Egypt’s military backs Sisi presidential bid

CAIRO // Egypt’s military has approved a possible presidential run by defence minister Abdel Fatah El Sisi, the clearest sign yet that the general plans to run for the post.

“The people’s trust in Sisi is a call that must be heeded as the free choice of the people,” the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said in a statement on Monday.

The council also accepted Gen El Sisi’s request to resign from the military on Monday, hours after he was promoted to field marshal, the country’s highest rank.

If Gen El Sisi, 59, runs in elections, he would likely sweep the vote, given his popularity among a significant sector of the public. To his supporters, he is the best option for ending three years of instability following the 2011 uprising that forced out autocratic president Hosni Mubarak, another former military officer.

The presidential election is set to take place by mid-April, and will be followed by a parliamentary poll to restore democratic government by 2015, according to a new constitution.

A senior military official said the army chief would step down from his command within days and run in the election.

“He will then sit down, study a programme” to implement after he wins the election, the general said.

He “wants to unite the people, restore security and Egypt’s international standing”.

Gen El Sisi’s aides have said he has hesitated to announce his candidature because he wanted to be sure he would be an effective leader.

If he fails to deliver he risks damaging the military’s popularity.

The career military officer has been hailed by many Egyptians as the only man capable of steering Egypt back to stability, since he led the removal of president Mohammed Morsi in July, which was followed by a crackdown on Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood.

The political divisions since then led to a new wave of violence in the days before and after the January 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising against Mr Mubarak, with dozens killed in clashes between Mr Morsi’s supporters and security forces, as well as attacks by Islamist militants.

On Saturday, five soldiers were killed when a military helicopter was shot down with a surface-to-air missile in the Sinai Peninsula, an unprecedented attack claimed by the Al Qaeda-inspired Ansar Beit Al Maqdis.

The group also claimed responsibility for a car bombing outside a police headquarters in Cairo on Friday that killed four people and raised tensions on the eve of the anniversary.

Still, large crowds turned out on Saturday for rallies calling for Gen El Sisi to run, in a show heavily orchestrated by military supporters, particularly a new political grouping called “Masr Balady” or “Egypt is My Country”, which brings together prominent security figures, including a former interior minister and senior Muslim cleric Ali Gomaa.

The army-backed interim government says elections will help restore stability. Candidate registrations are expected to open on February 18, Mena reported.

“What’s in charge of Egypt is the army, the interior ministry, intelligence services, judiciary, media and bureaucracy,” said Ziad Akl, a senior researcher at the Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “There’s no one except Abdel Fatah El Sisi who can control all these different institutions.”

Successive regimes have failed to restore security to Egypt since Mr Mubarak was pushed from power in a mass uprising. The goal eluded the army council that took over from Mr Mubarak – on which Gen El Sisi served – as well as Mr Morsi, whose one-year rule saw the growing polarisation between secularists and Islamists.

Since his overthrow, the military-backed government has faced daily protests and an upsurge in attacks, including car bombings and assassination attempts that officials have blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood. The group has denied its involvement.

The state-run Al Ahram newspaper said on Monday that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces also named chief of staff Sedki Sobhi to replace Gen El Sisi as army chief and defence minister when he steps down. Under the new constitution, the president must have the council’s endorsement to fill the defence minister-army chief post, meaning the military effectively names its own chief.

With the exception of Mr Morsi, Egypt has been ruled by men of military background since the overthrow of the monarchy in a coup some 60 years ago.

The possibility of Gen El Sisi running for the presidency has raised comparisons with Gamal Abdel Nasser, the charismatic colonel who ruled Egypt between 1954 and 1970. Both were military men whose popularity was stoked by rising nationalism and who oversaw wide-ranging crackdowns on the Muslim Brotherhood.

But unlike Nasser, a champion of pan-Arabism whose speeches brought people into the streets across the region, Gen El Sisi has kept a lower profile, rarely giving public addresses.

Under Mr Mubarak, Gen El Sisi served as military intelligence chief, making him the youngest officer to hold the post.

Mr Morsi later promoted him to defence minister in what was seen at the time as an assertion of civilian control over the military after it temporarily ruled the country follow Mr Mubarak’s overthrow.

At the time, Mr Morsi’s opponents speculated that Gen El Sisi had been chosen because he too was an Islamist, but the rumours were swiftly dispelled less than a year later, when the general ousted Mr Morsi as millions of protesters demanded an end to his divisive year-long rule.

* With reporting by Bloomberg, Asociated Press and Agence France-Presse