Morsi Out, Military In, Can Democracy Slip Too In Egypt
W hen Mubarak was ousted in Spring 2011 I concluded following scenario in my article Days of Rage on the Arab street : ” Egypt’s society is diverse enough to withstand a despotic theocracy and if in doubt so the army is the final guarantor.” Now it seems to came true as Egyptian military chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced July 3 that the country's president, Mohammed Morsi, had been removed from office in the wake of popular unrest. In a short media statement, al-Sisi, who was flanked by the three armed services chiefs, opposition leaders, the sheikh of al-Azhar Mosque and the pope of the Coptic Church, announced that Adly Mansour, chief justice of the Constitutional Court, has replaced Morsi as interim president. He also announced that the constitution had been suspended. Mansour's appointment is notable in that one of the key demands of the Tamarod protest movement was that he become president. The provisional government will be holding fresh parliamen...