Egypt has inaugurated a new armed forces headquarters, which observers say is the largest in the world, with an elaborate ceremony and a rare appearance from the president and former general Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in military uniform.
The Octagon, as the complex is being called, consists of eight buildings each with an eight-sided floor plan in an area of around 90 sq km (34.7 square miles), the size of the Portuguese capital Lisbon.
It has replaced the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Defence Department, as the world’s largest defence ministry building.
Sisi, who appeared in public wearing a military uniform for the first time in more than 10 years, described the complex at the opening as “proof of the will of a nation that knows nothing of the impossible”.
On his way to the opening of the massive complex, the Egyptian leader was accompanied by attack helicopters.
The complex is located in the new administrative capital in the desert east of Cairo and, with estimated costs equivalent to €50 billion (US$57 billion), is one of Egypt’s most expensive projects since Sisi took power.