The Muslim Brotherhoods leader Mohamed Morsi said Sunday he would be the president of all Egyptians and called on his countrymen to back national unity. "I am the president of all Egyptians, without exception, be it inside or outside the country," he said in a televised speech after the official announcement of his victory.
"I call you, great people of Egypt (...), to strengthen our national unity. National unity is the only way out of these difficult times," he said in his first national address as president-elect.
The First Islamist to reach power in the most populous Arab country, Mr. Morsi has also paid tribute to the martyrs of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. "I would not be here now as the first president elected by the free will of the Egyptians, without the grace of God and (...) the blood of martyrs," he said, adding the revolution will continue until to achieve all its objectives.
"Thank you to the martyrs, to the souls of the martyrs, the mothers of martyrs, the fathers of martyrs," he added, referring to some 850 people killed in January-February 2011.
Morsi also promised in his speech that his country would respect the international treaties signed by Egypt. "We will preserve the treaties and international charters," he said. Among the major international commitments of Egypt are the peace agreements with Israel signed in 1979.
The Muslim Brotherhoods in the past said that they would review the peace agreements with the Jewish state, but did not reject it in principle.
