Sisi: ‘I am not president of Egypt, I am her son’

Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi said yesterday: “I am responsible for 90 million people, and keen to balance between their security, the stability of the state, securing freedoms and rights and fighting for the independence of Egypt’s decisions.”

Speaking to a room of Egyptian intellectuals and writers, he said: “No one can remain as president longer than their prescribed term,” adding: “I am not president of Egypt, I am her son.”

Sources said: “The meeting comes to exchange ideas on ways to achieve development and provide a suitable environment for advancement.”

According to the sources, Al-Sisi told attendees that he is keen to find a balance between Egypt’s stability and securing freedoms and rights.

“I am keen to achieve a balance between the safety of 90 million and the state’s stability on the one hand and securing rights and freedoms on the other,” he said.

The meeting is the first in a series of gatherings that Al-Sisi aims to hold with figures from across the country’s political, economic and arts spectrum, the presidency said in a statement.

Egyptian playwright and journalist Mohamed Salmawy, who attended the meeting, said the meeting is long overdue as intellectuals and writers supported Al-Sisi on 30 June 2013 and stood against the Muslim Brotherhood.

Observers believe the series of national dialogues initiated by Al-Sisi is a message to the West that the Egyptian regime is open to opposition.