Egypt took two large steps toward completing the makeup of its interim government Sunday, as former opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei was sworn in as vice president and former ambassador to the US Nabil Fahmy accepted the post of foreign minister.
Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi, who was appointed last week by interim president Adly Mansour, is expected to announce his full cabinet later this week.
ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize laureate and former International Atomic Energy Agency chief who headed the opposition umbrella National Salvation Front group, was originally considered a candidate for prime minister, but was blocked by the ultraconservative al-Nour Party on the basis of being too secular.
While el-Beblawi is from the same liberal-secular camp as ElBaradei, he is not as prominent or as controversial.
According to NSF spokesman Khaled Dawoud, ElBaradei no longer heads the coalition.
“He is now a vice president for all Egyptians,” Dawoud said.
Mansour oversaw the swearing in of ElBaradei, the latest move by the country’s new leadership to push ahead with a transition plan following the military’s ouster of president Mohammed Morsi nearly two weeks ago.
Thousands of Morsi’s supporters, though, have vowed to continue their sit-in in Cairo until he is reinstated. They have refused to accept his ouster or the military-backed timeline for transition, which calls for changes to the constitution and new elections for parliament and president.
ElBaradei’s NSF group under Morsi was among the president’s strongest critics. The coalition stood with Defense Minister Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi as he announced Morsi’s ouster amid massive protests against his rule.
Fahmy, the new foreign minister, served as Egypt’s ambassador to the US from 1999 to 2008, after holding the top diplomatic post in Japan. Since leaving Washington, he has served as the Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador at large.
Fahmy takes over from Mohamed Kamel Amr, who submitted his resignation from the post on June 30, the day massive protests against Morsi erupted, leading to his ouster at the hands of the military.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-swears-in-elbaradei-names-foreign-minister/
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