday’s handover in Cairo, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Armed Forces, vowed to support Mursi

Cairo, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, vowed to support Mursi.

“We will stand with the new president, elected by the people,” Tantawi said in a speech, in the ceremony ending the military led transitional period since Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in an uprising in February 2011. “I accept the transfer of power,” Mursi said at the same base where members of the once-banned Brotherhood had faced military trials under Mubarak. — AFP