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Morsi orders Tantawi’s retirement – Israel News, Ynetnews.

In dramatic move, Egypt’s new president sacks man who served as Mubarak’s defense minister for over two decades, cancels military declared constitutional amendments

Roi Kais and AP

Major jolt to Egypt’s political echelons: A government spokesman said Sunday that Egypt’s president has ordered the defense minister and chief of staff to retire and has canceled the military-declared constitutional amendments that gave top generals wide powers.

President Mohammed Morsi also ordered the retirement of Egyptian Air Defense Commander Lt. General Abd El Aziz Seif-Eldeen, and Chief of the Navy, Vice Admiral Mohab Mamish. In addition, Morsi appointed a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as vice president.

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The decisions announced Sunday are effective immediately. Spokesman Yasser Ali said in a news conference aired on state TV that Morsi appointed a new defense minister, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

Morsi with Tantawi (Photo: EPA)

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 defense minister for nearly two decades under Mubarak.

The military council’s No. 2, Chief of Staff Sami Annan, was also ordered to retire.

The surprise moves comes less than a week after Morsi appointed a new national intelligence chief and dismissed the governor of the increasingly lawless north Sinai region after gunmen killed 16 border guards there.

Morsi also fired the commander of the presidential guards and named new chiefs for security in Cairo and the police’s large central security, a large paramilitary force often deployed to deal with riots.

The intelligence chief that Morsi fired, Murad Muwafi, was quoted in Wednesday’s newspapers as saying his agency was aware of the Israeli warning regarding the border attack but did not think that Muslims would attack Muslims while they were breaking their fast during Ramadan.

This entry was posted on August 12, 2012 at 7:02 PM and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.