CAIRO — Many citizens, experts and observers are wondering if Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's security reshuffling in October was related more to the war on terrorism or to his apparent competition with potential rivals in the upcoming elections.
One week after militants killed at least 16 policemen (The Associated Press reported 54) in Giza province in October 2017, the Interior Ministry gave several high-ranking officials the boot. Sisi named a new top military leader, replacing Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Hegazy as armed forces chief of staff and appointing him instead as presidential adviser of strategic planning and crisis management. Some people attributed the change to the continuing violence, but since then there's been a lot of speculation about why Hegazy was replaced.
