UPDATE July 4 2013 14:22 GMT

From BBC

Egypt swears in Mansour as interim leader after Morsi ousted

The top judge of Egypt’s Constitutional Court, Adly Mahmud Mansour, has been sworn in as interim leader, a day after the army ousted President Mohammed Morsi and put him under house arrest.

Mr Mansour said fresh elections were “the only way” forward, but gave no indication of when they would be held.

Mr Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected leader, is under house arrest after what he says was a military coup.

The army said he had “failed to meet the demands of the people”.

The upheaval comes after days of mass rallies against Mr Morsi and the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement he comes from.

Protesters accused them of pursuing an Islamist agenda and of failing to tackle Egypt’s economic problems.

The health ministry says at least 10 people were killed and scores injured in clashes at rival protests across the country overnight. Some 50 people have died since the latest unrest began on Sunday.

Unnamed officials have said Mohammed Badie, supreme leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been arrested in Marsa Matrouh, a Mediterranean coastal city to the west of Cairo.

He is the latest high-profile detainee from the Brotherhood.

For more on this story go to: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23176401

Original story posted July 3 2013

From BBC

The head of Egypt’s army has given a TV address, announcing that President Mohammed Morsi is no longer in office.

Gen Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said the constitution had been suspended and the chief justice of the constitutional court would take on Mr Morsi’s powers.

Flanked by religious and opposition leaders, Gen Sisi said Mr Morsi had “failed to meet the demands of the Egyptian people”.

Anti-Morsi protesters in Cairo gave a huge cheer in response to the speech.

But since the announcement, clashes have erupted in the northern city of Marsa Matrouh and four people have been killed.

The army’s move to depose the president follows four days of mass street demonstrations against Mr Morsi – Egypt’s first freely elected president – and an ultimatum issued by the military which expired on Wednesday afternoon.

TV stations belonging to Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood went off air at the end of the speech and state news agency Mena said managers at the movement’s Misr25 channel had been arrested.

Security forces were also reported to have raided the Cairo offices of al-Jazeera’s Egyptian television channel Mubasher Misr, arresting several workers.

A notice also went up on Mr Morsi’s Facebook page denouncing the army move as a “military coup”.

The statement asked Egyptian citizens – both civilians and military – to “abide by the constitution and the law and not to respond to this coup”.

The whereabouts of the ousted leader are unclear.

However, earlier reports said security forces had imposed a travel ban on both him and other leading figures in the Muslim Brotherhood.

‘Roadmap’ for the future

General Sisi said on state TV that the armed forces could not stay silent and blind to the call of the Egyptian masses.

He spoke of a new roadmap for the future, and said that the chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, Adli Mansour, would be given the task of “running the country’s affairs during the transitional period until the election of a new president”.

After Gen Sisi’s address, both Pope Tawadros II – the head of the Coptic Church – and leading opposition figure Mohammed ElBaradei made short televised speeches about the new roadmap for Egypt’s future which they had agreed with the army.

Mr ElBaradei said the roadmap aimed for national reconciliation and represented a fresh start to the January 2011 revolution.

“This roadmap has been drafted by honourable people who seek the interests, first and foremost, of the country,” added Pope Tawadros.

Fireworks

The army is currently involved in a show of force, fanning out across Cairo and taking control of the capital, BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville reports.

He described seeing eight armoured personnel carriers heading for Cairo University in Giza, where one of the main pro-Morsi demonstrations was being held.

The tens of thousands of anti-Morsi protesters on the streets of Cairo celebrated late into the night, with fireworks lighting up the sky and car drivers honking their horns in excitement.

But Morsi supporters elsewhere in the city were reported to have shouted: “No to military rule.”

Mr Morsi became Egypt’s first Islamist president on 30 June 2012, after winning an election considered free and fair following the 2011 revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

However his term in office was marred by constant political unrest and a sinking economy.

The mass protests at the weekend that led to the army’s intervention were called by the Tamarod (Rebel) movement, in response to worsening social and economic conditions.

But there has been a growing sense of discontent since last November, when Mr Morsi issued a controversial constitutional declaration granting himself extensive powers.

His moves to entrench Islamic laws and concentrate power in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood also alienated liberals and secularists.

Analysis

Rana Jawad BBC News, Cairo

It took the Muslim Brotherhood eight decades to come into power. It’s unlikely they ever considered it would only last for a year.

The crowd in Tahrir Square roared its approval of General Sisi’s eagerly anticipated and largely expected announcement. Millions of Egyptians from all walks of life have felt ignored and belittled since Mr Morsi gained power – he spoke, they say, for his party alone.

The army does not want the world to call this a coup. But conventional wisdom and politics tells us this was a military coup.

As the statement was read, an Egyptian woman standing next to me said: “There is jubilation on the streets but do they understand what’s behind it?” In truth perhaps no one does yet.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23173794