At his inauguration before the Supreme Constitutional
Court, Morsi also became the Arab world's first freely elected Islamist
president and Egypt's fifth head of state since the overthrow of the monarchy
some 60 years ago.
He took the oath before the court's 18 black-robed
judges in its Nile-side seat built to resemble an ancient Egyptian temple.
"We
aspire to a better tomorrow, a new Egypt and a second republic," Morsi
said during a solemn ceremony shown live on state television.
"Today,
the Egyptian people laid the foundation of a new life - absolute freedom, a
genuine democracy and stability," said Morsi, a 60-year-old US-trained
engineer from the Muslim Brotherhood, a fundamentalist group that has spent
most of the 84 years since its inception as an outlawed organisation harshly
targeted by successive governments.
Hundreds of soldiers and policemen guarded the
building as Morsi arrived shortly after 11am local time in a small motorcade.
Only several hundred supporters gathered outside the court to cheer the new
president and, in a departure from the presidential pomp of the Mubarak years,
traffic was only briefly halted to allow his motorcade through on the usually
busy road linking the city centre with its southern suburbs.
Morsi's inauguration signals a personal triumph. He
was not the Brotherhood's first choice as president, and was thrown into the
presidential race when the group's original candidate, chief strategist and
financier Khairat el-Shater, was disqualified over a Mubarak-era criminal
conviction.
Derided as the Brotherhood's uncharismatic "spare
tyre", his personal prestige has surged since his victory and his delivery
of a Friday speech that tried to present him as a candidate not just of
Islamists but of all those who want to complete the work of the 2011 uprising
against the authoritarian Mubarak.
"Egypt
today is a civil, national, constitutional and modern state," Morsi,
wearing a blue business suit and a red tie, told the judges in the
wood-panelled chamber where he took the oath of office. "It is a strong
nation because of its people and the beliefs of its sons and its
institutions."
Morsi later travelled to Cairo University where he was
to make his inauguration address. He was given an official welcome by an army
band that played the national anthem as he stood to attention. Military ruler
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi was in attendance. His arrival was greeted with
chants of, "The army and the people are one hand", from the hundreds
gathered in the university's main lecture room.
Established in 1908 as a bastion of secular education,
Cairo University later became a stronghold of Islamist student groups in the
1970s. Many of those student leaders have gone on to become senior members of
Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, the nation's oldest and most powerful Islamist
movement.
A handover ceremony hosted by the military generals
who ruled Egypt since Mubarak's ouster follows.
Morsi took a symbolic oath on Friday in Tahrir Square,
birthplace of the uprising that ended Mubarak's authoritarian rule last year,
and vowed to reclaim presidential powers stripped from his office by the
military council that took over from the ousted leader.
But by agreeing to take the official oath before the
court, rather than before parliament as is customary, he is bowing to the
military's will in an indication that the contest for power will continue.
Morsi's speech in Tahrir Square was filled with
dramatic populist gestures. The 60-year-old president-elect staked a claim to
the legacy of the uprising and voiced his determination to win back the powers
stripped from his office by the generals.
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