Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who announced the military ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi last July, has resigned from the army to make a long-awaited bid for the country’s presidency
Egyptian army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi formally resigned from the military Wednesday, paving the way for his long-anticipated run for the presidency.
Al-Sisi announced the decision in a TV broadcast, the BBC reports.
The Egyptian army deposed president Mohamed Morsi last year in the midst of mass protests against Morsi’s increasingly authoritarian rule, killing over a thousand of the former president’s Muslim Brotherhood supporters in widespread unrest. Broadly supported by Egyptians who opposed Mohammed Morsi’s presidency, al-Sisi is likely to win presidential elections expected later this year.
[BBC]