CAIRO: Egyptian army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi did not rule out running for the presidency in an interview published yesterday, suggesting the general who deposed Islamist president Mohammed Mursi is at least considering the job.
Sisi, 59, deposed Mursi in July following mass protests against his rule. He has since emerged as a popular figure to many Egyptians and his supporters want him to run for president in an election expected next year.
Asked by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Seyassah whether he was a candidate for the presidency, Sisi said: “Would that satisfy all the people? Would that satisfy some of the foreign powers, and does this mean working to find solutions for Egypt’s problems? In any case, let’s see what the days bring.”
Though the election is expected in around six months’ time, none of the politicians defeated by Mursi in last year’s vote have declared their candidacy this time around, as Sisi keeps the country guessing about his intentions.
It is widely assumed Sisi would win an election, meaning the presidency would once again be controlled by the military establishment that dominated state affairs for decades after the army overthrew the monarchy in 1952.
Sisi holds the position of deputy prime minister in the interim administration installed by the military after Mursi, Egypt’s first civilian head of state, was ousted. Sisi also holds the post of defence minister.
Elsewhere in Egypt, a police officer was shot dead in a Nile Delta town yesterday while trying to arrest suspects wanted in connection with the killing of a security official, the Interior Ministry said.
Captain Ahmed Samir came under fire during an early morning raid in the province of Qulubiya, the ministry said in a statement. The militants were suspected of involvement in the shooting in Cairo on Sunday of Interior Ministry Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Mabruk.
Mabruk was part of an Interior Ministry unit that closely tracks the Muslim Brotherhood, which has won every national vote since a popular uprising toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
State-run newspaper Al Ahram quoted a forensics specialist as saying Samir had died from a bullet wound to his neck, and that he was shot at a range of no more than five metres.
A Sinai-based militant group, Ansar Bayt Al Maqdis, has claimed responsibility for the killing of Mabruk, who security officials say had been due to testify in one of several legal cases against Mursi, who is on trial for inciting violence.
REUTERS
