20120702
Press TV
Egypt’s first freely-elected President Mohamed Morsi says his country is in ‘dire need of every hand that can build bright future’ and it will never return to its ‘ugly past.’


In his first presidential speech on Saturday, Morsi promised to protect the rights of all Egyptian citizens and to achieve social justice.

“Egyptians chose me to march toward modern state,” Morsi said during his inauguration speech at Cairo University.

The president added that Egypt “will not allow any country to interfere in its affairs.”

Earlier, Morsi took the oath and became Egypt’s first civilian president in a swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC).

The Muslim Brotherhood candidate was announced president on Sunday after a runoff with Ahmed Shafiq, who served as Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister.

This comes as the protests have been going on since the junta dissolved the country’s parliament dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood for being unconstitutional after a high court ruling.

The ruling generals are expected to hand over power to the president in an official ceremony at an army base.