Return to democracy urged after Egypt's Mursi ousted
World powers called yesterday for a return to democracy in Egypt as the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court was sworn in as the nation's interim president, hours after the military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi.
World powers called yesterday for a return to democracy in Egypt as the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court was sworn in as the nation's interim president, hours after the military ousted Islamist president Mohammed Mursi.
According to military decree, Adly Mansour will serve as Egypt's interim leader until a new president is elected. A date for that vote has yet to be set.
Mursi was Egypt's first democratically elected president, but after a tumultuous year in office he is now under house arrest at an undisclosed location.
Egypt's prosecutor ordered the arrest of up to 300 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, widening a crackdown against the Islamist movement. The Brotherhood called for "peaceful protests" today in response to Mursi's ousting, but before the coup, two of the former president's aides said no political leader could control the anger of the people.
US President Barack Obama and many leaders shied away from calling the events a coup while urging a quick return to an elected civilian government.
China, traditionally wary of intervention in the internal affairs of other nations, said it supported the "choice of the Egyptian people". But Germany took a far stronger line with Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle describing Mursi's ousting as a "major setback for democracy in Egypt".
Regional reaction to the overthrow of Mursi and the arrests of his Muslim Brotherhood aides was sharply divided.
Turkey, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted party faced down mass protests last month, said that the events in Egypt were undemocratic.
But Syria's embattled government revelled in the downfall of Mursi, hailing it as a "great achievement".
