Sisi sworn in as Egypt’s new president

Egypt's former army chief Abdel Fattah El Sisi was sworn in on Sunday as president for a four-year term, assuming the highest office of a polarized nation that has been roiled by deadly unrest and an economic crisis since its 2011 uprising.

His inauguration came less than a year after the 59-year-old career infantry officer ousted the country's first freely elected president, the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi, after days of mass protests demanding Morsi step down.

"There will be reconciliation between the sons of our nation except those who had committed crimes against them or adopted violence," Sisi said, in a thinly veiled reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

"There will be no acquiescence or laxity shown to those who resorted to violence."

Sisi also vowed to fight corruption at all levels and appeared to make an overture to pro-democracy and secular youths, many of whom boycotted last month's presidential election.

They accuse Sisi of reviving a police state, pointing to a law passed last year that restricts protests as well as the jailing of a number of well-known activists.

Morsi's year in power was tarnished by accusations that he usurped power, imposed the Muslim Brotherhood's views on the rest of the nation and mismanaged the economy, allegations he denied.

Sisi took the oath of office before the Supreme Constitutional Court at the tribunal's Nile-side headquarters in a suburb south of Cairo, the same venue where Morsi, now on trial for charges that carry the death penalty, was sworn in two years ago.

The building, designed to look like an ancient Egyptian temple, is a short distance from a military hospital where ousted President Hosni Mubarak is being held.

Forced out of office after nearly 30 years in power by the 2011 uprising, Mubarak was convicted last month of graft and sentenced to three years in prison. He is being retried for failing to stop the killing of hundreds of protesters during the 18-day revolt.

Sunday was declared a national holiday for Sisi's inauguration, and police and troops were deployed throughout Cairo. The somber ceremony was held in a red-carpeted hall adorned by red, white and black Egyptian flags and attended by the entire Cabinet and Sisi's wife and children.

After arriving by helicopter, Sisi, in a blue suit and matching tie, entered the hall walking side by side with the outgoing interim President Adly Mansour, who will now return to his post as chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court after nearly a year in office.

Outside the building, about a hundred Sisi supporters waved Egyptian flags and posters of the new president. Army pickup trucks fitted with machine guns were parked nearby, and helicopters hovered overhead.

Sisi is Egypt's eighth president since the overthrow of the monarchy in 1953. With the exception of Morsi and two civilians who served in an interim capacity, all of Egypt's presidents have hailed from the armed forces.

After being sworn in, Sisi was greeted by a 21-gun salute as he arrived at the presidential palace in the upscale district of Heliopolis on the other side of Cairo. Sisi also reviewed a military honor guard.

He welcomed dozens of local and foreign dignitaries, including the kings of Jordan and Bahrain, the emir of Kuwait and the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. The five Arab nations backed Sisi's ouster of Morsi, and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE have since provided billions of dollars to shore up Egypt's ailing finances.

But Sunday’s ceremony was poorly attended by Western allies because of concerns about the country's crackdown on dissent since Morsi's ouster. Western countries, which hoped the overthrow of Mubarak in 2011 would usher in a new era of democracy, have watched Egypt's political transition stumble.

Sisi won a landslide victory, receiving nearly 97 percent of the vote, with a turnout of 47.45 percent.

The three-day election was declared free of fraud but was tainted by the extraordinary means authorities used to get the vote out, including a threat to fine those who stayed home, a one-day voting extension and allowing free rides on trains and buses to encourage voters to travel to their home districts to cast ballots.

Also, the election was held against a backdrop of vastly curbed freedoms and a massive crackdown on supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood, hundreds of whom have been killed in clashes with security forces. Morsi's supporters boycotted the vote.

The pro-military media has meanwhile demonized not only the Brotherhood but also secular icons from the 2011 uprising.

Morsi's ouster on July 3, 2013, made Sisi an instant hero in the eyes of many Egyptians, with supporters viewing him as a strong leader who could restore stability after three years of turmoil.

But Morsi's Islamist backers — thousands of whom have been jailed in the past year — accuse Sisi of crushing Egypt's infant democracy, and many of the secular youths behind the 2011 uprising say he has revived Mubarak's police state, pointing to a law passed last year that restricts protests as well as the jailing of a number of well-known activists.

Sisi made it clear in a series of media interviews ahead of the May 26–28 vote that his priorities were security and the economy, maintaining that free speech must take a backseat while he fights Islamic militants waging a campaign of violence against the government and works to revive the ailing economy.

While many in Egypt agree that the fight against militancy comes before everything else, his plans for the economy, which revolve around a strong state willing to intervene and a call for Egyptians to work harder, have generated less enthusiasm.

Promising "great leaps," Sisi has advocated heavy government involvement in the economy, with government price controls for some goods and state-sponsored megaprojects to create jobs. At the same time, he has vowed to be business-friendly and encourage investment.

He has spoken of reshaping the map of Egypt by expanding Nile provinces into the desert to make way for development outside the densely populated river valley. He says the billions of dollars needed for those projects would come from oil-rich Gulf nations and Egyptian expatriates.

Wire services