The little-known army general who won over Egyptians

Born in November 1954, Abdul Fattah Al Sissi graduated from the military academy in 1977.

He was unknown to ordinary Egyptians until August 2012 when then-president Mohammad Mursi picked him to be defence minister, replacing Hussain Tantawi, a veteran confidant of former president Hosni Mubarak. Al Sissi was the chief of the military intelligence service at the time. He had earlier served as a military attaché in Saudi Arabia.

After toppling Mursi, he generated a cultlike status unknown in Egypt since the era of the late president Jamal Abdul Nasser, an icon of Arab nationalism who died in 1970.

Since becoming Egypt’s president in 2014 Al Sissi has stepped up a military campaign against Islamist militants.

Al Sissi is the latest in a line of Egypt’s rulers drawn from the army.

He took office after a landslide election win amid wide popularity he gained for having, as a defence minister, led the army’s 2013 overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi following mass protests against his rule.

Egypt has since seen a spate of deadly attacks mainly in Sinai, a hotbed of militant activity.

In February, the army started a large operation against extremists in Sinai and the Western Desert bordering troubled Libya.

Portraying himself as a moderate Muslim, Al Sissi has repeatedly urged Muslim scholars to reform religious teachings in order to help fight violent militancy.

He always peppers his public addresses with quotes from the Quran.

While fighting terrorism, Al Sissi has been keen to heal the Egyptian economy battered by the unrest, which followed the 2011 uprising that forced president Hosni Mubarak out of power, and Mursi’s incompetent and divisive management of the country.

Al Sissi has launched a series of major development projects nationwide, including an expansion of the Suez Canal, a key waterway.

He espouses an ambitious economic reform programme that has secured Egypt a badly needed loan of $12 billion from the International Monetary Fund.

Critics, however, say the reforms have exacted a high price from ordinary Egyptians, who have yet to recover from the 2016 float of the local pound and cuts in state subsidies.

The measures have hiked prices of different goods and services in the country.

On several occasions, Al Sissi has thanked his compatriots for their “understanding of and patience over these necessary and overdue reforms”.