REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CAIRO - Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was sworn in as president of Egypt on Sunday in a ceremony with low-key attendance by Western allies concerned by a crackdown on dissent since he ousted leader, Mohamed Mursi last year.

Last month's presidential election, which officials said Sisi won with 97 percent of the vote, followed three years of upheaval since a popular uprising ended 30 years of rule by former air force commander Husni Mubarak. But the election turnout of just 47 percent shows Sisi is not as popular as when he toppled Mursi.

Security in Cairo was extra tight, with armoured personnel carriers and tanks positioned in strategic locations as Sisi swore to protect Egypt's republican system, unity, law and the interests of its people before a panel of judges at the Supreme Constitutional Court. Commentators on state and private media heaped praise on him, turning a blind eye to what human rights groups say are widespread abuses, in the hope that he can deliver stability and rescue the economy.

Mursi was the country's first freely elected president, but his year in power was tarnished by accusations that he usurped power, imposed the Brotherhood's views on Islam and mismanaged the economy, allegations he denied.

Mursi's ouster was applauded by Egypt's Gulf Arab allies, who were alarmed by the rise of the Brotherhood, the international standard-bearer of mainstream Sunni political Islam. The movement, which won nearly every election in Egypt since Mubarak's fall, is seen as a threat to Gulf dynasties. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait pumped billions of dollars of aid into Egypt after Sisi appeared on television and announced that the Brotherhood was finished.

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