Egypt

The Suez Canal, a trumping game changer

 

The Suez Canal, a channel between East and West, connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. Simply put, it is a manmade 195km-long artificial waterway capable of transporting goods and fuel from one end of the world to the other end. To Egypt, though, the Suez Canal is by far more than a mere waterway. It has been and remains an amazing Egyptian feat that promises a more effective and even more lucrative return in the coming days. 

The Suez Canal played an immense role in the making and breaking of countries and leaders alike.  By controlling the Suez Canal, the game players, be they westerners or Egyptians, gained more power, and, hence, all parties involved risked much to command the Canal. Now Egyptians, the rightful owners, hold the destiny of the Suez Canal in their hands. 

Ferdinand De Lesseps, a French diplomat and developer, was authorized to work on digging the Suez Canal in 1859. Forced Labour (corvée) was the method of employment, and the Canal was dug manually by picks and shovels. Over 100,000 Egyptians died in the ten-year span the Canal took to be built.

The company that built the Canal was given the right to operate it for 99 years. When Egypt gave up its shares to pay a debt, the British and the French benefited the most from the income the moneymaking Canal brought in.

Along the years and throughout history, the Suez Canal proved to be a source of pride to Egyptians, a thorn in the side of colonialists, and a strategic aspiration for the powerful. Even after the British withdrew all its troops from Egypt after the 1936 agreement, they maintained a strong hold of the Suez Canal with over 88,000 soldiers securing the Canal’s banks. The British knew that the Suez Canal played a dominating role in trade, shipping, and transporting energy and were reluctant to give it up. 

Control of the Canal was considered so important that Britain, France, and Israel tried to wrestle it away from Egypt in 1956. Nasser wanted to use the Suez Canal’s earnings as leverage to build the Aswan High Dam when the West refused to support his project, only he infuriated the British even further and had them attack Egypt. The 1956 War, or what is known as the Tripartite Aggression, was a direct result to Nasser’s nationalization of the Suez Canal, which was in turn a direct result of Britain’s intentional effort to destroy Nasser.

Nasser then closed off the Canal for almost six months. The shock of the closure reverberated across the European trade and shipping industries. While the intervention cost Prime Minister Anthony Eden’s his downfall and resignation, it upped Nasser’s shares across the Arab World. The BBC February 2014 documentary, “The Other Side of Suez” on the topic is worth watching. 

 

During the 1967 War, again Nasser closed off the Suez Canal, this time for over eight years. Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat reopened the canal as a gesture of peace after talks with Israel. 

One may visualize the frustration of the world at large after each closure. With ships rerouted around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, food prices skyrocketed and fuel was rationed. The 16 extra days of travel increased the overall cost of the voyage by as much as $20,000 [approximately equivalent to $143,000 in 2014]. 

Clearly the Suez Canal played a vital role through strife, aggression, and war. 

On August 6, 2015, however, Egypt will have completed the construction of a new Suez Canal parallel to the original one. It runs alongside part of the existing Canal, reducing transit and waiting times for ships. It took one year to dig the new Canal, at a cost of $8.5 billion, a sum Egyptians managed to collect in 8-working days to the disbelief of some.

 The project was not only funded by Egyptians but also built by Egyptians in an astonishing record period—only one year, while the original Suez Canal took ten years.  “Dubbed the Suez Canal Axis, the new 72-kilometre (45-mile) section built by the Egyptian army is aimed at speeding up traffic along the existing waterway by reducing the waiting period, as well as boosting revenues.”

Engineer Yasser Zaghloul, Chief Executive of the National Marine Dredging Company, in an interview with Osama Kamal of Alkahera360° (July 30, 2015) speaks of the scope and magnitude of the project. The Challenge Consortium, as it was dubbed, dredged 40 million tonnes of sand/rocks a month, when the dredging record is around 8 million a day. Most of the dredgers around the world were enlisted to work on the Suez Canal Project with countries willing to set their projects aside to complete the second Suez Canal. Brazil and Bahrain were two such countries.

Though the logistical challenges were massive, the company, in collaboration with the Suez Canal Authority and the military, was able to overcome these hurdles and come through with flying colours. The Suez Canal Authority provided the 160,000 tonnes of fuel at world prices, i.e. not subsidized. Feeding and housing thousands of workers wasn't easy, neither was mobilizing the mammoth dredgers. Workers were of 57 nationalities, 30% Egyptians. Still, it was an epic effort that stunned the world. 

In the sixties, at a very early age, I often used to visit Ismailia with family to enjoy the beaches, in particular Plage D’Enfants and the Yacht Club, and was mesmerized by the convoy of crossing ships, so close and so enormous. I sort of understood what the Suez Canal meant to Egypt back then, but took it for granted nonetheless. In 1974, I crossed into free Sina, to appreciate the Suez Canal even further, and the fact that it was about to be opened to crossing once more. 

Today, we are even more appreciative of the Suez Canal—an Egyptian endeavour on Egyptian soil.

 

Egypt's gift to the world

Some ads pertaining to the new Suez Canal posted around the world. 

In Limassol, Cyprus

In Time Square, New York

 

Egypt bans some "Made in China" souvenirs

Marketplace.org, by Kimberly Adams

Amir Makar Mohammed el-Yamaani (foeground) and his colleague, Rabee' Adbel-Ghani, have been doing metal work in the back alleys of Cairo's Khan el-Khalili bazaar for decades.

In any place highly dependent on tourism, there’s money to be made in selling souvenirs. But when the tourists stop coming, those businesses and manufacturers are out of luck.

That’s what happened in Egypt following the 2011 revolution. Now that some of those tourists are coming back, the government there is trying to prop up the handicraft manufacturers that remain.

41-year-old Mohamed el-Yamaami’s hands are stained black from decades of polishing intricately cast bronze lamps and grills in the back alleys of Cairo's Khan el-Khalili bazaar. He blames Chinese imports for undercutting the prices of handmade goods like his.

“The majority of them used to be made in workshops [around here]," he says. "It provided the livelihood to many people. Now China makes them, for cheaper.”

Many manufacturers went out of business after the revolution, and those that remained suddenly found their prices undercut by Chinese goods. So, in April, the Egyptian government banned imports of traditional tourist items like miniature pyramids, "papyrus", and special lanterns. The move was welcomed by Egyptians, even those who sell the imports, like shopkeeper Omar Azzouz.

“As long as imports are allowed," he says, "I would never manufacture. Something imported is cheaper. Why would I buy local, more expensive products?” Azzouz says about half of the statues of pharaohs, tea sets, and other knickknacks in his shop are Chinese. Locals estimate suppliers still have enough in stock to keep markets flooded with “Made in China” tourist items for quite some time, but Azzouz says he looks forward to when those run out.

“You would be forced to buy an Egyptian product," he says. "Tourists will buy it, even if it is more expensive.”

Neither the Chinese-Egyptian Chamber of Commerce nor the Chinese Embassy in Cairo were available to comment. But, information from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce shows exports to Egypt decreased 15 percent the month the ban was announced, although there’s no explanation listed for the drop.

Back in his cramped Khan el-Khalili workshop, Mohamed el-Yamaani looks forward to the day his products will only be competing on quality, not massive price differences.

“Our work has a special style," he boasts. "If China makes this, I swear it won’t be sold."

 

via www.marketplace.org

VIDEO: Meet Egypt's 'roba bika' collectors

My take: Roba Bikia traders existed for as long as I remember (as the phrase, which is Italian implies). It has nothing to do with the unemployment figures.

Middle East Eye, by Chalaine Chang and Maged Aboueldahab (Sunday 19 July 2015 01:20 UTC)

A 'roba bika' collector talks to a customer next to his cart in Cairo, July 2015 (MEE) 

CAIRO - With official unemployment figures in Egypt hovering around 13 percent, many people are turning to the informal economy for means of income.  

In Cairo, a group of mobile traders roam the streets to buy and sell old clothes, unwanted appliances, electronics and furniture.

They are known as collectors of "roba bika," an Arabised word deriving from the Italian Roba Vecchia, which literally translates as old clothes.

Sometimes the traders directly sell their items from their carts as they go around town. Alternatively they take the goods to a market in central Cairo known as the Friday Souk.

The collectors purchase used goods from those who no longer want them and then sell them on to new owners.

Sellers are happy with the additional income, while buyers – many of whom are low-wage earners – acquire products that would likely have been unaffordable if new. 

The trade, however, has also the additional benefit of encouraging recycling, where some factory owners look for basic materials for cheaper prices. 

 

via www.middleeasteye.net

Egypt: Improving Access to Sanitation Services for More than 800,000 Poor Egyptians in Rural Areas

The World Bank

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2015 — A new project in Egypt will improve sanitation services for more than 800,000 poor Egyptians in the Nile Delta where there is need to increase access to water, waste disposal, and health services. The US$550 million program approved by the World Bank’s Board of Directors today focuses on enhancing access to sanitation services for the rural poor and addressing the pollution of the Nile from untreated sewage.

The Sustainable Rural Sanitation Services Program for Results aims at empowering local service delivery and connecting rural poor to working sanitation systems in the Delta governorates of Daqahliya, Sharqiya, and Beheira in Lower Egypt.

“One of our strategic areas for supporting Egypt is improving service delivery especially for the poor,” saidAsad Alam, World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti. “The program will improve the well-being of rural Egyptians who suffer from poor access to sanitation services and face serious environmental and health threats.”

In the Nile Delta, the situation is of concern due to high groundwater levels and discharge of untreated sewage directly into the Nile’s Al Salam Canal and Rosetta Branch, thus, polluting Egypt’s scarce freshwater resources and jeopardizing the health of millions of Egyptians. The prevalence of diarrhea in children under the age of five is very high and disproportionately impacts the poorest.

Under the Program, responsibility and accountability will be decentralized to governorate level sanitation utilities. Transparent and predictable fiscal transfers will be introduced and will be linked to service performance. Systems will be put in place to ensure bottom-up accountability utilizing citizens report cards, grievance mechanisms and audit reforms.

“The Program is supporting the Egyptian government’s efforts to increase access to rural sanitation by shifting to a decentralized model that empowers the governorate level water and sanitation companies and makes them accountable to their citizens and stakeholders,” saidGustavo Saltiel, World Bank program team leader.

The current portfolio of the World Bank in Egypt includes 26 projects for a total commitment of US$5.92 billion. The World Bank finances projects for faster delivery of benefits to the people of Egypt in key sectors including energy, transport, water and sanitation, agriculture and irrigation, housing, social protection, as well as health and education.

via www.worldbank.org

What Is Missing About Egypt?

Huffington Post, by Dr. Abdel Monem Said Aly

There is no good news about Egypt in the Western media, academic papers and policy briefs. Theorizing about the country is abundant, however. Michael Hanaa of the Century Foundation summarized "Egypt Next Phase" as being "Sustainable Instability." Eric Trager in Foreign Affairs was less merciful; he wrote about "Egypt's Durable Misery." Wander around the Independent or the New York Times, the Guardian or the Washington Post, and you will find an ugly state of affairs in a country that had an autocratic past, a highly repressive present and a failed future -- a horrifying picture of violence, endemic poverty, and intolerant culture is prevailing. Gone are the days of the "Arab Spring" and the "Lotus Revolution"; and the replacement is much less than fortunate.

Somehow Egypt is separated from its environment, with almost no relationship between the Muslim Brothers and different brands of terrorism; between ISIS and Ansar Beit Al Maqdis in Sinai. The entire sad saga of violence and terror in Egypt is merely a byproduct of "root causes" of repression and military rule. Terrorists are not called terrorists but rather they are called "Islamic Militant Insurgency" or "Jihadist Insurgency." The insinuation will go as far as to claim entire episodes of violence as nothing but a reflection of beduins' wrath over a government that has given them nothing but poverty and marginalization.

But neutrality and objectivity of the media and policy experts are not extended to realities like that. The Sinai terrorism is only centered on less than 20 square km in the northeast of the peninsula of 61,000 square km close to Gaza's tunnel-infested borders. In Egypt terrorists failed completely to have a territorial base as they succeeded in doing in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and Nigeria. In Egypt, fortunately, there is no Ramadi, nor Palmira, which were taken from American trained soldiers and while the fight included an international alliance led by the United States. In fact, while the fight against terrorists in northeastern Sinai was taking place, South and East of Sinai were living in peace with tourist occupancy of 90 percent in Sharm El Shikh as a result of an 7.5 percent increase in tourism in the first half of 2015. Those tourists are served by one third of the Sinai population of 450,000. The other two thirds are dispersed between the north and northwest areas, Middle Sinai and the Suez Canal Zone. Those affected by the fight in Shiekh Zuied and Rafah are no more than 50,000, few of whom were involved in the tunnel smuggling operations and hence cooperating with terrorists. The rest are under the Egyptian forces' protection.

Of course there is no denial here that Egypt is going through a serious battle with terrorism in Sinai, where about 51 percent of operations are taking place, and in the heartland of the country where terrorists are taking the opportunity of targeting the soft targets of the country from civilian individuals to infrastructure to army and security forces. However, what is missed in the news is that Egypt is taking this fight with a motto: Egypt is going to build itself as if there is no confrontation with terrorism; and it is going to fight terrorism as if there is no need for developing the country and taking it out of the miserable state of affairs that has been produced by revolutions and Muslim Brothers' rule.

Nothing shows this wisdom as well as the scene of the battle between Egyptian armed forces and terrorists affiliated with Daesh. There, the final touches on the New Suez Canal Branch were almost finished. The Canal will be opened for international trade on August 6, probably while the battle of terror is raging somewhere in the country. 

What is important about the new Suez Canal is not only that Egypt was changing its geography, probably the world also, in a way, but that Egypt was surging into a new phase of its history. The Suez Canal has been expanded not by Western or even Arab money, but by investment of the Egyptian people who invested EGP64 billion or $8 billion in less than a week.

In fact, contrary to the prevailing views about Egypt, and despite terrorism, Egypt has witnessed economic recovery in the post-June 30th 2013 revolution. The testimonies came from the World Bank, the IMF, and three financial agencies: Moody's (twice), Fitch, and Standard and Poor's. None of these will tell you that Egypt has finally overcome about four years of revolutionary upheavals and even is coming back to where it was pre-January 25, 2011. However, they will tell that the course of recovery is there and the news about Egypt's permanent instability and misery is "highly exaggerated." Others will indicate that Egypt's growth rate in the year 2014/2015 has grown by 4.7% compared to 1.6% two years ago. In the first half of the year the growth rate was 5.6% compared with 1.2% a year before.

In 2014, the financial market in Egypt was declared as the fastest growing in the world. Tourism, a sector that has been devastated by revolutions and terror, has come close to the 10 million mark with revenues of $5.5 billion. FDI is also back in the oil and gas sector by BP ($12 billion in five years 2015-2020) and Eni ($5 billion during the same period), Siemens in electricity and infrastructure projects, plus plenty of real state development and infrastructure projects by Arab and international developers. The net FDI to Egypt in 2014/2015 reached $5.7 billion. Egypt's external debt has declined from $45,288 billion in 2014 to $39,853. What is amazing about the Egyptian economy is that its survival and the start of recovery, contrary to the prevailing view, was not only because of Arab help, but because of Egyptians' trust and willingness to participate in building their country. In 2012/2013 remittances to Egypt were close to $19 billion, $23.1 billion in 2013/2014, and $16.9 in 2014/2015. During the the same last year, weddings increased in Egypt by 4.9 percent, not a usual practice in a country that is suffering from "Sustainable Instability" or "Durable Misery."

Again, none of the above should mislead anyone that Egypt is finally getting to economic safety. Public debt still very alarming when it reached in 2014/2015 to more than EGP 2 trillion from EGP 1.7 trillion in 2013/2014. Public debt has reached 93 percent of GDP. Also, the budget deficit is no less alarming at 10.7 percent of GDP in 2014/2015. It is true it is much better than it was at 14 percent during President Mohamed Morsi's year in office 2012/2013; but it will make the government target of reducing it to less than 9 percent in the coming year more wishful thinking than real.

Yet the good news about Egypt should be noted to at least put into perspective the bad news, which stems from regional and international challenges rather than from the domestic politics of the country. There is no doubt that Egypt is going at a real war with battle-hardened terrorists that are making global alliances. Looking at this serious challenge from the perspective of repression and human rights is actually ignoring the "fascist moment" that the region is going through in the post-Arab spring era. In facing such challenges excessive use of force and trespassing the boundaries of law should be noted and questioned. However, the blame of the victims should not exceed the crimes of the criminals.

At a minimum the truth should be told. The facts should not be missed. The repetition of Human Rights Watch's claim that 46,000 persons are incarcerated in Egypt ignores the reality that Egypt has no prisons to take that number. Ignoring the fact that Egypt, a country now close to 90 million, has only political prisoners and no criminal ones is an enormous fallacy. Actually, a comparison with the USA, where one of every 100 persons of the adult population is incarcerated, will make the claimed Egyptian number reasonable. But fortunately, that is not the case and the total prison population in Egypt is no more than ten thousand. Similarly is the case with journalists, which is rightly so defended by the Western media. However, deciding that the number of incarcerated journalists on the tens or hundreds is an overblown fallacy, especially when the word "journalist" is not defined. Not every one who has a website or a page on Facebook is a journalist. In Egypt, the definition of a journalist is one who practices journalism and is a member of the press syndicate. And those are slightly less than 7,000. Those among them incarcerated are eight and they are defended by the syndicate and should be released. Others should be judged according to their case, and according to the law. Claiming to be The Head of the Independent Electronic Journalism, as one did, without an address, headquarters, bank account, a record and legal registration will make it impossible to distinguish between the real and the hoax. 

Why is it too hard to tell the truth about Egypt?

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Blame Morsy

Thank you, Foreign Policy, for finally calling a spade a spade. Continue reading here.  

Foreign Policy, by Michael Wahid Hanna

Let’s make this abundantly clear: No one should be pleased with the division and bloodshed playing out in the streets of Cairo right now, particularly as military repression escalates. But let’s also make this abundantly clear: One man bears the ultimate responsibility for the crisis of leadership — Mohamed Morsy.

With Morsy now arbitrarily detained by the military following his July 3 ouster and Egyptian security forces indulging in violent, reckless repression, the former Egyptian president and his Muslim Brotherhood movement have legitimate grievances regarding their unjustifiable treatment. But let’s not forget how we got to this grim point. On the night of June 30, in the face of unprecedented, nationwide mass mobilization and protest, Morsy was politically wounded, his legitimacy undermined, his ability to govern Egypt irreparably damaged. In response to the bottom-up, grassroots campaign that brought millions out into the streets, critical sectors of the state bureaucracy openly abandoned the president, leaving him with an illusory and nominal grip on power. He faced a country dangerously polarized, its social fabric fraying. At that moment, Egypt had fleetingly few options for avoiding the grim possibility of civil strife — and all of them resided with Morsy.

Despite inheriting intractable political, economic, and social problems, when Morsy ascended to power on June 30, 2012, he had choices — and he chose factional gain, zero-sum politics, and populist demagoguery. In a system without functioning checks and balances, those choices generated increasing levels of polarization, destroying trust and crippling the state. These decisions were a reflection of his hostility to criticism and his and the Muslim Brotherhood’s denigration of the opposition’s role in Egyptian society. In the period prior to this year’s June 30 mass protests on the first anniversary of Morsy’s swearing-in,when concessions and compromise might have found an orderly way out for Egypt, Morsy instead grudgingly offered airy promises and hollow gestures.

The fateful, misguided decisions made throughout his tenure and in the run-up and aftermath of the June 30 protests have now put Egypt on the cusp of civil strife and violent conflict. An intransigent, isolated president chose to ignore reality and set the country on the course for an undeniably unfortunate military intervention into civilian politics. While Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood will undoubtedly now assume their more familiar role as victims, significantly aided by the brutality and stupidity of a repressive Egyptian security sector, the primary responsibility for Morsy’s ouster and Egypt’s perilous state resides with the deposed president and his Brothers. None of this was inevitable.

This is not to suggest that the Brotherhood should now be ostracized, persecuted, or forced underground. The Muslim Brotherhood is an organic and deeply rooted religious, social, and political movement with a robust and resilient base. It must be a part of Egypt’s future. But its part in Egypt’s recent past has been an unmitigated disaster.

Morsy’s fatal final decisions confirmed his insular, factional worldview, which prioritized the Muslim Brotherhood before the nation. Simply put, he failed to comprehend that his secret society had no monopoly on Egypt and that their electoral victories were not an unlimited mandate. The Muslim Brotherhood believed that the series of elections throughout 2011 and 2012, which represented in many ways the last elections of Hosni Mubarak’s era, bespoke something essential about Egyptian society and the Brotherhood’s place within it.

These traits — bullheadedness, insularity, and paranoia —were on vivid display as Egypt careened toward June 30, but they had manifested themselves repeatedly over the course of the Brotherhood’s short, unhappy time in power.

via foreignpolicy.com

Western universities seek Egyptian renegades

In the last few days, four high-profile Egyptian figures got offered teaching posts or were granted scholarships at American or Canadian prestigious universities. Let’s review each case separately. 

This fall Bassem Yousef, a cardiologist-turned satirist, will join the Political Institute at Harvard University to teach a study group titled, “The Joke is Mightier than the Sword.”

In his program “Al Bernameg,” Bassem Yousef enjoyed ridiculing and roasting presidents. While Egyptians accepted his satirical criticism of ex-president Morsi, whom they deplored, they found him offensive when he attacked the interim president, Adly Mansour, and the current president, El Sisi, whom they cherish. http://www.iop.harvard.edu/blog/spring-2015-resident-and-visiting-fellows Since Egyptians abhor having their elders, parents, and idols ridiculed, Yousef lost his battle with the Egyptian public, and his program was pulled off the air.

Yousef has become a known-worldwide figure akin to Jon Stewart and the likes. For Harvard to offer him the post of Visiting Fellow is a win-win situation for both Harvard and Yousef. 

The second appointment went to Wael Ghonim, by Harvard Ash Centre of Harvard University, too. Ghonim gained fame during the January 25th Revolution but gained notoriety after the June 30th Revolution. His prominence emerged from his founding a popular Facebook page that focused on the brutality of the police force, while his downfall began when he didn’t support the June 30th Revolution. Soon afterwards Egyptians went against him.

Undoubtedly, this is a great and well-deserved opportunity for Ghonim. 

Mohamed Fahmy is the third Egyptian to enjoy similar preferential treatment, this time by the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, one of the most acclaimed schools in Canada. Even while he awaits a verdict in his controversial trial in Egypt, for being a threat to national security, Fahmy was offered the teaching post.

"We are giving him space and time to do his writing, ... to reflect on what has happened to him and to share those thoughts and experiences with other scholars and journalists," said Peter Klein, director of the Global Reporting Centre.  

In Fahmy’s case, UBC has made it clear that he is being offered the job as a political stance against Egypt. “The international community must not be silent when journalists who risk their lives are targeted by regimes hostile to a free press,” said Peter Klein, founding director of the school’s International Reporting Program. The timing is significant, too—ten days before the verdict in his retrial is announced.

However, the partisan treatment bestowed on Nader Bakkar remains the most puzzling. 

@naderbakkar  Jul 16 

كل عام وأنتم بخير ، بدأت ُدراسة ماجستير في الإدارة الحكومية / منحة جامعة هارفارد،أسأل الله التوفيق #MPA #harvard imp#hks 

[Happy Eid! I’ve started my Masters in Government Management/a scholarship at Harvard . I ask God to support my endeavour. #Harvard #HKS #MPA]

Nader Bakkar is the spokesperson and cofounder of Al Nour Party, which follows the Salafi Movement. The word “Salafi” comes from “Returning to ‘al Salaf el saleh',” meaning returning to the ways of the pious forefathers of 1500 years ago. http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/6073/what-is-salafism-and-should-we-be-worried-by-it 

Bakkar remains the voice of Al Nour Party, and the party adheres to obsolete religious guidelines and implements ultra conservative ideologies. Unless Harvard is seeking spokespersons for such conservatism, to offer Bakkar a scholarship is baffling.  

From one perspective, these opportunities are encouraging—gifted Egyptians are given the chance to grow and enjoy equal academic leverage as their fellow westerners. From another perspective though, the schools’ choices are enigmatic. The four Egyptians may be great men, democratic advocates, or sincere lobbyists for their causes; however, the number and timing of the positions offered and the stances of those offered the positions are contentious and disconcerting. It actually leaves the universities politically inclined and bizarrely bias. 

I wish these men all the luck in the world; after all they are Egyptians. What I hope is that they remain Egyptian in the messages they promote and the approaches they take. Hopefully they will keep Egypt in their hearts. 

Will Egypt ever get its ‘looted’ money back?

Al Arabiya News, by Sonia Farid | Special to Al Arabiya News
Friday, 24 July 2015

Former Egyptian Defence Minister Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi (R) is seen with former President Hosni Mubarak (C) and Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif in 2008. (Reuters)

For the past few years, a sizable portion of the Egyptian public has been preoccupied with the wealth of former President Hosni Mubarak and his clique. Getting this money back was a major demand of the revolution of Jan. 25, 2011. Since 2011, there has been much talk of efforts to reclaim it, but nothing has materialized. With Mubarak, his sons and several top aides acquitted of several of the charges they had faced after the revolution, hope has started to fade.

The issue sprang back to life in June 2015, with Switzerland extending the freezing of the funds of Mubarak and 31 of his clique until 2017, and the subsequent presidential decree establishing a new committee to look into the matter once more. The National Committee for the Repatriation of Egyptian Money and Assets Abroad was not greeted with the same old enthusiasm, as many wondered if it would be any different from its failed predecessors.

Former Prime Minister Ali Lotfi said several factors contributed to the failure of the previous four governmental committees to reclaim the money. “The lengthy judicial process in Egypt was a major obstacle. The money will only be returned after the verdict against the person who owns it is final,” he said.

“A sentence in the text of the verdict has to clarify that the money of the defendant belongs to the Egyptian state and has to be returned, and this did not happen.” Lotfi added that the state should have hired international lawyers to handle the case. “Instead, millions were spent on committees that did not do anything.”

Lawyer Samir Sabry filed a lawsuit with the Public Funds Prosecution against the previous committees, which he accused of squandering public funds. “The total expenses of those committees has reached half a billion Egyptian pounds, and nothing was achieved,” Sabry wrote in the complaint. “If we go on like this, we will spend the amount we are working to get back.” Sabry also objected to the details of the expenses of such committees not being made public.

Foreign involvement

Moataz Salah al-Din, coordinator of the non-governmental Popular Initiative for the Repatriation of Smuggled Money, said relying on court rulings alone was a mistake. “Egypt should have also addressed relevant countries in the context of the U.N. convention against corruption,” he said, adding that some countries are usually more cooperative than others.

“Switzerland is the most likely to return the money, since Swiss public opinion and several NGOs there are supportive,” he said. “The United States has so far been the most intransigent, as it refused a request by the Egyptian government to freeze the accounts of 103 officials from the Mubarak regime.”

The changes through which Egypt has gone since the revolution, Salah al-Din added, made the success of such committees much harder. “The process was delayed by several regime changes, which also gave an impression to the involved countries that the Egyptian state is not stable enough to handle the smuggled-money file,” he said.

Court rulings

Wahid Abdel Maguid, researcher at the Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the new committee would never be able to progress in the absence of court rulings. “The formation of the committee is only a bureaucratic step,” he said. “A judicial action is needed, but courts in Egypt are preoccupied with domestic cases.”

Abdel Ghaffar Shokr, deputy chairman of the National Council for Human Rights, agreed that the committee would be useless without court orders. “True, it was a positive step on the part of the president to revive the matter, but the judiciary has to be quick in issuing final verdicts that can be immediately put into force.”

Financial analyst Hani Mahmoud said banks would not return the money without a court ruling. “The country demanding the return of the money has to provide proof that this money was obtained illegally,” he said.

A report by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said providing such proof was far-fetched, adding: “Technically, this money is not blood money since it is not obtained through illegal activities in the conventional sense like, for example, drug dealing or arms trade.”

Optimism

Professor of international law Ahmed Refaat said he was optimistic about the new committee, adding that it was different from the others since it allowed reconciliation between the state and those accused of smuggling money abroad. “The accused will make restitution of the looted funds in exchange for dropping charges against them. Egyptian law allows reconciliation in several matters, including currency, tax and customs-related issues,” he said.

“The possibility of reconciliation will save time and huge amounts of money paid for international law firms and travel allowances for the members of the relevant committees.” Refaat said this might be the only realistic means of getting the money back, since traditional legal means might not work, especially with countries whose economy strongly relies on banking.

“If those countries restituted these funds, depositors’ confidence in these banks relying on foreign remittances would be shaken, which would lead to reluctance to deposit funds in these banks and cause the collapse of these countries’ banking systems.”
 

via english.alarabiya.net

Four Minutes of Egypt That Will Leave You Yearning For More

Egyptian Streets

 

What does Egypt have to offer? As this four minute video shows: a lot more than you can imagine.

This video shot by Caleb Hatfield, who has lived in Egypt for more than a year, shows glimpses of the country’s diverse beauty.

“We had no idea what to expect while preparing for this seemingly organized chaos known as Cairo, but we sure have fallen in love with the people, the culture, and the land. I hope you enjoy seeing “Masr” through our eyes,” writes Hatfield on his Vimeo channel.

Check out the video above and let us know if you can identify all the places featured by it in the comments below.

via egyptianstreets.com