Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, right, swears in newly-appointed Minister of Defense, Lt. Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, in Cairo, Egypt Sunday, Aug. 12, 2012. Egypt's Islamist president ordered his former defense minister and chief of staff to retire on Sunday and canceled the military-declared constitutional amendments that gave top generals wide powers. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency)
August 12, 2012 - 11:25 AM
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.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012