The world knew little of Sisi before

The world knew little of Sisi before he appeared on television on July 3 to announce the removal of Mursi after vast crowds demanded he resign, and to
promise new elections.
Sisi had kept a low profile as Mubarak's head of military intelligence. It was Mursi who appointed him armychief and defence minister in August 2012, in a
mistaken calculation that the military would let the Brotherhood pursue its Islamist agenda as long as its own entrenched privileges were kept safe.
MILITARY TAKEOVER
Mursi may have been swayed by Sisi's reputation as a pious Muslim. Some Brotherhood leaders have said he used to join them for prayers and wept while
reciting verses from the Koran.
But Mursi appeared deaf to discontent on the streets which rose to a crescendo after he grabbed sweeping powers to ram through an Islamist-tinted
constitution. The Brotherhood's perceived mismanagement of the economy only fuelled unrest.
When a carefully orchestrated anti-Mursi campaign gathered steam, Sisi picked his moment and gave the man who appointed him a 48-hour ultimatum to resign or
face military action.
He then deposed a defiant Mursi and carted him off to jail, eventually to face charges that could carry the death penalty.
Egyptians weary of endless upheaval hailed Sisi, even when the new army-backed government began a fierce campaign to crush the Brotherhood, which as the
country's best-organised political force, had won every national vote held after Mubarak's fall.
Security forces killed hundreds of Mursi supporters in the streets in August in the bloodiest civil unrest inEgypt's modern history. They jailed the leaders
of the Brotherhood, which the government then denounced as a terrorist organisation, despite its renunciation of violence decades earlier.
But the Sisi bandwagon has rolled on, with images of him in sunglasses and beret adorning posters, t-shirts, chocolates and even women's underwear in this
conservative, mainly Muslim land.