The Egyptian army has reportedly relieved Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi of his authority, informing the Muslim Brotherhood-linked official at 7pm Egyptian time that he was no longer president. At a press conference called shortly afterward, Abdul Fatah Khalil Al-Sisi outlined a roadmap that that involves provisionally suspending the Egyptian constitution, which has become a key source of friction between Egyptian Islamists and secularists, and installing a technocratic government:

-The temporary suspension of the current constitution.
-Empowering the head of Egypt’s High Constitutional Court (HCC) to run the country until a new president is elected via early presidential polls.
-Forming a new technocratic government and asking the HCC to hasten the passing of a parliamentary elections law, currently being reviewed by the HCC, to allow for parliamentary elections.
-Forming a committee to amend controversial articles of the temporarily suspended constitution.
– Laying down a media code of ethics to guarantee the media’s professionalism.
– Forming a committee to foster “national reconciliation.”
– Taking immediate steps to include youth in decision making circles.

Unrest in Egypt exploded recently, marked most recently by anti-government protests that began last Wednesday and peaked on Sunday as millions of Egyptians called for Morsi’s ouster and the removal of Muslim Brotherhood influence from public life. In the year since taking office, Morsi has seen his support plummet following a series of power grabs designed to centralize the Muslim Brotherhood control and impose Islamic norms and laws on sectors of Egyptian life.

The army’s moves came this evening after Morsi had pledged to die rather than accede to an ultimatum issued by the army to heed the protesters’ demands, with the opposition declaring his statements to be a declaration of “civil war”. The army will now move to try to prevent Muslim Brotherhood supporters from instigating violence. A top Muslim Brotherhood leader already on Tuesday called on the movement’s supporters to “sacrifice your soul to defend Mohamed Morsy’s legitimacy.”

[Photo: aljazeera.com]