World leaders today reacted cautiously to the political upheaval in Egypt that saw the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi, asking the Egyptian military to rapidly restore democracy.

"We are deeply concerned by the decision of the Egyptian Armed Forces to remove President Morsi and suspend the Egyptian constitution," US President Barack Obama said in a statement.

"I now call on the Egyptian military to move quickly and responsibly to return full authority back to a democratically elected civilian government as soon as possible through an inclusive and transparent process, and to avoid any arbitrary arrests of President Morsi and his supporters," he said.