Egyptens stærke militær for første gang i defensiven overfor de nye politiske magthavere, som helt uventet slår til mod den øverste hærledelse, ligesom præsidenten befæster sine beføjelser.
Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi has ordered the retirement of the powerful head of the country’s armed forces over the last 17 years, Field Marshal Mohamad Hussein Tantawi, BBC online reports Sunday.
A constitutional declaration aimed at curbing presidential powers had been cancelled, too.
Mr Mursi, who was elected in June, is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Relations between Islamists and the military have been increasingly tense since the fall of President Mubarak.
A career army officer, Gen Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, would replace Field Marshal Tantawi as both armed forces chief and defence minister.
Chief of staff Sami Annan is also retiring. Field Marshal Tantawi, 76, has not yet indicated whether he accepts the moves.
As he took office it seemed President Mursi would be governing within narrow limits set by Egypt’s generals – who had exercised power behind the throne for decades and then exercised it directly in the months since the fall of Hosni Mubarak.
But it is possible Mr Mursi’s opponents may have underestimated him.
Egypt’s army was unprepared for a recent attack on a security base in the Sinai desert by Islamic militants in which 16 soldiers died.
Mr Mursi appears to be seizing on that failure – which shocked ordinary Egyptians – to move against two key members of the high command.
BBC Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly says the dismissal of senior military officers will be seen by Egyptians as a decisive move in a struggle for real power between the country’s newly elected politicians and the generals.
