Libya's security crisis worries Cairo

Since the election, few incidents of violence have been reported although one attack points to a growing security concern for the government. On Sunday 1 June, the military’s official spokesman reported that an attack on an Egyptian patrol along its border with Libya had left six guards dead. The attack allegedly occurred as an act of retaliation for recent arrests made by Egyptian security forces on a group of smugglers operating along the border. The military’s statement claims that the attack was the work of the smugglers themselves, although social media sites linked to the militant group Ansar Beit Al Maqdis, which operates primarily out of its base in the Sinai Peninsula, have claimed to be responsible for the attack as well. We have increased our attention on Egypt’s western border because of the rising instability in Libya. It is notable that various figures from within Libya’s body politic have flown to Cairo looking for help to calm the situation and, as we note below, the situation is only likely to worsen in the short term.

It is clear that disorder in Libya, whose government has struggled to control Islamic militant groups operating inside its border and is currently embroiled in a new crisis, has become a security priority for Egypt in recent weeks. On Tuesday 20 May, the military announced that it had temporarily closed Egypt’s border to Libya following similar moves by both Algeria and Tunisia. Envoys of the Egyptian and Algerian governments recently met to co-ordinate security arrangements in light of the renewed hostilities in Libya. This may eventual pose complications to Egyptians working in Libya who, according to unofficial estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, number over a million, although expatriates have not yet been asked to evacuate Libya.

It was reported on Monday 2 June that a Libyan delegation of four ministers aligned with General Khalifa Haftar’s (a.k.a. Khafter) forces who launched an offensive against Islamist militants in Benghazi, including its Minister of Foreign Affairs, arrived in Cairo on a two-day visit aimed at soliciting help from the Egyptian government. President-elect El-Sisi raised Libya on several occasions throughout his electoral campaign as an issue of immediate concern and has suggested that Egypt would intervene in the conflict if it needed to, although the scope and scale of potential intervention has never been made clear. These comments have been welcomed by some Libyans, including General Haftar, who essentially posed an invitation to Egypt to intervene militarily during an interview he gave to a well-read Egyptian newspaper. We are concerned that as the security situation in Libya deteriorates, Egypt may be pulled into the conflict, thereby adding another dimension to its current overall security risk.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Egypt: Presidential elections

The Presidential Election Commission has announced that the balloting will be monitored by 70 Egyptian and 16 international bodies. It has granted licences to a large number of local and foreign media organisations. The formal campaign will start on 3 May and end four days before polling starts on 27 May.

General Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has been preparing his election campaign with military efficiency, though he has yet to announce his programme. As there is no doubt that he will win, he may want to leave as few hostages to fortune as he possibly can and focus on presenting a vision of what Egypt might be like after an El-Sisi presidency.

El-Sisi wants Egyptians to vote in “unprecedented numbers” for the “sake of the country”. He will use a star as his election symbol showing that he will be lighting the way for Egyptians.

His only opponent, Hamdeen Sabahi, can afford to promise the earth since he knows he will not win. He is speaking of confronting terrorism by tackling its root causes and not just its symptoms. He will strive for social justice and equality and to enhance the daily lives of all Egyptians.

He is winning some support: the Socialist Popular Alliance is the latest of several small left wing parties to declare their backing for him. He is no mean campaigner and did surprisingly well in the 2012 elections. His participation will this be more than a symbolic semblance of democracy although many will call into question a process that excludes any candidate representing the Islamic stream.
This absence may lead to significant abstentions, especially in Upper Egypt and parts of the Delta. Several Islamic parties and groups have jointly called for a boycott saying that the process will be a “farce” designed to appoint "the coup orchestrator" as president.

The regime will clearly pull out all stops to ensure that there is a large turnout. 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.
© 2014 Menas Associates

Egypt: New law to protect officials from prosecution

The interim president Adly Mansour has issued a decree that will make it more difficult for third parties to challenge contracts signed with the government. It would make impossible the kind of challenge that led to the prosecution of ministers from the Mubarak era and other senior officials for selling off state property cheaply to developers in exchange for favours.

The government says the new protections are aimed at encouraging foreign investment.  The review of contracts immediately after the fall of the Mubarak regime led to uncertainty among investors, especially from the Gulf who had invested in real estate developments. The lack of security for investments did much to dampen enthusiasm for more investment.

Critics say it marks a return to the old ways and that officials will be able to act corruptly with impunity.  Abdullah Bin Mahfouz, Chairman of the Saudi Egyptian Business Council, welcomed the new law: "I'm sure that due to this law we will see an inflow of investment no less than US$15 billion in the next three years because there are huge opportunities in steel and mining and factories that are considered the biggest in the Middle East."

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.
© 2014 Menas Associates

Egypt: Electricity supplies cut to mosques

Separate, but linked to the question of energy subsidies, is the question of energy supplies. The gap between supply and demand for gas is growing rapidly, and the authorities have taken steps.

Limits have been set for the use of electricity at mosques. The religious endowments minister has ordered mosques not to run air conditioners before 15 May and after that date to use air conditioning only during prayer time and half an hour before and after the call to prayer.

Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa was reported by the state-run Al-Ahram as saying that he would also ensure that electricity meters were installed at mosques that do not have them.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.
© 2014 Menas Associates

Political parties set to fight each other in parliamentary elections

Political parties may jump on the Abdel Fattah El-Sisi bandwagon now but they will fight each other in the parliamentary elections later this year.  The political parties, many of which are new, are weakly organised outside Cairo and have limited resources. It is possible that El- Sisi’s supporters may attempt to create a political alliance that they will present to the electorate candidates that would broadly support his policies.

A number of political parties are advocating that parliamentary elections should be held on “a closed party list” system rather than the open system that the regime seems to prefer. The objective is to find a way of getting voters to make their selections on the basis of policies rather than powerful individuals.

The dissolved National Democratic Party recruited leading families and locally important individuals to help ensure its electoral victories. These families still remain, particularly in the rural areas, and may be tempted to stand as independents and then negotiate their way into parliamentary blocs and, perhaps, ministerial jobs.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.
© 2014 Menas Associates

Swiss will not release US$791 million in frozen assets because of concerns over human rights

The death sentences handed down to the 528 - or 529, because there is still confusion in judicial sources - defendants in Minya may cost the country dear. The Swiss authorities have said that, because of the death sentences, they are unlikely to return to Egypt the 700 million Swiss francs (US$791 million) in assets that were frozen in 2011 after the fall of President Hosni Mubarak’s regime believed to have been deposited by members of Mubarak’s family and close entourage.

The head of international law at the Swiss foreign ministry, Valentin Zellweger, said that developments in Egypt “are reflected in our proceedings”. He said that it was necessary to proceed more carefully because Swiss law requires that human rights are respected. Zellweger said that, in spite of current developments in Egypt, the Swiss government’s ultimate goal is to return the money to the Egyptian government provided it can be proven that the money was stolen.

Meanwhile, in another case, two of President Morsi’s supporters -Mahmoud Ramadan and Abdullah el-Ahmedi - have been sentenced to death for throwing two young men off a roof top in Alexandria during protests after Morsi was ousted last year. Footage of two young men being thrown from a roof to their deaths was widely broadcast at the time. This is one incident seized upon by the authorities and large sections of the public as evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood is essentially a violent organisation.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2014 Menas Associates

Egypt: Foreign minister says relations with the US now in turmoil

 

Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy was quoted as telling Al-Ahram that relations with the US are now in turmoil and the entire Middle East could suffer. He was speaking after the US Administration delivered a small rap across Egypt's knuckles for its undemocratic governance by suspending some military aid. However minimal the material effect of the suspension of some arms deliveries will be, there is no doubting that Egypt has felt the slight. Foreign ministers in the Arab world have seldom made foreign policy, which has been the preserve of the president or ruler. However, successive foreign ministers in the post-Hosni Mubarak era have demonstrated that they can be more than mere mouthpieces for their leaders. Fahmy is articulating the new mood in Egypt, one far more critical and hostile to the West, while rather more craven - for now - towards its new backers Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.

 

Fahmy told the newspaper that Egypt had been depending for too long on US aid and that Washington should not take Egypt's support for its actions for granted. "We are now in a delicate state reflecting the turmoil in the relationship and anyone who says otherwise is not speaking honestly," he said. He said that the roots of the problems extend far beyond the current spat over aid suspension. "The truth is that the problem goes back much earlier, and is caused by the dependence of Egypt on the US aid for 30 years. (The aid) made us choose the easy option and not diversify our options."

 

There has been a suggestion that Egypt might turn to Russia for arms purchases - but such a move would be more political than strategic. Few expect Egypt to make the kind of break with Washington that it made with Moscow and the-then Soviet Union in 1973. One relic of the old relationship with the Eastern bloc is the Mig 21 fighter, used still to train Egyptian pilots. Their continued use came to light when one crashed near Luxor. For all the bluster, the military is enjoying the support of the US in confronting Islamist militants in the Sinai.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

More blood flowed into the sands of the Sinai

More blood flowed into the sands of the Sinai as the army stepped up its campaign to eradicate the different jihadist groups that have established bases or a presence there.

 

Six soldiers were killed on 11 September in two car-bomb explosions near military units in Rafah in North Sinai Peninsula, close to the border with Gaza.

 

Ali Azzazi, head of criminal investigations in North Sinai, and the state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) called the attacks suicide car bombings. MENA said at least 17 people, including seven civilians, were injured, adding that one of the blasts destroyed the main gate of the intelligence building and damaged outside walls.

 

The attacks demonstrate that jihadist groups are prepared to take the offensive themselves.

 

The latest military operation began two days after the Minister of Interior Mohamed Ibrahim survived an assassination attempt in Cairo on 5 September. It was, however, 24 hours before news agencies received a statement purporting to come from an extremist group based in the peninsula which said that it had been behind the attempt on the minister.

 

A car bomb exploded near the minister's convoy as he was leaving home for work on 5 September in Nasr City. The suicide bomber and at least one passer-by were killed and more than a score injured. The minister was unscathed in his armoured limousine.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: Media closures

The authorities have moved against the television channels it deems to be supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. A court in Cairo ordered the closure of four television stations, including the Brotherhood's Ahrar 25 TV, Al-Jazeera's Egyptian affiliate Mubasher Misr, Al-Quds, and Al-Yarmouk saying they were operating illegally.

 

Three journalists from Al-Jazeera English were deported.

 

From the outset of the revolt by young Arabs against their rulers in 2011, Al-Jazeera has provided the most comprehensive coverage of this widespread popular movement. Their Qatari owners firmly took the side of the street, to the dismay of ruling families and entrenched regimes across the region. They further have supported the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Hamas in the Gaza strip - and that support has now cost them access in Cairo.

 

The first step towards the proscribing of the Brotherhood as an organisation came when the State Commissioners Authority, a body that advises the government on legal issues, recommended its dissolution. It also called for the group's national headquarters in Moqattam to be closed. The recommendations were made in accordance with Law 84 of 2002, which prohibits non-government organisations and institutions from forming paramilitary groups. This particular charge came after an attack on the party's headquarters -which the interior ministry had warned it would not protect - and the actions of pro-Morsi supporters to protect themselves.

The State Commissioners Authority can only advise the government but it is likely that a similar measure will be invoked to ban the Brotherhood.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: Militancy in Sinai

For Israel the growing instability and the increased activity by militant jihadists in the Sinai on its border poses a serious security problem. On 19 August, armed gunmen stopped a bus transporting police near Rafah in northern Sinai, ordered them off the bus, and shot 25 dead. It was the worst single incident in the recent Sinai conflict and underlined what the security forces face there.

 

The presence of jihadi groups in the Sinai peninsula has increased since the upheaval of 2011. They can survive untraced within the vast desert wastes. Some even tried to establish an al-Qa'ida offshoot. Some are from other parts of Egypt and are attracted by the ability to operate beyond the control of the security forces. Others are local, drawn from the tribes of Sinai, who have no loyalty to the central state, and little reason given their treatment at the hands of callous and ignorant government officials.
 

The election of an Islamist president did not stop the confrontation of jihadis with the state. Until the bus killings, the single bloodiest incident has been the killing of 16 border troops under the Morsi administration. He cracked down, and the Muslim Brotherhood called on the government to "confront this serious challenge to the Egyptian sovereignty" and "protect Sinai from all armed groups". But the army felt that Morsi was not being tough enough.

 

It is unclear if the latest incident was part of the jihadists continuing confrontation with the state or was provoked by the army's crackdown on the Brotherhood in the Nile Valley.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: Polarisation leads to an escalation of casual violence

There have been 80 deaths in the last week in clashes between security forces and protesters and between pro- and anti-Morsi supporters in Cairo, Alexandria, Mansoura and other cities.

 

Both sides blame the other for causing the violence. The Muslim Brotherhood protesters say their movement is peaceful. It appears to be but there are well-documented exceptions. In the current febrile atmosphere these get widely circulated and feed into the rhetoric of the Brotherhood's enemies.

 

The army also rejected that it was responsible for the deaths in July, despite eyewitness accounts to the contrary.

 

Polarisation could affect the army. There is some concern within it that some soldiers might reject orders to fire against protesters. The Brotherhood has been calling on soldiers to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with it. Many ordinary Egyptian soldiers work an eight-hour day and return home in the evening and are thus not immune to all manner of political influences.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

The future of the Muslim Brotherhood

Supporters of Mohamed Morsi remain defiant. They insist he be restored to power. They say they will continue their protests until he is. However, the transitional authorities have made clear that it is not an option. The Muslim Brotherhood is being pulled in different directions. There were already splits between those who wanted a more political role, who formed the Freedom and Justice Party, and the old leadership around the Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie. Mr Badie said the army's removal of Morsi was equivalent to destroying one of Islam's holiest sites, the Kaaba in Mecca. "I swear by God that what Sisi did in Egypt is more criminal than if he had carried an axe and demolished the holy Kaaba stone by stone."

 

There have also been defections over the past to different splinter groups but the security services have targeted these, too. They have detained the leaders of the moderate al-Wasat party, Aboul-Ela Madi and his deputy Essam Sultan, charging them with responsibility for the death of protesters during recent violence.

 

There is always a risk that some members will split off and pursue their political ends of confrontation with the state through violence - a tactic adopted by the extremist Gamaat al-Islamiyaa in the 1990s with disastrous consequences.

 

Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy has said that turning to violence would be political suicide, and that the Brotherhood should be part of the country's political future. He warned that deepening political divisions would lead "ultimately to more tragedies". He accused the Brotherhood of inciting violence, posing a threat to the security of the country. "If they decide to withdraw from politics, it will be disappointing. If they decide to pursue violence, then you are looking at a completely different confrontation. Even if I personally reject their positions or ideology, they have to find their place in Egypt's political life. We are looking for reconciliation among all Egyptians; I don't think we are at a situation where we will allow the situation to get out of hand."

 

That reconciliation appears a long way off with the polarisation of political forces over the past two years. The military and the security establishment have resumed the old talk of the Muslim Brotherhood posing a security threat to the state - justification for the harsh measures, the detentions and the violent crackdowns they have introduced.

 

Already human rights activists are warning that the army action is not only putting the clock back to before the fall of Mubarak but even earlier to the repressive Nasser period.

 

The president has given Prime Minister Hazem el-Belbawi the power to grant the military the right to arrest citizens - but the military has shown it is more than capable of doing what it wants, including removing the president without recourse to such legal niceties.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: Dangers of excluding Islamists

 

The exclusion of Islamists from political life spells very real dangers. They remain a significant force. Islamists won nearly three quarters of the seats in parliament. To drive them underground again, as in the old days of the military regimes, risks storing up trouble ahead. Some are already muttering about the possibilities of armed insurrection -something avoided so far.

There have been voices within the Tamarrud movement, which orchestrated the mass demonstrations against President Morsi, seeking to forge alliances with the youth wing of the Muslim Brotherhood which they feel were betrayed by their leaders.

Another institution that has had its wings clipped since the change of authorities is Al-Jazeera, for many years seen as a mouthpiece of the Muslim Brotherhood. Plain-clothes police raided the TV station's main office in Cairo on Sunday and arrested the bureau chief.

Abdel Fattah Fayed was accused of operating an unlicensed channel and broadcasting reports that had a negative impact on national security.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: Mubarak fortune

 

In a bid to prevent any relaxation of the detention orders on the former president and members of his family, Mahmoud al-Hefnawy from the prosecutor general's technical office has said that the Mubarak family amassed a LE9 billion fortune during the former president's 30-year rule. Hefnawy said that evidence from the Administrative Control Authority, the Illicit Gains Authority and the Central Auditing Organisation all showed that Mubarak, his wife Susan Thabet, his sons Alaa and Gamal and their wives Heidi Rasekh and Khadiga al-Gammal all benefited financially from office.

He said that the figure included LE3 billion in cash, LE5 billion in stocks and shares and LE1 billion in real estate.

 

Hefnawy also submitted a Central Auditing Organisation report which states that five villas owned by the Mubaraks in Sharm El-Sheikh were paid for in full by a company owned by fugitive businessman Hussein Salem.

 

There was better fortune from the courts for one of Mubarak's last prime ministers, Ahmed Nazif. The Public Funds Prosecution ordered his release from charges of obtaining illegal gifts under the former regime. Al-Ahram reported that Nazif submitted documents to the prosecution proving that he had returned the money - about LE58,000 - to the state. However, he still faces other charges of making illicit gains from his position.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Mixed fortunes for former Mubarak-era ministers

Two have been ordered released from custody because they have served the maximum two years in detention. But the former finance minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali has been given another 25-year sentence, on top of the 30-year sentence he is already serving, in absentia (he is living in London).

The Cairo Criminal Court acquitted the former housing minister Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman on charges of illegally allocating land for the Six of October Development and Investment Company (SODIC). He was ordered released from custody pending a re-trial. The former tourism minister Zuhair Garana has also been ordered released from custody.

 

The Cairo representative of the former Libyan regime, Ahmed Gaddafadam, has been charged with attempted murder while resisting arrest. The charges will delay any attempt by the current authorities in Tripoli to secure his extradition to face charges in Libya.

 

The authorities have ordered the detention of seven people for belonging to the Black Bloc, a group of street activists opposed to President Morsi who dress all in black and wear black masks. It is unclear how much support they enjoy.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: Ongoing problems in the transport sector

 

 

Labour unrest continues to plague Egypt. Alexandria's railway workers forced the cancellation of a number of trains while the city's international airport at al Burj was closed after police blocked the runway and demanded a slice of the fees paid by travellers.

Meanwhile Cairo airport is reducing its operating hours because of both a dramatic fall in traffic and a need to save energy. The civil aviation minister, Wael al-Maadawi, said that two runways will now be closed for four hours starting from 01.30 am (2330 GMT) "in order to save energy". Only one runway at Terminal 3 - which serves as a regional hub - will remain open 24 hours a day.

Egypt's growing sense of isolation was increased by the rupture of undersea telecommunications cables. A judge is now investigating which ship might have dragged its anchors over the cables.

Only Iran, itself in almost complete international isolation and economic meltdown, seems to be improving relations with Egypt at present. Direct flights between the two countries were inaugurated on 30 March when an aircraft of the privately-owned Air Memphis took off from Cairo airport. Civil Aviation Minister Wael Al-Maadawi said that Iran and Egypt had signed an agreement to promote tourism, basically one way, to bring Iranian tourists to Egypt.

There have been concerns expressed that the presence of Iranian tourists in Egypt might lead to conversions to Shiism - but a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood scoffed at the suggestion. Dr Essam el-Erian, who was for years the Brotherhood's official spokesman, said that Egypt's Sunni identity was very strong. “Egypt is too great to be penetrated by any thought or current ... Egypt has refused all forms of secularism and welcomed nationalism mixed with Islamism,” he said.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: NSF lists conditions of dialogue

The National Salvation Front (NSF) coalition of opposition groups has listed its conditions for any dialogue with the presidency to reduce the tension and the polarisation that has emerged in Egyptian politics. They include taking "serious steps" towards the prosecution of those responsible for protesters' deaths, along with the formation of a new government of national unity.

 

The NSF also insisted on the appointment of a new prosecutor-general in accordance with the constitution and judicial independence, and amending Egypt's new constitution, both stipulations that it made before.

 

A few weeks ago, the presidency would have dismissed the NSF as a political irrelevance but the growing dissatisfaction with the state of the economy and the government's inability to arrest decline might incline the presidency to seek a broader mandate for ruling by engaging in some sort of discussions with the NSF.

 

For its part, the Supreme Constitutional Court has raised the possibility of a delay in the holding of parliamentary elections by ruling that the electoral law is flawed.

 

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: BG and Petronas halts ninth phase of development

BG and Petronas have announced that they have decided to halt the ninth phase of development at their Borollos project as they have not received payments from the government amounting to US$2 billion, according to a report in local Al-Mal newspaper. BG's stake of the receivables is US$1.2 billion, with the remaining US$800 million owed to Petronas, according to the report. The decision is a blow for the Egyptian authorities who are struggling to secure gas to meet the inexorably rising demand for power generation. The companies are reluctant to invest further until they are paid for gas already produced. The two firms were expected to invest around US$1.5 billion in the ninth phase starting January 2013 toeventually achieve a production target of 400 million cubic feet of LNG per day. The report also mentions that the companies have threatened to withhold payments to employees to recover their losses if the government persists in not making the due payments.

Foreign investors are still prepared to enter the energy sector in Egypt, however: RWE Dea AG announced that it had reached an agreement with INA-INDUSTRIJA NAFTE d.d. on the sale of its 50% interest of the East Yidma Concession and with Apache Mediterranean Corporation of its 35% interest in the West Mediterranean Area (Block 1) Concession.

Electricity and Energy Minister Saad Mahmoud Balbaa said that his ministry had completed the preparation of a Request for Proposals and other specifications concerning the establishment of Egypt's first nuclear power plant, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. This is a clear sign that going nuclear, which had stop-start support under the Mubarak regime, enjoys support from theMuslim Brotherhood.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Egypt: MB's Freedom and Justice Party consulting other parties about Islamic bonds

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party is consulting other parties about introducing sukuk or Islamic bonds. Issuance has been held up because no laws cover these Sharia-compliant instruments. The FJP says there is strong demand for them.

According to a Reuters report, the Salafist al-Nour party has indicated it would not oppose the proposed US$4.8 billion dollar loan from the IMF, despite the interest payments demanded which it does not approve of. Tarek Shaalan, head of the party's economic committee, was quoted by Reuters as saying that they believe the government can take out such loans if there is no other option. For its part, the IMF said it would send another mission to Egypt in the coming weeks to discuss the loan agreement which it hoped would be concluded by the end of the year.

The cabinet has set up a committee to look at how each and every one of 185 state-owned companies was sold off to ensure no financial irregularities.

Egypt's Energy Minister Osama Kamal went to Qatar to discuss a gas import deal - at a time when Egypt is planning to resume gas exports to Jordan. Egypt's shortage is in LPG for domestic cooking.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2012 Menas Associates

Egypt: Sinai is becoming an operating base for militant Jihadis

Security analysts had been warning for some time that the Sinai was becoming an operating base for militant jihadis. The local tribesmen, who for centuries have smuggled goods across borders they do not recognise, have been bringing in arms looted from Libya's armouries, some for militants in Gaza some for their own use. It has not been established how many militants from outside the Sinai might also have been drawn to the region for the apparent ease with which they could operate outside the purview of Egyptian security. One of Israel's best known and most authoritative defence analysts, Ehud Yaari, wrote in a report published in January: "Measures are needed to prevent the total collapse of security in and around the peninsula [and] avoid the rise of an armed runaway Bedouin statelet."

He noted that armed gangs had been trafficking hundreds of people, mainly from the Horn of Africa or sub-Saharan Africa, who paid them thousands of dollars to ensure their passage through the border into Israel. It was to stop the influx of illegal immigrants as much as for security reasons that Israel embarked on its project to build a massive security fence along its Sinai border.

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.
© 2012 Menas Associates