President Mohamed Morsi has been removed as the leader of Egypt by the nation’s military. General Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi suspended the constitution and appointed a judge, Adli Mansour, as the interim President of Egypt.
Talks had been ongoing for a week as the military attempted to broker a power-sharing deal between Egypt’s secular leaders, Coptic Christians and Islamic political representatives. Unrest had been growing as President Morsi’s policies failed to generate consensus and stability.
A millions strong protest by the Tamarod movement on Sunday sparked the move to replace Morsi before the unrest could spill over into protracted violence. However, the Muslim Brotherhood lamented the coup as an attack on democracy and Islam.
World leaders made carefully worded and muted responses to the military involvement in the change in government.
Dr. Nabil El Araby, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States warned of the risk of tampering with the future of Egypt and its security and stability. He called for all sides to maintain a commitment to non-violence and underlined the “urgent need to respond to the will and aspirations of the Egyptian people to achieve freedom, democracy and social justice, and lay the foundations for good governance”.