North Africa

Infographic: Egypt’s 2014 Presidential Elections Timeline

Egypt’s Presidential Elections Commission announced the timeline for the 2014 presidential elections on March 31. With the registration period already underway, the final list of candidates will be made public on May 2. Other landmark dates in the timeline include May 26 and 27 for the first round of voting, while results of the first […]

Forays by the Coptic Church into Politics Spell Trouble for its Subjects

By Amir Beshay

A video posted this week on Facebook appears to show Egyptian pop singer Ihab Tawfiq singing the now-popular pro-army anthem “Teslam al-Ayadi” in a Coptic church, reportedly in France. This comes as the latest of many examples of the Coptic Church participating in Egypt’s political scene in a way some see as unacceptable. While the […]

The Week in Egypt – March 31, 2014

By Daniel Stoker

Catch up on the latest out of Egypt every week, with analysis, news updates, photos, videos, and more. 

A Dangerous Lapse: US, EU Lose Focus on Arab Democracy

By New Atlanticist

The crisis over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated this week’s EU-US Summit in Brussels, followed by the topics that had been intended as top priorities for the meeting: negotiations for a broad transatlantic trade partnership and Europe’s anger at how pervasively it has been spied upon by the US National Security Agency. Missing from the […]

Politicized Verdicts Mean No Real Accountability in Egypt

By EgyptSource

Much of the world’s press has been focused on an Egyptian trial in which 529 people were sentenced to death on March 24. What the press has failed to focus on is the root cause behind this, and three other mass trials in which 1,618 defendants will stand before the same judge: the violence that […]

European Union Critical of Egypt’s Lack of Reform in 2013

By EgyptSource

The European Union (EU), on March 27, issued a report critical of Egypt’s progress in enacting suggested reforms in 2013. The report, which makes recommendations for the future, also describes 2013 as a “challenging year, during which no particular progress can be reported,” in regards to earlier recommendations.

MENASource Discussions: Libya Through the Eyes of its Activists

By MENASource

As concerns grow about the marginalization of women in the Arab transitions, the Atlantic Council convened a discussion last week featuring four prominent Libyan women activists to highlight the challenges and opportunities facing Libya as it struggles to forge a path forward.

Will the Gulf Help Tunisia?

By Svetlana Milbert

Faced with alarming unemployment rates and budgetary constraints, a delegation of Tunisian policymakers and businesspersons led by Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa travelled last week to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in pursuit of financial support and renewed trade relations.

Translation of Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s Resignation Speech

By EgyptSource

On March 26, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi announced his resignation from the military and as minister of defense, in order to run in Egypt’s upcoming presidential elections. To run, Sisi had to resign before March 30, when registry for presidential candidates is expected to begin, so he can be included in the voter database. […]

A Margin for Democracy: Don’t Apologize for What You’ve Done

By Amr Hamzawy

I remembered the words of the great poet Mahmoud Darwish in his poem, ‘Don’t apologize for what you’ve done,’ after an argument with a friend. “You write about self-critique and self-examination, but you don’t reevaluate your thoughts or your position,” he said. “But you yourself have examined, critiqued, and explained,” I said.  “No,” he said. […]