Former army chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi has been sworn in as Egypt’s new president after winning elections in May by a landslide.
Security forces were deployed at key locations around the capital Cairo ahead of the ceremony at the Supreme Constitutional Court.
The retired field marshal overthrew President Mohammed Morsi last July.
He has since been pursuing a crackdown on Mr Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which urged a boycott of the elections.
Liberal and secular activists, including the 6 April youth movement which was prominent in the 2011 revolution that ousted long-serving President Hosni Mubarak, also shunned the 26-28 May poll in protest at the curtailing of civil rights.
‘Time to work’
Mr Sisi, 59, was sworn in for a four-year term at a ceremony shown live on television.
It comes almost a year after he ousted Egypt’s first freely elected President, Mohamed Morsi following mass protests against his rule.
At the swearing-in, the court’s deputy head Maher Sami said that had not been a coup, and that Mr Sisi was responding to the will of the people.
Justices present for the ceremony applauded after Mr Sisi took the oath of office.
He replaces the outgoing interim president, Adly Mansour, who returns to his post as chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court.
In the May elections, he secured 96.9% of the vote and his sole challenger, left-winger Hamdeen Sabahi, received only 3.1%, according to the official results.
However, the turnout was less than 50%.
Despite this crowds are expected to flock to Cairo’s Tahrir Square to celebrate his victory, the BBC’s Orla Guerin in the Egyptian capital reports.
Mr Sisi inherits a nation that is divided and weary, our correspondent says. Experts warn that if he cannot deliver in the next year or two he could face a mass revolt, like his predecessors.
In a televised speech after the poll, he said he wanted “freedom” and “social justice”, echoing the slogan of the 2011 revolution.
BBC
