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Middle East Programs

Working with our allies and partners in Europe and the wider Middle East to protect US interests, build peace and security, and unlock the human potential of the region.

Libya

Content

In the News

Jun 11, 2014

Mezran on Averting Civil War in Libya

By Karim Mezran

Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Karim Mezran joins VOA’s International Edition to discuss the open letter to the UN secretary general on Libya which calls for immediate support in order to avert civil war:

Libya

In the News

Jun 10, 2014

Mezran: Islamists [in Libya] are Militarily Strong but Politically Weak

By Karim Mezran

Christian Science Monitor quotes Rafik Hariri Center Senior Fellow Karim Mezran on the Libyan court decision that the country’s election of Prime Minister Ahmed Maitiq was invalid:

Libya

MENASource

Jun 10, 2014

A Tunisian Public-Private Partnership Needed to Fight Terror

By Bassem Bouguerra

A group of armed assailants, made up of fifteen masked men, attacked the house of Tunisian Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou on May 27, only a few meters away from the regional National Guard center.

North Africa

MENASource

Jun 9, 2014

The Field Marshall Plan

By Matthew Hall

What can the Development Corridor mega-project tell us about how Sisi will govern? In a spate of television interviews during the final stretch of the campaign, presidential hopeful Abdel Fattah al-Sisi spoke of the entrenched structural problems facing the nation—an economic rut so deep that Egyptians could not hope to “run” from it, but instead […]

Elections North Africa

MENASource

Jun 9, 2014

Freedom of Expression is not the only Victim

By Sarah El Sirgany

A day before the presidential elections results were officially announced, popular TV satirist Bassem Youssef announced the end of his comedy show, El Bernameg, telling reporters he was fed up with worrying about his and his family’s safety. MBC, the Saudi channel that gave him a platform, he added, had come under pressure to cancel […]

North Africa

In the News

Jun 8, 2014

Hawthorne on US Policy Towards Egypt, el-Sissi

By Amy Hawthorne

Deutsche Welle quotes Amy Hawthorne, resident senior fellow at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, on how the United States is working with a post-Mubarak Egypt:

North Africa

MENASource

Jun 6, 2014

Marginalized in Mansoura

By Eric Knecht

If you were looking for a place to understand why Egypt’s younger voters were the least well represented at the presidential polls in May where the choice came down to presidential hopefuls Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabbahi, you could do worse than visiting Mansoura. The bustling Nile delta city, once sharply divided in its […]

Elections North Africa

MENASource

Jun 6, 2014

Open Letter to Ban Ki-moon on the Crisis in Libya

By Commission on the Libya Crisis

Four renowned experts have called on Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon to provide immediate support for Libya to avert a growing and dangerous crisis at the center of the North African region.

Libya
EUFOR soldier

NATOSource

Jun 5, 2014

Europe’s Dangerous Neighborhood

By Javier Solana, Project Syndicate

Europe’s eastern neighborhood is marked by the crisis in Ukraine.

Europe & Eurasia European Union

MENASource

Jun 5, 2014

Choices for the Government and Opposition after the Presidential Elections

By Amr Hamzawy

As the official results have been announced with President-elect Abdel Fattah al-Sisi winning Egypt’s elections with 97 percent of the vote, major state and societal actors which influence the ruling system in Egypt will face many of the same questions that they have been confronted with in the past.  These questions will continue to be […]

Elections North Africa

Experts