Tag Archives: SISI

Egypt and Qatar have agreed to resume diplomatic relations, the Egyptian foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The move follows an agreement between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt earlier this month to end their boycott of Qatar – which began in 2017 over allegations it supported terrorism, …

Egypt has urged the need for an agreement “at the earliest possible time” with Sudan and Ethiopia on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) ahead of the second phase of its operation. The three countries have agreed to bilateral meetings with experts to negotiate the filling of the dam’s reservoir. …

The editor-in-chief of al-Dustour newspaper, Mohamed el-Baz, has called for Egyptians to take action online to defend the state against attacks on social media. On the Dec. 13 “Akher Al-Nahar” show on Al-Nahar, Baz said that as the 10th anniversary of the January 25 Revolution approaches, supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood are criticizing the revolution and …

Joe Biden will not shy away from using President Donald Trump’s weapon of choice – sanctions – as he seeks to reshape America’s foreign policy, according to people familiar with his thinking. But when Biden takes office on Jan. 20, he is expected to quickly begin recalibrating Trump’s blunt-force approach …

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi begins on Monday a visit to France to underscore close ties, but with a renewed crackdown on political dissent at home, the trip has overshadowed French efforts to nurture their security and business relationship. With both countries concerned by the political vacuum in Libya, instability …

In her village in Egypt’s Nile Delta, 35-year-old Shaimaa Saleh has spent sleepless nights worrying how to raise almost $1,000 to save her unfinished three-storey home. Like hundreds of thousands of others, and many dependents, she faces a deadline at the end of October by which residents of buildings without …

The king of Bahrain reiterated the necessity of reaching a fair and lasting peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, based on the two state solution, in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bahrain’s state news agency BNA said on Friday. Bahrain joined the …

President Tayyip Erdogan warned Greece on Friday that Turkey will retaliate against any attack on its survey vessel Oruc Reis in the eastern Mediterranean in an escalating row between the NATO allies over gas and oil exploration in the region. Turkey and Greece are vehemently at odds over overlapping claims …

Egypt said on Saturday that part of a seismic survey planned by Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean potentially encroached on waters where Cairo claims exclusive rights. An advisory issued last month by Turkey for the survey overlaps with Egypt’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), constituting “a violation and an attack on …

The United Arab Emirates minister of state for foreign affairs said on Saturday that Turkey should stop interfering in Arab affairs, criticising comments on Libya made by Turkey’s defence minister. Turkish media had reported the Turkish minister making remarks critical of the UAE’s actions over Libya. The UAE, alongside Egypt …

Turkey and Russia agreed on Wednesday to keep pushing for a ceasefire in Libya, but Ankara said the leader of the eastern forces was not legitimate and his forces must withdraw from key positions for any credible deal to emerge. The two countries are the main power brokers in Libya’s …

Egypt’s parliament is to vote Monday to authorize the president to deploy troops to neighboring Libya if Turkey-backed forces there, allied with the UN-supported government in Tripoli, move to retake the strategic coastal city of Sirte. An Egyptian intervention would further destabilize oil-rich Libya, and put two US allies — …

Turkey sent between 3,500 and 3,800 paid Syrian fighters to Libya over the first three months of the year, the US Defense Department’s inspector general concluded in a new report, its first to detail Turkish deployments in Libya’s war. The quarterly report on counterterrorism operations in Africa by the Pentagon’s …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan denounced Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on Friday for supporting forces based in eastern Libya, after Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met Libyan tribesmen who called for Cairo to intervene in the civil war. Turkey has been providing military aid to the Tripoli-based government in …

Libya’s eastern-based parliament has called for Egypt to directly intervene in the country’s civil war to counter Turkish support for the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), based in the capital Tripoli. In a statement late on Monday, the House of Representatives based in the eastern port of Tobruk …

A major Egyptian army exercise near the border with Libya is being viewed by military and strategic experts as a message of deterrence to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over his backing for the Government of National Accord led by Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj and supported by militia groups. The …

The International Monetary Fund on Friday said it had reached a staff-level agreement with Egypt for a one-year, $5.2 billion standby loan to help the North African country grapple with the novel coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout. The agreement, which must be finalized by the Fund’s executive board, would …

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak – ousted by the military in 2011 – has died in Cairo at the age of 91. Mubarak spent three decades in office before a popular uprising swept Egypt. He was found guilty of complicity in the killing of protesters during the revolution. That conviction …

Human rights activists on Thursday criticized a United Nations decision to hold a conference in Cairo on torture with an Egyptian state organization. “It’s illogical for a country where torture is systematic to host a conference on torture,” said Mohamed Zaree of the non-government Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies. …

Nineteen people died and 30 were injured in an explosion resulting from a car crash in central Cairo, Egypt’s health ministry said early on Monday. There was no official statement indicating that the explosion was an attack. The blast happened when a car driving against traffic on Cairo’s Nile corniche …

Egypt will form a committee to amend its value-added tax law, Finance Minister Mohamed Maait told reporters on Monday, without specifying what the changes may be. The VAT law is part of a reform program that formed the basis of a $12 billion, three-year loan agreed with the International Monetary …

Armed forces and observers from eight Arab countries are converging on Egypt for exercises starting on Saturday, the Egyptian military said on Wednesday, in a move that could evolve into a regional pact to counter Iran’s influence. President Donald Trump’s administration has been quietly pushing for Gulf Arab countries, together …

An apparent attempt to bomb the American Embassy in Cairo failed on Tuesday when an explosive detonated prematurely in the backpack of a would-be attacker, the Egyptian government said in a statement. No one was injured. It was the latest reminder of the continuing threat to Western interests from the …

Egypt plans to launch its first sovereign fund by the end of the year and will begin a roadshow in the first half of 2019 to drum up private investment, the country’s planning minister said. Modelled after sovereign funds in India and Malaysia, Egypt’s new investment arm will seek to …

Egypt’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Thursday, as the government prepares for a new round of fuel subsidy cuts against a backdrop of rising global oil prices. The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, headed by Governor Tarek Amer, held the overnight deposit rate at 16.75 per cent …

Former Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, who last week announced plans to run for the presidency, was deported 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 …

A decade on, Rawda al-Zaanoun is at last willing to forgive the gunmen who killed her son during the civil war that split Palestine. It has been painful, but she says it is time. ”He was hit with a bullet in the back. He was a martyr,“ the 54-year-old said …

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have met for the first time in public in what Egypt said was part of an effort to revive the Middle East peace process. Egyptian authorities said in a statement the two had met on Monday ahead of the …

U.S. President Donald Trump called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Thursday and said he was keen to overcome any obstacles in the way of cooperation, just days after the U.S. said it would withhold some financial aid to Egypt. “President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received a phone call tonight from …

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD — Nobody’s interested in what happened in Egypt, internationally, the suicide attacks that targeted the churches in Tanta and Alexandria on Palm Sunday last week. A foreign academic explained this to me. It wasn’t high on the priorities of international readers. This is tragic, not …