CAIRO — Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi yesterday ordered the surprise retirement of his defence minister and scrapped a constitutional document which gave sweeping powers to the military. Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who ruled Egypt for more than a year, was replaced by Abdel Fattah al Sissi. The veteran army leader had served as defence minister for two decades and headed the country until he handed power to Morsi on June 30.
Armed forces chief of staff Sami Anan was also retired, state television said, a week after a deadly attack on the Egyptian military in the Sinai prompted an unprecedented military campaign in the peninsula. Morsi decided to scrap a key constitutional document which gave the military legislative powers and other prerogatives, his spokesman Yasser Ali said.
