Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi will be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations on January 26 this year. This is the first time that the president of Egypt has been invited as chief guest for Republic Day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a formal invitation to Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi which was handed over to the Egyptian president by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on October 16 last year. Both countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.
Republic Day is celebrated every year on January 26 to mark the day on which the Constitution of India came into effect in 1950. The tradition of inviting leaders of friendly countries to grace Republic Day celebrations also dates back to 1950, when the then Indonesian President Sukarno was invited as the chief guest.
Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi: From army chief to president
Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi has served as president of the Arab Republic of Egypt since 2014.
The 68-year-old leader is a retired military officer. Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi was commander-in-chief of the Egyptian army under Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected president of Egypt.
In 2013, Sisi was involved in a military coup that led to the removal of Morsi as president. He then ran for office and was sworn in as the sixth president of Egypt in June 2014.
According to Forbes, he secured a second term in office after winning 97% of the vote in the presidential election of April 2018.
Sisi was born in Cairo in 1954. He graduated from the military academy of Egypt in 1977 and went on to train at the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College, according to Al Jazeera.
In early 2011, shortly after the Egyptian revolution, Sisi was appointed as the head of military intelligence. One year later, Mohamed Morsi appointed him minister of defence and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
He ascended to power with the military coup of 2013. That was the year when massive anti-Morsi protests had rocked Egypt. Sisi was involved in the coup that removed Morsi from office and ultimately ran for president a year later. He swept the election with 96.9% of votes.
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