Sisi: facing challenges
Mursi: handed the death penalty

AFP
Cairo

Two years after the army deposed president Mohamed Mursi, Egypt is roiled by brazen Islamic State group attacks in the Sinai Peninsula and brutal government repression that has killed hundreds.
Militant attacks have persisted since the then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Mursi on July 3, 2013, after mass street protests against the Islamist’s single year of divisive rule.
This week’s assassination of state prosecutor Hisham Barakat in a Cairo car bombing, followed by spectacular IS attacks that killed dozens in the Sinai, underlined the lack of security and stability despite a wide-ranging crackdown.
Hundreds have been killed, tens of thousands detained and hundreds more sentenced to death after speedy trials in the crackdown on Mursi supporters.
Mursi and several leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood movement have been handed the death penalty.
Militants led by IS have killed scores of troops, mostly in the Sinai, challenging Sisi’s efforts to restore security and economic stability.
On Wednesday, the military deployed F-16 warplanes to bombard IS militants who battled troops in a North Sinai town after launching a surprise dawn attack on army checkpoints.
Dozens were killed in what was IS’s boldest attack yet in the strife-torn Sinai, with militants taking over rooftops and firing rockets at troops.
The army said in a video depicting the attack that militants had pinned IS flags on some buildings to “show that the terrorists had taken over the town”, but their attempt was thwarted.
Yesterday, the “Sinai Province”, Egypt’s IS affiliate, said in a statement posted on Twitter that it had assaulted more than 20 army checkpoints.
The army video disputed this, saying 10 checkpoints were attacked.
Also yesterday, the Israeli military said two rockets fired from the Sinai hit southern Israel, without causing casualties or damage.
Attacks in Egypt by insurgents multiplied after Mursi’s overthrow.
“There is a complete political failure at all levels amid a return of repression, arbitrary arrests and killings,” said activist Mohamed Nabil from the April 6 youth movement that spearheaded the 2011 uprising against ex-president Hosni Mubarak.
The crackdown overseen by Sisi initially targeted Mursi’s supporters—a police assault on two pro-Mursi camps in Cairo weeks after his overthrow killed hundreds.
The crackdown rapidly expanded to include jailing secular activists who had not only revolted against Mubarak but backed Sisi in ousting Mursi.
Rights groups accuse the authorities of using the judiciary to suppress dissent.
“The Egyptian authorities have shown that they will stop at nothing in their attempts to crush all challenges to their authority,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui of Amnesty International.
Barakat’s murder and Wednesday’s IS attacks infuriated Sisi, who called for fast-track executions of those on death row.
On Wednesday, the cabinet passed an anti-terror law to “achieve swift justice and revenge for our martyrs”.
Analysts said the government sees most opponents as supporters of the now blacklisted Brotherhood.
“And because many Egyptians are weary of political tumult and frightened by an upsurge of terrorist attacks within Egypt’s major cities, they are largely supportive of this crackdown,” said Eric Trager of think tank The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Sisi’s other major challenge is the economy.
His government’s aim is to achieve annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7% for an economy traditionally driven by tourism.
The sector has plummeted, however, with last year’s 10mn visitors sharply down on 2010 when 15mn tourists were lured by Egypt’s archaeological sites and Red Sea resorts.
Signs of a recovery are visible, but economists said a fundamental change in government thinking is needed.
Sisi hosted an international conference in March, which attracted investment deals worth more than $36bn. He is also banking on the new $9bn Suez Canal expansion project scheduled to be inaugurated on August 6.
The project is part of an ambitious plan to develop the canal zone into an industrial and commercial hub.
The expansion is expected to more than double annual Suez revenues, to $13.2bn in 2023.

Related Story