Cairo: Forty years after graduating from Cairo University’s Engineering School, Mohammad Mursi on Saturday returned to the prestigious institution to be inaugurated as Egypt’s first civilian elected president.
Addressing a hall packed with Egypt’s army generals, politicians and academics, Mursi, 61, looked keen to recall his days in the university where he also obtained a master’s degree before leaving for the US where he studied for a master’s degree.
His inaugural speech at Cairo University came almost half an hour after he took the official oath before the country’s highest court as a successor to Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in a popular revolt last year.
Cairo University was also chosen to be the venue for Mursi’s inaugural address to allow him a chance to take a symbolic oath mainly before lawmakers of the now disbanded parliament. Islamists, mainly Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, were incensed by a decision from the Supreme Constitutional Court to dissolve the parliament, where they held a clear majority. They asked him not to go to the same court to be sworn in. But under a temporary constitution issued by the military, he had to. Mursi also took a symbolic oath on Friday in Tahrir Square obviously to please anti-military protesters.
