Egypt Twitter users mock Sisi’s reconciliation efforts

Egyptian presidential frontrunner Abdul Fattah al-Sisi’s recent effort in reconciling two well-known public figures was met with a sarcastic reaction by users of social media site Twitter, who responded by creating satirical photoshopped portrayals of the former army chief’s mediation efforts.

On Thursday, Zamalek football club chief Murtadha Mansour and accused television presenter Ahmed Shuwaiber of spreading lies about his football club and threatened to have him jailed. The former army chief then intervened, being photographed on Saturday attempting to mediate between the two public figures.

However, Twitter users did not seem to take the three-way meeting seriously.

One image posted on the micro-blogging site showed Sisi attempting to reconcile comic book icon Batman with his arch-nemesis the Joker, while another saw the army chief with Simba - the four-legged hero from Disney’s 1994 animated hit The Lion King - and villain Scar.

In another image, Sisi is seen flanked by Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.

The images were posted under a hashtag - in Arabic - which reads “continue your favor.”

Long-running drama

During last week‘s public falling out, Mansour - who ruled out entering the hotly-awaited presidential race after receiving a “sign from God” that Sisi would win the election - also warned that Shuwaiber would face a similar fate to that of formerly-imprisoned belly dancer Sama al-Masri.

Masri had previously infuriated Mansour after she aired a parody of him on her TV channel Folol.
In turn, Mansour then accused Masri of displaying excessive sexuality.

Shortly after the series of hostile exchanges, Masri was summoned to court to face charges of “spreading obscenity” on her channel.