Egypt’s president orders retirement of defence minister, chief of staff, names VP
CAIRO – A spokesman says Egypt’s president has ordered the defence minister and chief of staff to retire and has cancelled the military-declared constitutional amendments that gave top generals wide powers.
President Mohammed Morsi also appointed a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as vice-president.
The decisions announced Sunday are effective immediately. Spokesman Yasser Ali said in a news conference aired on state TV that Morsi appointed a new defence minister, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
He replaces Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who headed the military council that ruled Egypt for 17 months after Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011. Tantawi was defence minister for nearly two decades under Mubarak.
The military council’s No. 2, Chief of Staff Sami Annan, was also ordered to retire.
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