North Africa

Libya: Insecurity Breeds Illegitimacy

By Anna Lund

In recent weeks Libya has reclaimed space in the international media spotlight for concerning reasons. Thursday evening warring militias brought gun battles and anti-aircraft fire to the streets of Tripoli.

The Week in Egypt – November 11, 2013

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

Amr Hamzawy on Egypt’s Turn for the Worse

By MENASource

Amr Hamzawy, prominent Egyptian academic, founder of the Freedom Egypt Party, and former parliamentarian in 2012, wrote a particularly poignant article describing his experience at the funeral at St. Mark’s church in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis and reflecting on the sad and dangerous turn in the course of Egypt’s political and social development.

Two Sorrowful Scenes at a Church Funeral

By Amr Hamzawy

While attending the funeral of my colleague’s aunt at St. Mark’s church in the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis, a woman in attendance approached me asking if she could ask a question. While I was expecting a question about my position on the course of events of July 3, 2013 and after, this delicate woman’s voice […]

Militias Fight Gun Battles in Libyan Capital Tripoli

By Ghaith Shennib and Ulf Laessing, Reuters

Libyan militia fighters on the government payroll fought each other with rifles, grenades and anti-aircraft weapons on the streets of Tripoli on Tuesday in the worst clashes in the capital in weeks.

The People of The Square

By Amir Beshay

From its opening scene of masses chanting “The people want the downfall of the regime” in Tahrir in January 2011, you can tell that The Square will not be an easy movie to watch. From the widely-publicized birds-eye view of Tahrir, director Jehane Noujaim’s The Square zooms in on the lives of five very different […]

US and European Allies Building Libyan Army Bilaterally, Instead of Through NATO

By Frederic Wehrey , Foreign Affairs

Last month, discussing the Obama administration’s plans for a more modest Middle East policy, National Security Adviser Susan Rice noted that Washington “can’t just be consumed 24/7 by one region, important as it is.”

Michele Dunne on Egypt’s Transitional Roadmap

By MENASource

Michele Dunne, director of the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, wrote an article that asks the United States government to reassess its priorities with regard to Egypt. US Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent visit hailed the Egyptian military-backed roadmap as a means to achieve a more stable democratic path, but in his […]

Egypt’s Transition Roadmap: Main Event or Sideshow?

By Michele Dunne

Secretary of State John Kerry called on the military-backed interim government to “keep faith with the roadmap and the path ahead to continue the march to democracy” during his November 3 stop in Cairo, one of several references he made to the roadmap as the key indicator of how things are going in Egypt.  Kerry […]

Oil and Power in the New Libya

By Nate Mason

Shortly after the revolution there was great optimism among Libyans that one in the rapid succession of central governments would successfully lead the country. Those hopes were never realized because the highly centralized governance held over from the Qaddafi years ignored the fundamental shift in power to the peripheral municipalities that resulted from the revolution.