Cairo, Aug 12: Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi today sacked the powerful Army chief and his No 2 and annulled a constitutional amendment issued by the generals, in a drastic move by the new-to-power Islamists to shuffle the top brass of the entrenched military.
Mursi packed off Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as well as the second-in-command General Sami Anan into “retirement” and appointed both of them as ‘advisers' to the president. Both of them were also given Egypt's highest state honour—the Nile Medal.
The shock announcement over state television came amid an ongoing military operation in Sinai, where 16 soldiers were killed in an attack by militants last week.
No reason was given immediately for the radical move and it was not clear whether this was a unilateral step by the country's first democratically elected president or was initiated after taking the military into confidence.
Field Marshall Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi was appointed minister of defence and general commander of the Egyptian forces replacing 76-year-old Tantawi, presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali announced in a televised statement.
The President also annulled a constitutional addendum that was issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on June 17 under which the Army took control of legislative powers and limited the president's powers, after a Supreme Court verdict dismissed the elected parliament.
Mursi, 60, a leader of Muslim Brotherhood, was elected president in June this year, at a time of a constitutional and legislative void in the country.
In the absence of a full-fledged constitution, it is still not clear whether the interim constitution gives the President the right to sack the Army chief.
Mursi, 60, also appointed SCAF member Mohamed al-Assar as deputy defence minister and head of naval forces, Mohab Mamish as head of the Suez Canal Authority while naming judge Mahmoud Mekky as his vice president.
The unexpected changes come as the Egyptian army is involved in an operation in the Sinai Peninsula where it lost three soldiers today.
According to Egyptian military sources, the army has killed five Islamist militants in Sinai and arrested several Palestinians who had allegedly crossed into Egyptian territories illegally.
Sinai is a strategic triangular peninsula located between Egypt, Israel, Gaza and Jordan. Militarisation there is governed by the articles of the Camp David Accord between Egypt and Israel.
The Muslim Brotherhood has historically been at loggerheads with the powerful Army, and relations haven't improved since the fall of Hosni Mubarak after a mass uprising last year.
Mursi also appointed Mahmoud Mekki, the deputy head of the Cassation Court, as his Vice President.
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