CAIRO // Mohammed Morsi officially became Egypt's first elected civilian leader yesterday and promised to bring "genuine democracy and stability".
The former Muslim Brotherhood official took the oath of office and formally accepted executive authority from the military. a day earlier, he had begun his administration on a high note - delivering an energetic speech in front of thousands of cheering supporters in Tahrir Square. Yesterday's events were, by comparison, more formal and full of official pomp and circumstance.
Egypt's new president started the day by formally swearing his oath of office, then moved to the grounds of Cairo University to deliver a speech to a hall packed with VIPs, and finally to a military base for the full military power transfer ceremony.
"Today, the Egyptian people laid the foundation of a new life — absolute freedom, a genuine democracy and stability," Mr Morsi said after swearing his oath. "We aspire to a better tomorrow, a new Egypt and a second republic."
It was also a day rich in irony and symbolism. Mr Morsi swore his official oath inside the Supreme Constitutional Court, an imposing Nile-side building in Cairo that was built to resemble a Pharaonic temple. The courthouse is also next door to the large military hospital where his predecessor Hosni Mubarak is being treated.
The Heikstep military base on the outskirts of the city where the power transfer took place was once the site of an infamous chapter in the Muslim Brotherhood's decades-long struggle with Egypt's military-backed state. In the late 1990s under Mubarak, the Brotherhood was subject to routine mass-roundups and arrests. Dozens of Brotherhood members at a time were tried (and almost invariably convicted) by a series of military tribunals in the grounds of the Heikstep base.
Just before noon yesterday, Mr Morsi stood before the court and took the following oath: "I swear to God that I will faithfully preserve the republican order, that I will respect the constitution and the law, and look after the interests of the people comprehensively, and that I will preserve the independence of the nation and the safety of its land."
It was in fact the second time in two days that Mr Morsi had made that pledge. On Friday in Tahrir Square he had taken a symbolic and dramatic open-air oath of office — repeatedly stating that his only true authority and legitimacy came from Tahrir and the Egyptian street. Yesterday, however, was the day to work with and acknowledge state institutions, such as the judiciary and the military, which he will have to deal with effectively during his presidency.
The day's events brought Mr Morsi in close contact with those institutions, even though his Muslim Brotherhood remains in open conflict with them over a number of transitional issues. He swore the oath in front of the same judges who last month ruled to dissolve the Brotherhood-controlled People's Assembly. He accepted executive power from Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, just two weeks after the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf) unilaterally curbed the powers of the presidency and declared the military effectively independent from presidential oversight. Both the court verdict and Scaf's decree have been called illegitimate by the Brotherhood.
After the formal swearing in, Mr Morsi travelled to the grounds of Cairo University, from which he had received his bachelors and masters degrees. He spoke before a crowded lecture hall filled with military officials, ministers and prominent opposition politicians such as Mohammed ElBaradei.
In the streets outside the campus, the divisions and tensions that Mr Morsi will inherit were on full display. As Field Marshal Tantawi's motorcade arrived, dozens of protesting university students chanted, "The people demand the execution of the field marshal!"
Inside the hall, Mr Morsi struck a conciliatory note, speaking kindly of the role played by the military over the past 16 months since Mubarak's fall.
"The military council has kept its promise that it would not be a replacement for the public will," he said. "Elected institutions will return to perform their roles and the great Egyptian army will be free to go back to its mission to protect the nation's security and border."
Looking ahead, Mr Morsi will face the immediate task of healing the country's political divisions and addressing difficult issues such as the fragile state of the post-revolutionary economy. He may also have to spend some time defusing his first-ever presidential faux pas — a seemingly improvised comment made during his Friday speech in Tahrir that has already threatened to overshadow his inauguration.
In a strange mid-speech moment, Mr Morsi spotted several people in the crowd holding signs demanding the release of Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric serving a life sentence in the United States for plotting a 1993 bombing attack on the World Trade Center that killed six people.
"I see banners for Omar Abdel Rahman's family, and for prisoners arrested according to martial rulings and detainees from the beginning of the revolution," he said. "It is my duty to make every effort...to secure their release, among them Omar Abdel Rahman."
Those comments produced an immediate and visceral response from some corners of the US media and government. Representative Peter King, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, called Mr Morsi's statement "evidence that he is an Islamist and a radical who cannot be trusted".
"This is a disgraceful way for him to start his presidency," he added.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
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Timeline
1947
Ferrari’s road-car company is formed and its first badged car, the 125 S, rolls off the assembly line
1962
250 GTO is unveiled
1969
Fiat becomes a Ferrari shareholder, acquiring 50 per cent of the company
1972
The Fiorano circuit, Ferrari’s racetrack for development and testing, opens
1976
First automatic Ferrari, the 400 Automatic, is made
1987
F40 launched
1988
Enzo Ferrari dies; Fiat expands its stake in the company to 90 per cent
2002
The Enzo model is announced
2010
Ferrari World opens in Abu Dhabi
2011
First four-wheel drive Ferrari, the FF, is unveiled
2013
LaFerrari, the first Ferrari hybrid, arrives
2014
Fiat Chrysler announces the split of Ferrari from the parent company
2015
Ferrari launches on Wall Street
2017
812 Superfast unveiled; Ferrari celebrates its 70th anniversary
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek independent legal advice.
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Opening weekend Premier League fixtures
Weekend of August 10-13
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
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A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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