Egypt

Under Egyptian auspices, Northeastern Syria ceasefire signed

Al-Masry Al-Youm, via Egypt Independent

Several opposition factions in northeastern Syria have signed a ceasefire agreement in Cairo under Egyptian and Russian auspices, mediated by the head of the Syrian Tomorrow Movement Sheikh Ahmed al-Jarba.

The agreement worked towards a political settlement of the Syrian crisis through co-operation on counter-terrorism, the return of refugees and displaced people to their areas, and the release of detainees.

Egypt’s efforts to calm the situation in Syria were shown in a similar agreement with armed opposition factions from the Syrian Coast, two weeks ago in Cairo. The city also saw numerous ceasefire agreements last year.

The mediations demonstrate Egypt’s desire to end Syrian bloodshed, and restore stability through a comprehensive political settlement.

Under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Cairo has enjoyed cordial relations with Damascus and its close ally Russia, which has extensively intervened to preserve the Syrian government. Meanwhile, Egypt currently has extensive economic ties to Riyadh, which has supplied weapons and ammunition to several Syrian rebel groups. Negotiating factions are hoping that these interests can balance out, to make Egypt a relatively fair moderator in the crisis.

In the latest meeting, opposition factions stressed that Egypt is “the stronghold of Arabism”, and is uniquely qualified to bring the Syrian crisis to an end, given that it has “no involvement in the armed conflict, nor any particular bias to either party”.

At the end of the recent meeting, leaders of the Syrian opposition factions thanked al-Sisi for the efforts exerted by his government to resolve the Syrian crisis, and alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people.

Link: Under Egyptian auspices, Northeastern Syria ceasefire signed

Cairo named most attractive city to investors in Africa: UN report

Egypt Today, by Hend El-Bahary, Link: Cairo named most attractive city to investors in Africa: UN report

Cairo is ranked the most attractive city to investors in Africa, snatching the 64^th position globally, in a report released by the United Nations.

The report, entitled “The Stateof African Cities 2018- The Geography of African investment”, uses estimates of the indices of foreign investments between 2013 and 2016. It places Cairo just atop Johannesburg as a gateway for those wanting to expand in Africa, as in this three-year period, Cairo succeeded in attracting investments of about US$13.7 billion.

These investments originated “mainly from the EU, the USA and the Arab States, with the UK the largest single-country investor.”

A period of stability, alongside a new investment law in 2017 – which allows for tax breaks, rebates, and reduced bureaucracy – means that investment from China has also grown since the period studied in the report, from $255 million in 2016, to $408 million in 2017.

The report cites older legal factors, from the liberal economic reforms of the 1970s, to “the establishment of [economic] Zones’ and‘regional representation of investment authorities in Egyptian Governorates.”

It argues that such zones provide investors with incentives from “exemption from all custom duties on imports and exports in the case of Free Zones, to the provision of infrastructure and land at low cost in the case of Industrial Zones.”

Ultimately, the report attributes Cairo’s place to its large and diverse concentration of Egypt’s labor force, its managerial competencies compared to other African countries, and the ability of its companies to exploit modern technology.

It remarks that the Information sector “has witnessed a substantial boom over the past two decades and has become one of the leading engines of economic growth in the [Greater Cairo] region.”

The report ranked Alexandria as Egypt’s second-highest city for investment, but only 23^rd in Africa. It lagged behind cities such as Djibouti and Tete, Mozambique.

Putin versus Trump, the Helsinki Summit

President Trump often lashes out against friends and foes alike. Breaching the usual presidential protocol, President Trump slams even his closest allies: Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Britain’s Theresa May, and Germany’s Angela Merkal. 

The reality is every time President Trump speaks he holds the world captive not via his prudence and rationality but by his unabashed intimidation. He believes that, since he is the head of the most powerful state, he can offend anyone and everyone, then he turns around and shakes hands with the offended oblivious of the crassness he instigated earlier. 

At one point, President Trump gave Kim Jung-un, the leader of North Korea, the same treatment calling him a maniac, a bad dude, and the rocket man only to be all smiles when he met the Korean leader later. Then he said, “I think he liked me and I like him,” and “Adversaries can indeed become friends.” You see President Trump usually gets away with it.

The world expected a similar President Trump to meet President Putin at the Helsinki Summit in Finland. In the joint news conference after the private meeting President Trump and President Putin took questions from the floor.

But what happened then may be the worse of all President Trump’s demeaning discourse, this time not against his counterpart but against himself and his nation. Leaving the world agape, President Trump aligned himself with the Russians, his allies and his country’s assumed enemies, and discredited his intelligence services.

First, President Trump met with President Putin despite the ongoing investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections where the US indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking Democrats’ emails. When asked if he thought Russia interfered in the 2016 elections, Trump responded, “I don't see any reason why it would be,” clearly siding with the Russians against US officials.

This leaves the US grand jury on the indictment probe, the US Department of Justice, and the Deputy Attorney General mind-boggled, as though the decisions they made earlier account for nothing.

The expectations were that Trump would hold the Russians accountable for meddling in the 2016 presidential elections; he didn’t. He was also expected to confront President Putin on other controversial issues such as President Asaad of Syria and the annexing of the Crimea; he didn’t. The poisoning of the Russian spy and his daughter in London was another disputable issue as the US supported Britain’s claim and expelled dozens of Russian embassy and Consulate employees. It wasn’t.

In fact, Trump showered Putin with praise agreeing with everything he said as he blamed the US as much as Russia for the deterioration in relationship; “I think the United States has been foolish, I think we've all been foolish.”

President Trumps bizarre responses unleashed a slew of criticism that the US president hadn’t expected or experienced before. It left the media, US ambassadors, congressmen, and statesmen, Republic and Democrat, bewildered. His stance was described as an “embarrassment,” a “disgrace,” “bizarre,” “disgusting,” “shameful,” and “flat out wrong.”

“No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant,” said John McCain. John Brennan, former director of the CIA, said, “What Trump did today was commit treason. He cannot be supported anymore. He is a clear and present danger to America. Republicans can no longer be quiet. I won't be quiet. I am done with him.”

The reality is President Trump came across as meek, condescending, and inconsistent. As Trump praised Putin excessively, Putin didn’t flinch, overreact, or go along to merely appease Trump.

Putin came across as astute and cunning. The meeting in itself, despite his turbulent standing with European leaders, gave him a powerful boost.  His responses fit the questions; he didn’t dodge answers as Trump did, and was totally cognizant of himself and his opponent.

Putin denied the claims that he interfered in the 2016 elections as “sheer nonsense.”

Trump cited the reduction of nuclear weapons as a major discussion agenda.

“We have 90 percent of the nuclear, and that’s not a good thing, it’s a bad thing,” he said. Putin did not mention that issue, so if it were discussed, no progress would’ve been made.

Besides, Putin arrived in Helsinki just after hosting a very successful World Cup attended by many leaders and dignitaries; this while President Trump arrived from a NATO Summit where he chastised its leaders, something that would leave Putin smug and self-congratulatory.

Julia Corderoy of the Associated Press said that Trump played into the Russian president’s hands perfectly.” Putin played Trump like a “fiddle” as “Putin, the lion, stood next to Donald Trump, the lamb.”

All this leaves us wondering why President Trump was so easily manipulated and willing to concede against President Putin in this fashion? Why didn’t he blast President Putin as he had done with his foes let alone his friends?

Let’s look at the possibilities. One, that President Trump is not a perceptive or insightful politician. He errs often, and his rhetoric borders on incomprehensible bafflegab, but his goof up this time went beyond all previous mishaps and misdemeanours.

The second reason, which I hope is the plausible one, would be that during the private conversation that took place between the two presidents and the interpreter only, concession, agreements, and give and take on pivotal issues such as Syria, for example, may have taken place, leaving President Trump so jubilant and feeling triumphant that he had to thank President Putin publicly even if indirectly.

Now we may never know what Putin and Trump agreed on, but the Summit and the follow up press conference gave Putin all what he needed: an exceptional opportunity to tell the world and the Russians that he is still the man that he has always been: Vladimir Putin. He needs to do nothing now; simply stay put and relish the moment.

From the look of things, the president of the United States failed miserably this time round not only in the eyes of the world but also in the eyes of Americans.

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It takes a village in Egypt to show women’s heroism

The Arab Weekly (link: https://thearabweekly.com/it-takes-village-egypt-show-womens-heroism)

Apart from the small clinic and school in the village, there are no other facilities.

Sunday 29/07/2018

Unrelenting toil. A resident of Al Samaha village works in the fields. (Agriculture Ministry)

AL SAMAHA, Egypt - A l Samaha is a village that knows no rest or despair. The farms, the plants that flutter in the air and the primitive farming machines tell of unrelenting toil and hope.

The women of Al Samaha in Egypt’s southern province of Aswan are self-dependent and do not rely on outside or male support to feed its residents or their children.

It is a women’s world but one in which things many modern women might consider to be necessities — makeup, perfume, hair dye, manicures, high heels and sunglasses — are unheard of. Al Samaha’s residents know nothing but work.

“We will not eat if we do not work,” said Sanaa Nour, a mother of four and one of 300 homeowners in the village. “Work is the central part of our life here in the village.”

Al Samaha was founded in 1988 by the government of former President Hosni Mubarak as a gathering point for single mothers — women who lost their husbands because of death or divorce. It was part of a project to create six rural communities 120km north of the city of Aswan.

The project was the first rural community whose economy would be the sole responsibility of its women residents. Each of the women living in the village is given a home and 2 hectares of land to cultivate.

The homes have two rooms, a kitchen, a toilet and space for raising domesticated animals and fowl, such as goats, cows, sheep and chickens.

Village residents are free to grow the crops they want, except for sugar cane, which is grown in abundance in Aswan.

In male-dominated Egypt, Al Samaha is very different but it is a place that evokes all meanings about women’s bravery, heroism and perseverance.

Nour, 46, moved into the village several years ago after her husband died. She worked in farming with her husband before she moved to the village. She wakes early in the morning, heads to the farm, which is not far from her home, works in the field all day and returns before sunset to prepare food for her children.

Nour grows rice and wheat. She keeps most of the produce for the family but sells surpluses in the market. She raises fowl to feed her children.

“Life is good,” she said. “There are ups and downs, of course, but we have to keep moving.”

Life in Al Samaha is very austere. Apart from the small clinic and school in the village, there are no other facilities. The homes are very small and the streets and alleyways of the village are dusty. The facades of the homes are rarely painted.

However, each home holds stories of women’s bravery and sacrifice.

Nabiha Abdullah, a mother of five in her early 60s, had a harsh life after her husband died about 15 years ago. She worked to feed her children but it was far from easy. When she heard about the village, she quickly decided to move and start a new chapter.

Abdullah said she was afraid at first because the village was mainly a desert. “I worked in the field together with my children and then things started to improve day after day,” Abdullah said. “I cannot say life is bright. It is full of

difficulties, in fact.”

Not all those in the village are succeeding. Some could not put up with hard work. Others left a few months after they arrived.

The village has its tough rules. Women given homes and plots of land must remain single, said Hamdi al-Kashef, the Agriculture Ministry official supervising the project.

“When the children of those widowed women grow up and get married, they have to move outside the village as well,” Kashef said.

Problems have been accumulating in Al Samaha for years. Some of the plots are not fit for farming because of high salinity. The only clinic and only school in the village are not functioning well because of the lack of staff or poor maintenance.

Nevertheless, the village residents deal with their problems, sometimes by cracking jokes and other times by being patient.

“Each woman living here has her own problems that seem insurmountable,” Abdullah said, “but when we discuss them, we discover that our problems are lighter than those of other women.”

 

Written ByAhmed Megahid

Ahmed Meghid is an Egyptian reporter based in Cairo.

إحالة أوراق 75 إلى المفتي في قضية 'فض اعتصام رابعة'

الحرة

من جلسة المحاكمة يوم السبت

 

أحالت محكمة جنايات القاهرة السبت أوراق 75 متهما، من بينهم قيادات في جماعة الإخوان المسلمين، إلى مفتي البلاد تهميدا للبت في إعدامهم، وذلك في قضية فض اعتصام ميدان رابعة العدوية التي تعود أحداثها إلى عام 2013

وحددت المحكمة جلسة الثامن من أيلول/سبتمبر المقبل للنطق بالحك.

ومن بين القياديين في الجماعة الذين شملهم قرار الإحالة عاصم عبد الماجد، وعبد الرحمن البر، وصفوت حجازي، ومحمد البلتاجي، ووجدى غنيم، وعصام العريان

وقد وجهت النيابة إلى المتهمين في القضية عدة اتهامات من بينها "التجمهر المسلح بميدان رابعة العدوية وقطع الطرق، وتقييد حرية الناس فى التنقل، والقتل العمد مع سبق الإصرار للمواطنين وقوات الشرطة، والشروع فى القتل العمد، وتعمد تعطيل سير وسائل النقل"

وتتعلق القضية بمشاركة المتهمين في اعتصام لمؤيدي الرئيس المعزول محمد مرسي في محيط مسجد رابعة العدوية في القاهرة في      2013 احتجاجا على عزله   

https://www.alhurra.com/a/إحالة-75-إلى-المفتي-في-قضية-فض-اعتصام-رابعة-/450415.html

Operation Sinai 2018 destroyed terrorism infrastructure in N Sinai: Egypt's army spokesperson in first-ever interview

Ahram Online

Egypt's Army Spokesperson Colonel Tamer El-Refai (Photo: Ahram)

Just over five months have passed since the Egyptian armed forces launched the comprehensive military Operation Sinai 2018 in cooperation with the police.

On 9 February the plan to fully confront terrorist and criminal individuals and organizations began to be implemented in North and Central Sinai, and in other areas in the Nile Delta and desert areas west of the Nile Valley, according to the first Armed Forces communiqué on the operation.

Egypt's Armed Forces Spokesperson Tamer El-Refaie gave an in-depth interview with Al-Ahram Al-Araby weekly magazine which is set to be published in full on Saturday, highlighting the latest developments on the ground and achievements of the Sinai 2018 operation.

The interview is the first to be conducted by Egypt's armed forces spokesperson in an Egyptian or Arab newspaper since he assumed his role in January 2017.

Since the launch of the operation in February 2018, army forces have killed more than 321 terrorists and confiscated more than 1000 improvised explosive devices (IEDs), according to El-Refai. 

In terms of achievements, Operation Sinai 2018 has succeeded in cutting arms and ammunition supply lines to terrorists, targeting "takfiri" leaders with complete success using information from different intelligence agencies regarding terrorist hideouts in the North Sinai governorate.

The Arabic word "takfiri" refers to extremist Sunni Muslims who accuse other Muslims of being infidels, often to justify the use of violence against them.

In addition to counter-terrorism operations, development efforts are ongoing in parallel in North Sinai. The Armed Forces Engineering Authority has completed 134 projects worth EGP 175 billion in the peninsula (US$9.8 billion), out of the 290 included in the development plan.

Since the start of the operation, the Egyptian Armed Forces have conducted 11 joint military exercises with neighbouring countries, as well as participating in ongoing collaboration with the Community of Sahel-Saharan states on counter-terrorism.

The Egyptian army spokesperson said the major achievement of Operation Sinai 2018 is the re-establishment of normal living conditions for residents, and the restoration of security in areas cleansed of terrorism in the governorate.

"The statistics and numbers in different military communiqués following the operation's launch demonstrate the great success on the ground," El-Refaie said, praising the role of Sinai residents in counter-terrorism efforts.

El-Refaie also affirmed that the comprehensive operation against terrorism is not only limited to Sinai but includes many strategic levels.

"The Egyptian Armed Forces are always targeted by false news, mainly broadcast by the anti-state media, which encourage and incite terrorism against army and police forces," the Egyptian army spokesperson said.

"These terrorist organizations receive financial and logistical assistance from several parties, whether inside the country or abroad, in addition to intelligence information with the aim of disrupting the country's security and stability," El-Refaie added.

"The educational process is now running smoothly in all North Sinai's schools and universities, as normal life has been restored in most areas freed from the threat of terrorism."

The Egyptian armed forces are currently working on completing the North Sinai buffer zone bordering the Gaza strip and destroying smuggling tunnels, executing a very technologically advanced system to limit communication between terrorist elements and enhance security capabilities.

"While conducting its operations in Sinai and in any other part of the state, the Egyptian armed forces are committed to human rights standards and complete protection of civilians in combat areas," the army spokesman affirmed.

El-Refaie affirmed that many suspects are released after

via english.ahram.org.eg

Bab el-Mandeb, an Emerging Chokepoint for Middle East Oil Flows

Bloomberg, by Julian Lee

Saudi Arabia temporarily halted oil shipments via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping lane for crude at the southern end of the Red Sea, after the country said two tankers were attacked by the Yemeni Houthi militia. Here’s why this waterway is starting to become a focal point for the global economy.

What is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait?

The Bab el-Mandeb, or "Gate of Tears", is a narrow neck of water that separates the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean. It’s bordered to the northeast by Yemen and to the southwest by Eritrea and Djibouti. The strait is divided into two channels by Perim Island. Larger vessels use the wider and deeper western channel, which at its narrowest point is around 16 miles (25 kilometers) wide and 170 fathoms (310 meters) deep. A smaller channel along the Yemeni coast is two miles wide. Shipping through Bab el-Mandeb is separated into inbound and outbound channels, each two miles wide.

The Bab el-Mandeb waterway, an unavoidable transit point for merchant ships that use Egypt’s Suez Canal

Source: Energy Information Administration. Based on 2016 data

Why is it important?

Bab el-Mandeb forms a vital link on the trade route between the Mediterranean and Asia. Vessels carrying goods between Europe and Asia, as well as oil from the Middle East to Europe and North America, pass through it if navigating Egypt’s Suez Canal. The EIA estimates that in 2016 -- the last year for which it published data -- 4.8 million barrels a day of crude and petroleum products flowed through the strait, with about 2.8 million going north toward Europe, and another 2 million moving in the opposite direction.

How important is Bab el-Mandeb to Saudi Arabia?

It sent 600,000 barrels a day of crude from the Persian Gulf to buyers in Europe and North America this year, according to tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. An additional 330,000 barrels a day were shipped from the country’s main export facility at Ras Tanura to its Red Sea port of Yanbu. On top of that, 120,000 a day went in the opposite direction, to Asia from Yanbu. The kingdom’s total exports have been about 7 million a day this year.

How serious could a disruption get?

There’s no suggestion that the Bab el-Mandeb could be closed, and it is rare for companies to avoid it. That happened at the height of a piracy crisis about a decade ago, during which a Saudi Arabian supertanker was among dozens seized, and owners of different types of vessels said they would divert elsewhere. The kingdom’s decision was announced late Wednesday in response to attacks on its own vessels, so it may well remain a localized issue.

How long could the suspension last?

Saudi Arabia has said the suspension is temporary. It’s unlikely to reverse the decision until it’s confident that crew, ships and cargoes are safe.

Can oil exporters bypass the strait?

Ships carrying oil from the Persian Gulf to Europe and North America can avoid the Bab el-Mandeb by traveling around the southern tip of Africa. The voyage from Fujairah, at the exit from the Persian Gulf, to Houston would increase by 2,660 nautical miles, or 28 percent. The distance to Rotterdam would rise by 4,800 nautical miles, or 78 percent, while a journey to Augusta in Italy would be nearly three times as long, at 10,860 nautical miles. The increased distances would add to shipping and fuel costs, and also disrupt supplies. A voyage from Saudi Arabia to Rotterdam takes about 22 days via the Bab el-Mandeb and Suez Canal, compared with 39 days around Africa, according to data compiled from Bloomberg tanker tracking.

Can Saudi Arabia ship more from its Red Sea ports?

Saudi Arabia could pump more of its crude across the country by pipeline to its Red Sea port of Yanbu, from where the barrels could be loaded on tankers for delivery through the Suez Canal. That would bypass the Bab el-Mandeb. The 1,200 kilometer (746-mile) East-West pipelinehas a capacity of 5 million barrels a day, but it’s also used to deliver crude to four refineries along the Red Sea coast that can process as much as 1.4 million barrels a day.
Saudi Aramco exported an average of 650,000 barrels a day from Yanbu this year, according to Bloomberg ship-tracking data. Supplies to the refineries and shipments from Yanbu indicate that Aramco is only using around 2 million barrels a day of capacity along the East-West pipeline. In other words, there’s a theoretical 3 million barrels a day spare.

Link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-26/bab-el-mandeb-an-emerging-chokepoint-for-middle-east-oil-flows

Trapped in a sea of rumours

Al Ahram Weekly, by Amina Khairy (excerpt Trapped in a sea of rumours)

The Egyptian people are floating on a sea of fake news, in other words of “rumours”. And despite the fact that the majority of Egyptians know that rumours have been controlling a great deal of their lives for the past seven years, they still think that whatever “news” they share on Facebook, or “facts” they retweet on Twitter, or even stories they retell in coffee shops, at bus stops or in metro carriages, are the truth and nothing but the truth.

However, the only truth here is that thousands of rumours can spread across Egypt in days. Most of these emanate from social media, get shared, retweeted and retold by various people, and then go back to social media again, where the cycle becomes complete.

“We are completely lost. They [the government] are now selling us plastic rice and eggs. What more do they intend to do,” wailed a Cairo taxi-driver. I asked him if Chinese plastic rice tasted like normal rice. He started stuttering and then said, “my cousin tells me it’s almost the same.” Needless to say, reaching the cousin who had eaten, digested and reviewed the plastic rice proved impossible.

Hundreds and maybe thousands of Websites, posts and tweets, resulting in millions of likes, shares, tweets and new posts based on recycling what has already been said, have made this plastic rice a fact that everybody knows about, but nobody has tasted.

The taste of a rumour is almost identical to that of news. And the taste of Chinese plastic rice goes well with Chinese plastic eggs. At least, this is how a recipe for Chinese fried rice goes. Add some spices and fresh vegetables, and all will go well in Egypt.

A few days ago, parliament added a bit of extra taste to such stories. MP Faika Fahim submitted a question to the government, stating that the spread of plastic Chinese eggs in Egypt had meant the spread of “chemical eggs” that would cause serious health problems for the liver and digestive system.

The official response was that there had been no such thing as plastic eggs imported into Egypt in the first place. Head of the Poultry Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce Abdel-Aziz Al-Sayed said that the existence of plastic eggs in Egypt was a “baseless rumour” and that any news and videos shared on the Internet about them were completely false, especially as Egypt does not even import eggs.

However, even though Egypt does not import eggs, it does import, consume, enjoy and recycle fake news and rumours. Social media and political, social and religious polarisation, in addition to the lack of awareness needed to differentiate fake and real news, have led to an environment saturated with fake and real news of unknown origin.

In 2017, the Communication and Information Technology in parliament conducted a study revealing that 53,000 rumours had spread in Egypt in 60 days. The study found that most of these had originated and circulated on social-media platforms. What is even more alarming is that traditional media outlets have been and still are citing these rumours as if they were real news.

Over the past few days alone, Egyptians have immersed themselves in rumours of all kinds. They include the news that football star Mohamed Salah is quitting the national team (this one was initiated by foreign news outlets CNN and the Independent), that the Ministry of Supply is adding additives to bread that will lead to a decrease in fertility rates, that the Egyptian banks are on the verge of bankruptcy, that there was an act of terror at Cairo International Airport, and that the organs of children are being trafficked.

These and hundreds of other such rumours and fake news have been circulated, told and retold, posted and shared, and tweeted and retweeted.
Never before has Egyptian society fallen into such a trap. In war time, the authorities used to warn people against believing, circulating or trusting rumours. However, in war time, the last being in 1973, there was no Internet, Facebook, sharing, liking, blocking, unfriending, twittering, tweeting or even SMS.

via weekly.ahram.org.eg

US lifts restrictions on $195m in military aid for Egypt -official

Middle East Monitor

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi dressed in military uniform in Sinai, Egypt 25 February 2018 [Egyptian President Office/Apaimages]

The Trump administration has decided to unfreeze $195 million in military aid to Egypt which it had previously withheld because of concerns over Egypt’s human rights record, a US State Department official said on Wednesday.

Reuters reports that the decision to allow Cairo to use the previously blocked funds is intended to recognize “steps Egypt has taken over the last year in response to specific US concerns” and in the spirit of strengthening the partnership with Egypt, the official said.

The Trump administration held up the funds last year, citing what it said was Egypt’s failure to make progress on respecting human rights and democratic norms.

The decision in part reflected Washington’s frustration over a new law that regulates non-governmental organizations and was widely seen as part a growing crackdown on dissent.

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not cite any specific stepsEgypt had taken to address US human rights concerns. The official indicated that preserving US security cooperation with Egypt, which includes countering militant groups, was part of the rationale for releasing the funds.

“We have serious concerns regarding human rights and governance in Egypt, and we will continue to use the many tools at our disposal to raise these concerns,” the official said.

“At the same time, strengthened security cooperation is important to US national security. Secretary Pompeo determined that releasing these funds is important to supporting these needs and continuing to improve our partnership with Egypt.”

The State Department’s latest human rights report, released in April, cites a wide range of human rights issues in Egypt, including torture, limits on freedom of expression, government control over NGOs and the use of military courts to try civilians.

The $195 million in aid was part of the US government’s fiscal year 2016 budget. The funds, known as Foreign Military Financing, are intended for Egypt to buy US-made military equipment.

Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180726-us-lifts-restrictions-on-195-mln-in-military-aid-for-egypt-official/

Egypt to build world’s largest solar park: What role will the private sector play?

AUC Business Forward, by TOQA EZZIDIN (March, 2018) 
Excerpt Egypt to build world's largest solar part: what role will the private sector play? 

Some 10,000 people will work during the phase of construction, in addition to 4,000 people once the solar installation begins operating (Photo courtesy of Juhayna / KarmSolar)

The construction of the soon-to-be world’s largest solar park is currently in progress near Egypt’s southern city of Aswan. It is slated to be powered up by mid-2019 to increase the country’s renewable energy generation capacity.

The power generation process consists of three main phases: producing the electricity, then transmitting it across governorates and countries via specialized companies, and then distributing it to consumers through companies that lower the voltages.

The specs of the Benban solar park
The total production of the new solar park is set between 1.6-2 gigawatts (GW), according to news outlet Electrek. The Benban solar power complex was named after a nearby Nile River village. Citing the International Finance Corporation (IFC) – a sister organization of the World Bank – some 10,000 people will work during the phase of construction, in addition to 4,000 people once the solar installation begins operating.

The Benban solar park will include 32 power plants, with a production capacity of about 50 megawatts (MW) each. In October 2017, the IFC, along with a consortium of nine other banks, invested $653 million in 13 of the 32 power plants, according to Forbes Middle East. The consortium’s financing will help 13 private companies build and operate solar plants at the site. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) additionally invested in 16 photovoltaic projects, mounting the investments in 29 power plants in the solar park to $1.8 billion.

“With over $2.2 billion of financing, the [park] is considered the largest foreign direct investment in Egypt in recent years,” law firm Zulficar and Partners, advisor to the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC), states in a press release.

Benban solar park will include 32 power plants, with a production of about 50 MW each

Allocated by the Egyptian government to the New and Renewable Energy Authority (NREA), the Benban solar power complex is being built on 37 square kilometers.

The private sector’s take on the park
CEO and cofounder of solar technology and integration company KarmSolar Ahmed Zahran tells Business Forward that the new solar park will increase the solar component in Egypt’s energy mix.

“Today, Egypt’s energy mix consists of more than 60 percent gas and only 6-7 percent renewable energy,” Zahran explains, adding that upon the completion of Benban solar park, solar energy in Egypt will undoubtedly strengthen.

Egypt’s feed-in-tariff program aims to involve the private sector to achieve Egypt’s plan to produce 20 percent of its energy through renewable sources by 2022. So far, the output of the Benban solar park is set to be sold to the government.

However, Zahran believes that it is more efficient for the private sector companies working on the project to sell their output directly to other private firms for the transmission process because “they have more potential”.

Benban comes with a 25-year contract to sell its output to the state-owned EETC, according to Energy Egypt.

businessforwardauc.com