Who is Egyptian President Abdel Al-Sisi, India’s Republic Day Chief Guest

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Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Sunday. “This is the first time that the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt will be the Chief Guest at our Republic Day,” the MEA said in a statement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a formal invitation to al-Sisi which was handed over to the Egyptian president by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on October 16. Both countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.Sisi, who was born in Cairo in 1954, joined the infantry after graduating from the Egyptian Military Academy in 1977, eventually rising to command a mechanised division.

After serving as a military attaché in Saudi Arabia, chief-of-staff and then commander of Egypt’s Northern Military Zone, he was appointed head of Military Intelligence, a report by BBC states.

The then-general rose to prominence in 2011 when he was named a member of Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf), which took over after popular uprising forced longtime President Hosni Mubarak to resign.

General Sisi, a devout Muslim, was reportedly tasked with liaising with the Muslim Brotherhood, an influential Islamist movement that had been outlawed under Mubarak.

Mohammed Morsi, a senior Brotherhood figure, was elected Egypt’s first democratically elected president in June 2012. He appointed Gen Sisi as commander-in-chief of the military and defence minister two months later.

Sisi rose to prominence in Egyptian politics in the summer of 2013, following the emergence of a protest movement known as Tamarrud (“Rebellion”), which demanded that Morsi be removed or replaced through an early election. On June 30, protests against Morsi had reached a scale and intensity not seen since Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011, with some demonstrators chanting for Sisi to do the same. On July 1, Sisi issued an ultimatum to Morsi,

demanding that the crisis be resolved within 48 hours or face military intervention. Morsi offered some talks but refused to step down or agree to early elections, so the military deposed him and arrested him on July 3. Adly Mansour, a figurehead president, was installed, but it was clear that Sisi, who retained the title of defence minister, wielded power, states a report by Britannica.

Egypt is a major buyer of weapons and is in the process of rapid military modernization,” he continues, and India has recently put an effort on strengthening its defence manufacturing, both for atmnirbharta’ in meeting its needs and for enhancing defence exports,” he added.