Abdel fattah el-Sisi rose from a low level military officer to the leader of the most
populous country in the arab world.
Sisi has been the president of Egypt since 2014, after overthrowing the nation's first
democratically-elected government.
And in March, he extended his rule at least another four years after the country held
an election that critics say was neither free, nor fair.
Hey guys, I’m Judah with NowThis World and today we’re looking back at Egyptian president
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s rise to power.
Sisi was born in 1954 in Cairo, Egypt.
He grew up in the Gamaleya neighborhood, to a particularly affluent and religiously conservative
family.
His father, Said el-Sisi, was a shop owner in the local bazaar and was one of the neighborhoods
wealthiest men, as well as one of the biggest employers in their area.
Neighbors of the Sisis say that Said was a stern and intimidating figure who always dressed
in a suit and tie, unlike most locals.
This sternness had a particular effect on young Abdel fattah.
Old friends of the young Sisi said he was incredibly athletic.
He would do sets of pushups in between reading passages of a book, and jump and down stairs
so he could build his calve muscles.
He also became an extremely disciplined person.
Friends even recall that Sisi would punish himself when he felt he did wrong.
Reportedly, he once shaved his own head after getting in trouble for something his father
deemed inappropriate.
This drive and intensity laid the foundations for his goal of joining the military.
Military service in Egypt is required for most men when they come of age, but for Sisi,
he didn’t want to join just because he had to.
Sisi joined because he viewed the army as the best way for him to achieve greatness
-- something he had dreamed about for some time….
Literally.
In one of his dreams, Sisi recalls telling Anwar Sadat, the former president of Egypt,
that one day he’d be president too.
In his 20s, Sisi dove into his studies and graduated from the Egyptian Military Academy
in 1977 before serving in the infantry.
Eventually he went on to study at military academies in The United Kingdom and The United
States.
He specialized in military intelligence and began to rise through the ranks.
He became a decorated military officer -- serving as a military attaché in Saudi Arabia, and
then the commander of Egypt’s Northern Military Zone under president Hosni Mubarak in 2008.
In 2010, he was appointed to become the Director of National Intelligence, which essentially
made him the nation’s top spy.
With this appointment, Sisi became the youngest serving member of an elite governing military
body called SCAF, or the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Everything seemed to be moving along in his favor -- but then in 2011 something happened
that would change the course of Egyptian history.
It was January 2011 when a civilian uprising dubbed “The Arab Spring,” swept through
Egypt.
Hundreds of thousands of people flooded into Cairo’s Tahrir Square to protest against
poverty, unemployment, corruption, and the three-decade rule of autocratic leader Hosni
Mubarak.
It was an open secret in Egypt that Mubarak was grooming his younger son, Gamal, to become
the nation’s next leader.
Because the move was unpopular among Egyptian citizens, Sisi knew the day would come when
the military would have to part ways with Mubarak.
But the Arab Spring, made that day come sooner than he originally expected.
On February 11 of that same year, the mass demonstrations culminated in the ousting the
longtime ruler, Mubarak.
And when Mubarak stepped down, the military -- stepped in.
This move would bring Sisi one step closer to his lifelong dream of being an influential
leader.
The military institution declared it would run Egypt's government only until an elected,
civilian government took shape.
During this time, Sisi would continue to serve in his role as the nation’s spy chief and
member of SCAF -- which now seemed poised to take over the country-- at least for the
short term.
SCAF chairman at the time, Hussein Tantawi, became the nation’s de facto leader during
the transition of power, and Sisi would position himself behind Tantawi as he prepared himself
to one day lead the nation.
But the elections the military promised its citizens, didn’t turn out the way they had
hoped.
In early 2012, Egypt held parliamentary elections that elected the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist
political party that has long been at odds with the military.
The Brotherhood won a resounding 47 percent of seats in parliament.
This election marked a monumental shift in Egyptian politics where, for the first time
in history, power seemed to be transferring to the Islamist, and away from the Military.
But this wouldn’t last too long.
In May 2012, Egyptians once again headed to the polls, this time to elect their new president.
The front runner was Mohamed Morsi, a member of the Brotherhood.
But when the Brotherhood’s political victory all but seemed certain, the military intervened.
Two days before the final round of the presidential election, the nation’s Supreme Constitutional
Court (made up of military-aligned judges) dissolved the Brotherhood-led parliament.
The move made one thing clear, elections wouldn’t end the long-standing divisions between the
military and the Brotherhood, but rather put them on a direct path of confrontation.
Morsi went on to win the election -- and surprisingly the military, including Sisi, appeared to
accept the results and recognized him as the president-elect.
But the struggle between these two groups was far from over, and Sisi would soon find
himself in the national spotlight.
After Morsi took office, an attack in Egypt’s Sinai region left 16 soldiers dead.
Morsi used the attack to force the resignation of several military officials, including SCAF
chairman Hussein Tantawi, and replaced him with none other than Abdel fattah el-Sisi.
This was the moment Sisi had been waiting for for so long.
He finally made it to the very top of the military, becoming the new Minister of Defense
and Commander-in-chief.
But after a year in those roles, Sisi’s aspiration took on a new form -- politics.
Mohammad Morsi’s presidency was by no means a success -- he only achieved 10 of his 64
campaign promises within the first 100 days of his presidency.
And because of that, one year after Morsi assumed office, up to 500,000 people gathered
in Tahrir square -- again.
This time demanding the removal of Morsi from office, and for early elections to take place.
During this time, Sisi’s popularity began to rise among anti-Morsi protesters -- as
they called for him to overthrow the Brotherhood’s government.
On July 1, 2013, Sisi issued an ultimatum to Morsi -- He told him to step down within
48 hours, or face a military coup.
But Morsi was defiant and refused to step down.
On July 3rd, 2013 -- the military followed through on their threat.
They arrested Morsi and suspended the nation’s constitution.
And just like that, Sisi had become the de facto leader of Egypt.
Although some condemned the move as the end of short lived democracy in the country, Sisi
claimed he was just executing the will of the people.
But Morsi supporters disagreed.
They took to the streets of Cairo to protest the military coup that ousted the president.
Tens of thousands of his supporters formed encampments in Cairo But Sisi wasn’t going
to be deterred.
Under Sisi’s leadership on August 14, 2013, Egyptian security forces stormed one of the
encampments and killed at least 817 protesters.
An investigation by Human Rights Watch concluded that security forces intentionally killed
the protesters in a premeditated attack, making it the worst politically motivated attack
by a government since the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings in China.
The Human rights group said the massacre was “the worst mass killing in modern Egyptian
history.”
That didn’t stop the military establishment from putting its full support behind Sisi
-- the man they wanted to become the nation’s next president.
On March 24, 2014, Sisi took steps to make his leadership official.
He resigned from the military and announced his candidacy for president.
He was considered the only viable candidate in the election, and won with over 96 percent
of the vote the following May.
Sisi had finally achieved his dream of becoming president.
But now that Sisi has the power he’s always wanted, the world will be watching to see
how long he tries to hold onto it…