Cairo: Egypt's new president Abdul Fattah Al Sissi and outgoing caretaker president Adly Mansour Sunday signed a document on power handover, in an unprecedented move in the country.
Both leaders signed the pact in the presence of several heads of states and world delegations at an inauguration ceremony held in the Ittihadiya presidential place in eastern Cairo.
Mansour, a former top judge, took office on July 4, a day after Al Sissi, the then defence minister, led the army's ouster of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi.
Al Sissi won an overwhelming victory in last month's two-candidate elections, securing nearly 97 per cent of the votes cast.
"Egypt has not seen before a democratic, peaceful transfer of power," Al Sissi told a ceremony prior to signing the document Sunday. He pledged to work for establishing a strong and democratic state.
"Egypt will return to play an effective regional and international role," the ex-general said. He promised to achieve a "comprehensive renaissance" for the country during his four-year term. "Egypt is the seat of moderate Islam that rejects terrorism and violence," he added, indirectly referring to a spate of unrest that has hit Egypt since Mursi's ouster.
Al Sissi’s family attend swearing-in
The family of Egypt’s new president Abdul Fatah Al Sissi Monday made a rare public appearance, attending his swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The new First Lady, Intassar Al Sissi, was seen flanked by three of her four children and a daughter- in- law as the former defence minister took the oath of office. She, her daughter and son’s wife wore the Islamic headdress or the hijab.
In February, Mrs Al Sissi attended with her husband an army ceremony, marking her first appearance in public since Al Sissi was appointed in August 2012 as defence minister by the now-deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi.
They have four children- one daughter named Aya, who is a Navy Academy graduate. The three boys are Mustafa, an employee at the state-run Administrative Oversight Authority; Mahmoud an intelligence officer; and Hassan an oil engineer
Al Sissi sworn in as Egypt’s president
Cairo: Former defence minister Abdul Fattah Al Sissi Sunday took the oath of office as Egypt’s president amid tight security.
“I swear by God Almighty to sincerely safeguard the republican system, respect the constitution and law, fully look after the people’s interests and preserve the nation’s independent, the unity and integrity of its territory,” Al Sissi declared before the country’s top judges.
Attending the swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Constitutional Court was outgoing caretaker president Adly Mansour, a former chief justice, who has ruled Egypt for nearly a year after the army deposed the elected Islamist president Mohammad Mursi last July.
Al Sissi won a landslide victory in last month’s election securing nearly 97 per cent of the votes cast in the two-candidate polls.
As Al Sissi was being sworn in, thousands of security forces and explosives experts were deployed outside the court building in southern Cairo. An army helicopter was seen flying over the area. The traffic was, meanwhile, diverted outside the court building off the Cairo Nile in the district of Ma’adi as part of tight security measures.
The new president, who led the military’s overthrow of Mursi, has recently disclosed foiling two attempts on his life allegedly masterminded by Islamist insurgents.
Walls of the hall where the swearing-in was held were covered with the national flag. Following the oath-taking, Al Sissi took a group photo with Mansour and the 13 members of the court’s general assembly.
Present at the televised ceremony were members of the Egyptian government, the nation’s top Muslim and Christian clerics and Amr Moussa, who headed a commission that drafted a new constitution that replaced the one adopted while Mursi was in office.
An inaugural ceremony will be held later in the day at the Ittihadiya presidential palace in eastern Cairo to be attended by senior Arab leaders and foreign dignitaries.
In the evening, a big gala will be held to be attended by public figures at Al Quba presidential palace in Cairo.
Mursi was Egypt’s first freely elected president, but his one-year rule was marred by political instability and public discontent about socio-economic problems.
Al Sissi, 59, has pledged to stem the turmoil and economic deterioration that have gripped for the past three years.
He is Egypt’s fifth ruler drawn from the military since a 1952 army-led revolution overthrew the monarchy in the country.
With input from agencies
