Egypt's interim president has named liberal economist and former finance minister Hazem el-Beblawi as prime minister in a transitional government, as the authorities sought to steer the country to new parliamentary and presidential elections.
Acting head of state Adly Mansour also appointed former UN nuclear agency
chief Mohamed ElBaradei as deputy to the president, responsible for foreign
affairs.
The hardline Islamist Nour Party, which has held up the political process by
objecting to several candidates put forward by military-backed interim
authorities, said it would support Mr Beblawi's appointment. The head of the
party added that it was still studying Mr ElBaradei's appointment.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Muslim Brotherhood rejected a decree issued by Mr
Mansour overnight, which set a timetable for new elections and set up a
mechanism to amend the constitution.
Essam el-Erian, a senior member of the Brotherhood, said the plan will take
Egypt back to "square one". He vowed that the Brotherhood will not
drop its push to reinstate Mr Morsi.
Egyptian authorities have meanwhile begun questioning 650 people over their
suspected involvement in violence on Monday. More than 50 people were killed
at an army base where Islamists were demanding the reinstatement of Mr
Morsi.
Judicial sources told the AFP news agency that the 650 detained are accused of
trying to storm the Cairo headquarters of the Republican Guard.
The bloodshed was the worst since Mr Morsi was toppled by the military.
Officials said troops fired in response to an attack by armed assailants but the protesters disputed that account, insisting they were conducting peaceful dawn prayers.
On Friday, clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi supporters swept across Egyptian cities, killing 35 people.
The bloodshed has also raised alarm among key donors such as the United States and the European Union, as well as in Israel, with which Egypt has had a US-backed peace treaty since 1979.
Israel has nonetheless urged the US not to spend around £1 billion in aid to Cairo in the wake of the unrest. Under US law, all military and economic aid must be suspended to any country where the government is overthrown by the military. The US has thus far refrained from calling the situation in Egypt a "coup".
Russia has urged "free and fair" elections in the country, with Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, saying that maintaining order was all the more important in Egypt considering the upheavals in other countries in the region.
The bloodshed was the worst since Mr Morsi was toppled by the military.
Officials said troops fired in response to an attack by armed assailants but the protesters disputed that account, insisting they were conducting peaceful dawn prayers.
On Friday, clashes between pro- and anti-Morsi supporters swept across Egyptian cities, killing 35 people.
The bloodshed has also raised alarm among key donors such as the United States and the European Union, as well as in Israel, with which Egypt has had a US-backed peace treaty since 1979.
Israel has nonetheless urged the US not to spend around £1 billion in aid to Cairo in the wake of the unrest. Under US law, all military and economic aid must be suspended to any country where the government is overthrown by the military. The US has thus far refrained from calling the situation in Egypt a "coup".
Russia has urged "free and fair" elections in the country, with Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, saying that maintaining order was all the more important in Egypt considering the upheavals in other countries in the region.