Update: Mansour lets ElBaradei resign

Interim President Adly Mansour announced on Thursday that he accepted his Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei's resignation. 

Nobel laureate ElBaradei submitted his resignation on Wednesday, after only a month in office, in protest against the violent crackdown on Cairo's two main pro-Morsi sit-ins that left at least 525 dead, according to numbers reported by the Health Ministry on Thursday afternoon.

Minister of International Cooperation and Deputy Prime Minister Ziad Bahaa Eddin also reportedly submitted his resignation on Wednesday, citing the use of excessive force against pro-Morsi protesters to disperse the sit-ins.

"It has become difficult for me to continue holding responsibility for decisions that I don't agree with and the consequences of which I fear, and I can't bear responsibility for one drop of blood in front of God, my conscience, and the people, especially as I believe that it could have been avoided," ElBaradei wrote in his resignation letter. 

During his month in office, news was leaked of disagreements between ElBaradei and other members of the Cabinet over the crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hailed. ElBaradei repeatedly reiterated that he rejects resorting to violence. 

In his resignation letter ElBaradei wrote that he had suggested peaceful solutions to end the state of tension and reach national reconciliation, but that matters went in a difficult and costly direction.

This was ElBaradei's first official post after having become a prominent opposition figure in the Egyptian political scene in 2010. After announcing his bid for presidency last year, he withdrew from the race before the elections, saying that he disagreed with the roadmap and could not find enough guarantees for the elections' integrity.

In the letter, ElBaradei said that he had hoped that the June 30 movement would put Egypt on the road towards achieving the goals of the revolution. This convinced him to accept the post, but he now found the country heading towards a dangerous level of polarization.

State-run Al-Ahram portal reported that presidential sources denied Bahaa Eddin's resignation as well as rumors that Mostafa Hegazy, the presidential consultant, had resigned. 

The presence of respected and revolutionary figures such as ElBaradei and Bahaa Eddin in the new government lent it legitimacy in the face of accusations that it replaced an elected government that was illegitimately overthrown. The withdrawal of these figures from the government, which also includes many figures from the era of former President Hosni Mubarak, is expected to put it in a crisis.