Carnegie Middle East Center
In the Sahelian-Maghreb nexus, security imported from Europe undermines local efforts for political stability and empowerment.
Years in the making, Sisi’s elite New Administrative Capital will isolate most Egyptians from their centers of government in an effort to fortify the regime against any social pressures.
As the globe races to inoculate against COVID-19, in Egypt President Sisi’s regime plans to profit from the essential shot.
The new executive authority is unlikely to transcend Libya’s institutional divisions, nor break with well-established patterns of intense factional competition within the government.
Ill-suited to cope with any social unrest, the Sisi-regime utilizes mass repression to prevent change.
With the pandemic, Algeria’s Hirak movement devotes most of its energy to resisting the unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression.
The Egyptian regime’s economic strategy guarantees that any emerging demands for democratization will clash with international interests.
Sada asked experts to analyze potential flash points for the next U.S. administration—ranging from the globalization of Libya’s war to the ongoing conflicts in Syria and Yemen, the Arab-Israeli conflict, and increasing authoritarianism and violations of civil liberties and human rights.
Maâti Monjib is a Moroccan historian, political analyst, and human rights activist. Monjib, president and co-founder of Freedom Now, has faced an array of political charges since 2015 and been subject to digital surveillance by the state. Today, he faces new finance-related accusations, which he denies.
Morocco’s recently enacted Right to Information Law is a potentially powerful tool in the hands of its citizens, but their ability to use it is still largely dependent on the government’s commitment to transparency and political will to enforce it.
The Egyptian government’s fiscal and economic policies are accelerating the transfer of wealth from lower and middle classes to itself and business elites, with likely devastating consequences.
Normalizing ties with Israel may facilitate Sudan’s removal from the US State Sponsors of Terrorism list, but risks strengthening military actors and former Bashir regime figures.
While the Egyptian and Ethiopian dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has high stakes for local stability, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are well-positioned to play a leading role in mediating the conflict.
In the response to the pandemic, Sisi’s security dominated government has focused on spreading misinformation, propaganda, and repression rather than addressing the health crisis.
Rather than eradicating a jihadist threat, the Egyptian Armed Forces strategy in North Sinai has aimed at containment, perpetuating a decade-old conflict.
Sisi’s government is instrumentalizing the coronavirus pandemic to pass new amendments related to Egypt’s emergency law, only expanding the military’s legal authority nationwide.
The shifting relationships between armies and civil society are revealing new balances within defense structures.
Tunisia’s economic fallout from a coronavirus outbreak and the rise of unemployment claims will further compound social and regional inequalities across the country.
Initial measures from the Moroccan government may have curbed the spread of a viral outbreak for now, but unsustainable policies risk aggravating social precarity and establishing new authoritarian norms.
Egyptians are unlikely to challenge their government over COVID-19 disruptions for now, but President Sisi could be exposed to anger over the longer-term impact of the virus.