Throughout his rule, president Husni Mubarak has governed Egypt under an emergency decree, using his dictatorial powers to persecute the Islamic groups that have always constituted the most vocal opposition to his regime.
The Society of Muslim Brothers in Egypt by Brynjar Lia. Pub: Garnet Publishers, Reading, UK. Pp: 328. Price: £30.
Throughout his long rule, Egypt’s president, Husni Mubarak, has paid lip-service to ‘traditional Islam’ and to ‘freedom of expression’, while in practice repressing Islamic activists. Even the Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, who cannot possibly be accused of being Islamic revolutionaries, are banned as a political party.
A new Nile-water deal between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia and a tripartite alliance between Jibouti, Ethiopia and Sudan directed against Eritrea ï a common adversary and neighbour ï have somewhat eased Khartoum’s embattled position, by complicating Washington’s declared effort to finance opposition-groups fighting to form a breakaway republic in the south of the country.
Over 3,000 Egyptian migrant workers in Kuwait were rounded up by police and packed off to desert internment camps at the end of last month, following two days of street troubles on October 30-31.
Egypt, Jordan and Yassir Arafat’s ‘Palestinian National Authority’ (PNA) recently concluded a formal treaty with the US and Israel on combatting Islamic movements, according to Israeli and British media reports quoting senior security and other officials.
It is perhaps indicative of the present state of the Ummah that, outside his native Egypt and a small circle of Islamic activists, few Muslims are aware that August 29 marked the thirty-third anniversary of the martyrdom of Sayyid Qutb.
It would be funny if it were not so tragic. With most of its population trapped in poverty and pervasive unemployment, and its national assets being plundered by a corrupt ruling elite and foreign business interests under the guise of an IMF structural adjustment programme...
When the Syrian ambassador in Washington, Walid al-Mu’allim, recently spoke about his country’s rights in the province of Alexandretta, he also signaled that the turbulent relations between Syria and Turkey have inched closer toward a crisis point.
Links between Sudan and Egypt are on the mend, a development Sudanese opposition groups and their western backers are not celebrating. And while US president Bill Clinton’s visit to Uganda, part of a flying tour to five African countries...
Old habits, it is said, die hard. This applies especially to the regime of president Husni of Egypt who seems to be continuing in the ways of the pharaohs of bygone days.
The new Shaikh of Al-Azhar in Egypt, Dr Muhammad Sid Tantawi, who is better known for his trendy opinions on social issues than for firing off pointed fatwas on the hot political issues of the day, has reacted spiritedly to the challenge of Israeli rabbis, who invited him to condemn ‘suicide’ attacks on Israeli targets...
The Developing Eight (D-8) economic cooperation group got off to a shaky start on June 15 in Istanbul as its most passionate advocate, prime minister Necmettin Erbakan of Turkey struggled with his hawkish generals to hang on to power.
Where in the world would lawyers be hauled before a military court to face charges for defending alleged opponents of the regime? In Egypt of course, ruled by the pharaoh Husni Mubarak, Washington’s favourite clown in the Middle East.
