CAIRO — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited North Sinai on July 4 in the wake of the Sheikh Zuweid terrorist attack and the assassination of Egypt’s Attorney General Hisham Barakat. During the trip, Sisi wore his military uniform. Following the visit, social media activists on Twitter and Facebook started discussing his wardrobe choice using the hashtag #military_uniform. Some users expressed support for Sisi’s visit to the site of the terrorist attack in uniform, believing that seeing it boosts the morale of forces serving in Sinai. Others, however, objected to the move, saying that Sisi’s return to wearing the military uniform after having taken it off before the presidential elections shows that Egypt is still under military rule.
The fact that Sisi went back to wearing the military uniform he had sported for 45 years is not news to the Egyptians. Since the July 23, 1952, revolution, they have been accustomed to seeing presidents with a military background reappear in their uniforms, except for former President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak. President Mohamed Naguib wore his uniform during his rule after the 1952 revolution, and so did President Gamal Abdel Nasser in the first days of his rule. Anwar al-Sadat did the same during Egypt’s war against the Israeli occupation of Sinai, and he kept wearing the uniform even after the war, until he drew his last breath.
