Opposition Leader ElBaradei Sworn In as Egypt’s Vice President

Mohamed ElBaradei, a top leader of a liberal coalition that mounted a successful campaign to depose Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, took office Sunday as interim vice president. He was sworn in in front of interim President Adli Mansour, who replaced Morsi after he was ousted by the military early this month. The interim government will be in power until Egypt holds new elections.

Meantime, as the new interim government continues to form, Voice of America reports that prosecutors in Egypt are getting set to launch an investigation against Morsi and other leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi has yet to be charged with a crime, but he has been held at an undisclosed location since his removal from office.

CBS News:

The military-backed government has dissolved the Islamist-dominated upper house of parliament, further angering the Brotherhood, which has won every election since the February 2011 downfall of Morsi’s predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, in a similar mass uprising.

ElBaradei, 71, won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role as the head of the U.N.’s International Atomic energy Agency. He returned home to assume a role in the anti-Mubarak uprising and emerged as one of the most visible leaders in the badly fractured Egyptian liberal and secular opposition to the Brotherhood and its government.

He headed of the National Salvation Front, a coalition of largely secular groups. Tamarod, the newly founded youth movement that initiated the anti-Morsi protests on June 30 that ultimately led to his ouster, also chose ElBaradei as its representative.

ElBaradei will be tasked with handling Egypt’s foreign relations, filling a position that did not exist under Morsi or previous governments. The details of his mandate remain unclear.

Read more

— Posted by Tracy Bloom.