Sisi: "I won't be president forever"

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, 71, said on Saturday that he will not seek to stay in power when his term ends in 2030.

"The period leading up to 2030 will be the end of my term as president, if I am still alive," he told a graduation ceremony at the Military Academy. "The matter is perfectly settled and will not be up for discussion."

He added that he also plans a constitutional revision. He did not say what it would cover, and the announcement is likely to fuel the suspicion of opposition figures and critics, who fear a change that would let him stay beyond 2030.

The constitution approved in 2014, after the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, capped presidents at two four-year terms. A 2019 revision extended the term to six years and included provisions allowing Sissi to run again in 2023.

He said the coming years should be used to produce a new generation of leaders, especially through the academy, which trains hundreds of future state officials. Egypt has had six presidents since the monarchy fell in 1952, five of them from the military.

Sissi spoke in the "new administrative capital," a showcase city 50 km east of Cairo and one of the mega-projects of his 12 years in power. Leaders see such projects as vital for long-term growth, but they have also driven a sharp rise in Egypt's foreign debt.