Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ditched his military fatigues on Thursday and resigned as Egypt's defense minister a day after announcing he would run for president.

Sisi turned up in civilian clothes at the weekly cabinet meeting to submit his resignation as minister after quitting as army chief the previous night, state news agency MENA reported.

Declaring his candidacy in a televised address to the nation on Wednesday, Sisi vowed to fight "terrorism" and work towards restoring the country's battered economy.

Wildly popular Sisi faces no serious competition in the election to be held before June and is widely seen as the only leader able to restore order after more than three years of turmoil since the Arab Spring overthrow of veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.

"With all modesty, I nominate myself for the presidency of Egypt," Sisi said in his address to the nation, attired in his field marshal's uniform and sitting behind a desk.

He also vowed to fight militancy, which has killed more than 200 policemen and troops since Sisi's ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi last July. Egypt's media hailed his speech, splashing it across their front pages on Thursday.

"Finally, Sisi officially announces candidacy for president," said independent daily, Al-Masry Al-Youm, while state-run Al-Akhbar said, "Sisi starts his walk to presidential palace."

Egyptians in the street welcomed the announcement, saying it was inevitable Sisi would become president.

"Sisi is too powerful. If he had remained as defense minister, he would have become a headache for any president," said Ali Amin, who works as a tour operator.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood rejected his candidacy outright.

"He led a coup to become president. He is a man who has killed daily since the coup," Ibrahim Munir, a member of the Brotherhood's political bureau, told AFP by telephone from London.

AFP