On Monday, in what some are considering a defining move to shift power from the hands of the military to civilian authority, newly elected Egyptian president Mohammad Morsi dismissed a number of top military officials and pushed to early retirement Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, who served as the head of ad hoc military council during the interim period when former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown from power.
76-year-old Tantawi submitted his resignation on Sunday as the Defense Minister of the nation and the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. Tantawi served as defense minister for over 20 years. Morsi appointed 57-year-old General Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi as the nation's new Defense Minister, after dismissing a constitutional document the military put in place before the June elections to ensure its power. The new defense minister swore in office on Sunday.
Egyptian have deemed the move as nothing short of another revolution with headlines such as "Mursi settles the struggle for power," (State-owned Al-Akhbar daily), "Mursi ends the political role for the armed forces," ( Al-Masry Al-Youm), "president's revolution against the military" (Tahrir), all cited by Rueters.
Although, the June elections was seen as ground-changing chapter in the history of the nation that was run by the military rule under the authority of Hosni Mubarak for more than 60 years, many particularly among the elite and erudite, had no hopes for any tangible shift in power to civilian authorities. But Sunday's move to dismiss top military officials and the military's complacent acceptance of the change has rekindled hope for a new form of governance.
The move by President Morsi has also caused a stir in the international community. El Baradei, former U.N. diplomat told Reuters, "With military stripped of legislative authority and in absence of parliament, president holds imperial powers. Transitional mess continues."
While the U.S. remained a little pessimistic on making any assessments: "It's too soon to say what the potential implications might be," said a U.S. Official to Reuters.
In actuality there is some truth to both sides of the spectrum, while one must acknowledge that Egypt has undergone a huge change within the past year, with the toppling of 60-year authoritarian rule to putting a democratically elected civilian official in power, and now what seems to be a sharing, if not transfer, of power between the civilian government and military rule. But it is also too soon to predict the course these changes might lead to i.e. a democratic society or as some fear another Islamist state.
