| Mursi takes steps to form government |
CAIRO Egypt’s president-elect Mohamed Mursi began selecting a new government on Monday as his supporters pursued a sit-in to pressure the ruling military to hand over full powers to the Islamist.
Despite the historic victory in which Mursi was on Sunday declared the first civilian president of Egypt, he still has to contend with a ruling military seeking to retain broad powers and with a precarious economy.
The Muslim Brotherhood that fielded Mursi in the election to replace ousted leader Hosni Mubarak has said it would press on with a sit-in to pressure the ruling generals to relinquish more powers to Mursi.
On Monday, Mursi was moving into the presidential palace and had already begun talks to appoint his new cabinet, days before the military is scheduled to transfer power, a spokeswoman said.
“He has already started, with a list of names he is considering. He says he will declare the cabinet soon,” said Nermine Mohammed Hassan, a campaign spokeswoman.
The military-appointed cabinet offered its resignation on Monday, state media reported, adding that it would assume caretaker responsibilities until Mursi forms a new cabinet.
An official with the military, which took charge after Mubarak’s overthrow in the uprising early last year, said the transfer is still scheduled for June 30.
A senior Brotherhood member, Sobhi Saleh, told the official news agency that Mursi would take the oath in front of the constitutional court instead of in parliament, which the military disbanded earlier this month.
In Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Muslim Brotherhood cadres pressed on with a days-long sit-in aimed at pressuring the military to repeal decrees granting it the disbanded parliament’s powers and a broad say in security policies.
The fiercely pro-Palestinian leader also pledged to honour Egypt’s international treaties, which include a 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
Separately, the Egyptian presidency denied that the president-elect gave an interview to Iran’s Fars news agency, in which he reportedly pledged to strengthen ties with the Islamic republic.
“Mursi did not give any interview to Fars and everything that this agency has published is without foundation,” a spokesman for the Egyptian presidency told the official news agency Mena.
The agency said Morsi wants to “reconsider” the peace deal with Israel and build ties with Iran to “create a strategic balance” in the Middle East. “We will reconsider the Camp David Accord” that, in 1979, forged a peace between Egypt and Israel, Mursi was quoted as telling a Fars reporter in Cairo on Sunday, just before his election triumph was announced.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for stronger ties between Iran and Egypt after Mursi’s presidential election victory, Irna news agency reported.
“I congratulate you for your victory as head of Egypt, a friendly and brotherly country,” Ahmadinejad said.
Ahmadinejad also wished Mursi “success” and “insisted on the reinforcement of ties between the two countries,” Irna reported.
Agencies
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