Dubai: Former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, who last week announced plans to run for the presidency, left from the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, his family said, and arrived in Cairo hours later.
Shafik, a former air force commander and government minister, was seen as the strongest potential opponent of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is expected to run for a second term next year.
With airport security high, Shafik landed in a private plane in Cairo airport on Saturday evening, the airport sources said.
A Reuters witness at the airport said Egyptian authorities escorted Shafik in a motorcade that was waiting for him outside the airport.
UAE news agency WAM said Shafik left the Emirates for Egypt, adding that his family had remained behind in the Emirates.
Shafik said on Wednesday he would run for president in a surprise announcement from the UAE, where he has been based.
A former army general appointed as prime minister by Hosni Mubarak, Shafiq narrowly lost the presidential election to Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2012, a year after Mubarak's overthrow.