Cairo: Egypt’s military leaders have picked army Chief of Staff Sedki Sobhi to be the country’s defence minister, succeeding Abdul Fattah Al Sissi who resigned in order to run for presidency.
The new defence minister, who also becomes the army commander-in-chief, was on Thursday sworn in by caretaker President Adly Mansour who promoted him from lieutenant-general to the rank of general.
Born in 1955, Sobhi graduated from Egypt’s Military Academy in 1976 when he became an officer in the infantry corps and later a commander of a mechanised infantry brigade. He obtained the Fellowship degree from the Cairo-based Nasser Military Academy in 2000 — the same year Al Sissi also got the same degree.
Five years later, Sobhi obtained a strategy fellowship from the United States Army War College. He mainly served in the Third Field Corps — a main branch of the Egyptian army.
In 2009, he was promoted to commander of the Third Field Corps. Three years later, the now-deposed president Mohammad Mursi appointed him as army chief of staff after the Islamist leader sacked Sami Anan, a Mubarak-era military figure.
Following Mursi’s ouster by the military in July last year, Sobhi oversaw a high-profile army campaign against suspected militants in the restive Sinai Peninsula. Sobhi is also believed to have played a big role in diversifying Egypt’s armaments in recent months after friction with the US over Mursi’s overthrow. Sobhi, who is married with three children, rarely speaks in public.
