![The Week in Egypt [March 17, 2014]](https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/arabesque_square.jpg)
Catch up on the latest out of Egypt every week, with analysis, news updates, photos, videos, and more.
Quotes of the Week
“As long as they [Brotherhood] are following the rules, playing by the same rules as we are all playing, why should you exclude them? ….The road is open for them, if they so decide. Field candidates, get into the parliament, the ball is in their court.” –Amr Moussa [Reuters]
“We have a reached a place where we feel powerless. I have no faith in the justice system, I only have faith in God now.” — Mona Iskander, Mother of Fadi Samir, a Christian who is currently detained on charges that he belongs to the Muslim Brotherhood [Washington Post]
Egypt in the News
- Lawsuit filed against newly ratified presidential elections law
- Activists’ lawyers withdraw over claims clients were beaten
- Sisi to launch $40 billion housing project in Egypt
- Former army chief Sami Anan claims ‘terrorists’ attempted to assassinate him
- Egyptian representative to UN addresses human rights concerns
- Egypt officials discuss preparations for presidential elections
- Moussa acknowledges possible political future for Brotherhood
- Security forces kill bombing suspect
- United States expresses concern over detainee abuse in Egypt
- In alleged leak, Shafiq says presidential elections will be rigged
- Presidential elections to end before July; Sami Anan will not run
- Kerry to decide ‘soon’ on resuming Egypt aid
- Egypt summons envoys over human rights statements
- Shafiq backtracks from leaked criticisms of Sisi Candidacy
- Suspect dies in custody at Dar al-Salam police station
On EgyptSource
- Egypt’s Prospects for Economic Growth [Video]
- The Gulf’s Geoeconomic Interests in Egypt by Mohsin Khan
- A Margin for Democracy by Amr Hamzawy
- Tip-toeing Toward Criticism: 27 Countries Rebuke Egypt at UN Human Rights Council by Amy Hawthorne
- Egypt UN Delegation Critical of UN Human Rights Council Statement
- Egypt’s New Government and the Workers by Tom Rollins
- Shuffling Cabinets: Reproducing Authoritarian Traditions by Amr Hamzawy
- Egypt’s Presidential Elections Law: A Breakdown by Mai El-Sadany
- A Drop of Light in a Sea of Darkness by Mohamed Tolba
A Ship Without a Rudder | Michael Wahid Hanna, Foreign Policy
“In the midst of Egypt’s authoritarian relapse, one aspect of the current chaos is particularly alarming: Nobody is actually in charge. While the military as an institution and Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have both emerged with their positions greatly enhanced, it is a mistake to see the trajectory of events in Cairo as the outcome of an orderly, centralized decision-making process. In fact, the current moment shows just how far the Egyptian state has fragmented during the past three years.”
“The need for course correction is obvious. Egypt’s current trajectory is ruinous, and has further exacerbated the country’s interlinked political, economic, and security crises. How Sisi plans to get the country back on track is far from clear: Interestingly, some senior Muslim Brotherhood officials continue to see him as a potential interlocutor, based largely on their past dealings and an assumption that he is not fully aligned with the factions in the government seeking the Brotherhood’s wholesale eradication. However, this is all conjecture for the moment, as Sisi has not yet sought to dial back the intensity and scope of repression since President Mohamed Morsi’s ouster; rather, he’s been a key figure in constructing public support for Egypt’s ‘war on terror.’”
Everybody Knows| Ala’a Abd El Fattah, Mada Masr
“We have parallel shows, like the discourse of “the small prison and the big prison,” which is our homeland. I’m sorry. Enough acting; there is no prison except the small prison. In my cell I control nothing, but you have the choice to go out and challenge the authorities. Perhaps the freedom to choose the time and place of your detention or injury or murder is the only freedom you possess, but it’s a freedom the detainee no longer possesses.”
“Everyone knows that the current regime offers nothing to most of the young people of the country, and everyone knows that most of those in jail are young, and that oppression is targeting an entire generation to subjugate it to a regime that understands how separate it is from them and that does not want, and cannot in any case, accommodate or include them.”
“Everyone knows that there is no hope for us who have gone ahead into prison except through you who will surely follow. So what are you going to do?”
On Twitter: Sami Anan drops out of election, Sabbahi Continues Campaign
So Nasserist Hamdeen Sabbahi is the only official candidate in 2014 presidential elections now ex Chief of staff Sami Anan is not running
— Bel Trew – بل ترو (@Beltrew) March 13, 2014
Sami Anan’s announcement that he won’t run for #Egypt prez means that intensive efforts to ensure only one mil candidate were successful.
— Eric Trager (@EricTrager18) March 13, 2014
Shafik is not going to be coming back to Egypt before the elections. The military does not want him around right now.
— Michael Hanna (@mwhanna1) March 13, 2014
Photo of the Week
A poster of army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo [Zeinab Mohamed]
Former Egyptian general and presidential candidate Sami Anan announced that he is ending his current presidential bid. While Anan delivered his announcement, several members of the press periodically heckled the retired general. After consulting with senior military officials Anan made his announcement citing possible rifts in the military. Anan’s announcement came just days after he claimed to have survived an assassination attempt.