New Egyptian President Sworn in

The chief justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, Adli Mansour, has been sworn in as interim president of Egypt.

The head of the Constitutional Court in Egypt, Justice Adly Mahmud Mansour, has been sworn in as interim president; hours after the army ousted Mohammed Morsi and put him under house arrest.

Shortly after taking the presidential oath, the 67-year-old interim leader said fresh elections were “the only way” forward, but gave no indication of when they would be held.

Qatar-based television channel, Al Jazeera, quoted Mansour as saying elections would be held in the near future.

Mansour said it was with great pride and gratitude that he received the order to take up the position of President of Egypt during the transitional period. He praised the country’s youth and the armed forces that he said had been the conscience of the nation and the guarantor of its security.

Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, is said to be under house arrest after what he says was a military coup.

On Wednesday, hours after the expiry of a 48-hour ultimatum set by the military for the president to address the political crisis, the head of the army appeared live on television announcing the suspension of the constitution.

General Abdul Fattah Al-Sisi, flanked by religious and military leaders, said the chief justice of constitutional court would take the powers of the presidency. The move follows four days of mass street protests against President Morsi, who has been in power for just over a year.

Mohammed Morsi loses the presidency in a similar fashion as his immediate predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, who was forced to step down in February 2011 at the height of civilian protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Protesters accused Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood of pursuing an Islamist agenda and of failing to tackle Egypt’s economic problems.

The health ministry says at least 10 people were killed and scores injured in clashes across the country. Some 50 people have died since the latest unrest began on Sunday.