CAIRO — Egypt’s former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, winner by a landslide in last month’s presidential election, was sworn into office Sunday, a year after he ousted the nation’s first freely elected leader.
The retired field marshal called for unity and hard work, while vowing that there would be no reconciliation with those who took up arms against the government and Egyptians.
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That was a thinly veiled reference to supporters of Mohammed Morsi, the Islamist president el-Sissi removed last July, and Islamic militants waging attacks against the government.
“There will be reconciliation between the sons of our nation except those who had committed crimes against them or adopted violence,” el-Sissi said. “There will be no acquiescence or laxity shown to those who resorted to violence.”
He did not mention by name Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which was declared a terrorist group by the government last December. But el-Sissi’s rise coincides with detention of thousands and the killing of hundreds of Morsi supporters.
El-Sissi also vowed to fight corruption and appeared to make an overture to pro-democracy and secular youth activists. They accuse the new president of reviving toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak’s police state, pointing to a law passed last year that restricts protests as well as the jailing of a number of well-known activists.
He peppered his 55-minute address with references to “freedom, social justice and bread,” the main slogan by youth groups behind the January 2011 uprising that ended Mubarak’s 29-year rule.
El-Sissi’s July 3 ouster of Morsi triggered a cycle of deadly violence and further polarized Egypt. Now, el-Sissi faces the daunting tasks of reviving Egypt’s anemic economy, fighting Islamic militants and cementing his rule after three years of deadly turmoil in the Arab world’s most populous country.
Under his rule, el-Sissi said Egypt will work hard so that rights and freedoms can grow.
“Let us differ for the sake of our nation and not over it; let us do that as part of a unifying national march in which every party listens to the other objectively and without ulterior motives,” he said.
El-Sissi’s inauguration came less than a year after he ousted Morsi following days of mass protests demanding he step down. He has been praised by many in a wave of nationalist fervor fueled by a jingoistic media, despite the harsh crackdown by security forces.
Yet Egypt’s recent, tumultuous history remained close by. El-Sissi, 59, took the oath of office at the Supreme Constitutional Court, the same venue where Morsi, now on trial for charges that carry the death penalty, was sworn in two years ago.
The court is a short distance from a military hospital where Mubarak is being held. Mubarak was convicted last month on graft charges and sentenced to three years in prison. He is also being retried over the killing of protesters during the 18-day revolt after his original conviction and life sentence were successfully appealed.
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