Egypt lawmakers approve island transfer to Saudi Arabia
▻http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/egypt-lawmakers-approve-island-transfer-saudi-arabia-170614142446099.html
Egypt’s parliament has voted to ratify a 2016 agreement under which Cairo would transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi reserves dip below $500 billion
▻http://www.dailystar.com.lb//Business/Regional/2017/May-30/407693-saudi-reserves-dip-below-500-billion.ashx
Saudi Arabia’s net foreign assets dropped below $500 billion in April for the first time since 2011 even after the kingdom raised $9 billion from its first international sale of Islamic bonds. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, as the central bank is known, said Sunday its net foreign assets fell by $8.5 billion from the previous month to about $493 billion, the lowest level since 2011. That brings the decline this year to $36 billion.
“Didn’t really see any major driver for such a huge drop, especially when accounting for the sukuk sale,” said Mohammad Abu Basha, a Cairo-based economist at EFG-Hermes, an investment bank. Even if the proceeds from the sale weren’t included, “the reserve decline remains huge,” he said.
The news website that’s keeping press freedom alive in Egypt | Leslie T Chang | News | The Guardian
@madamasr
A relire alors que les autorités égyptiennes ont bloqué l’accès au site hier (en même temps qu’à une vingtaine d’autres sites)
▻https://www.theguardian.com/news/2015/jan/27/-sp-online-newspaper-keeping-press-freedom-alive-egypt
Last modified on Thursday 11 May 2017 12.31 BST
On the afternoon of 17 June 2013, a group of friends gathered in a fourth-floor apartment in downtown Cairo. They sat on the floor because there were no chairs; there were also no desks, no shelves, and no ashtrays. A sign on the door, written in black marker, read “Office of the Artists Formerly Known as Egypt Independent”. What they had was a name – Mada, which means “span” or “range” in Arabic, had been chosen after much debate and many emails between 24 people – and a plan to set up an independent news outlet. Most of them had not seen each other since their former employer, a newspaper called Egypt Independent, closed two months before.
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Lina Attalah, the venture’s founder and editor-in-chief, called the meeting to order. Designers were rushing to finish the website; a team was drafting a business plan; half a dozen grant applications were pending. “The update is: there’s no money,” she said, to laughter, “but we have a lot of promises. I’m working on the faith that the money will be there.” She signed off on 17 articles to be delivered over the next week. Lina is dark-eyed and fine-boned, with long black hair; she speaks in lengthy and well-wrought sentences that suggest a professor teaching a graduate seminar. Nothing in her demeanour betrayed the pressures she felt. The company had no cash to pay its writers. She was covering the rent and furnishing the office out of her own pocket. This would be, by her count, her seventh news venture; many of the previous ones had folded owing to the hostility of successive governments towards independent-minded journalists (“I have a history of setting up places that close”). Although she was only 30 and didn’t have a husband or children, Lina was accustomed to taking care of other people.
Finding humor in Egypt’s tragedy
▻http://africasacountry.com/2017/05/finding-humor-in-egypts-tragedy
At the height of the Egyptian revolution, Bassem Youssef, a Cairo surgeon, regularly posted satirical YouTube videos, which he shot in a laundry room when he was off duty. When Egypt’s longtime dictator, Hosni Mubarak, was forced to resign, Yousef, buoyed by the new media openness made the leap to late night television. In 2012,…
Egypt-Saudi Arabia Handshake between king and president points to waning tensions | MadaMasr
▻http://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/04/13/feature/politics/handshake-between-king-and-president-points-to-waning-tensions
Some signals suggest a possible de-escalation between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, whose usually tight relations have recently witnessed turbulence.
The Jordan Arab Summit, held on March 29, saw the leaders of both countries, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and King Salman bin Abdulaziz, meet and shake hands, while their respective ministers of foreign affairs agreed to set up a “committee for political follow-up.”
Meanwhile, earlier in February, King Salman visited the Egyptian wing at the Jenaderiyah cultural festival, in what was interpreted as a gesture of restoring relations.
One of the latest points of contention between the two countries concerns the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which Egypt ceded sovereignty over in April 2016, following an agreement between the two governments. However, the Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court ruled on January 16 against the agreement, declaring the islands Egyptian. The court argued that the Egyptian government failed to submit documents in support of Saudi sovereignty.
But the legal contest didn’t stop here. On April 2, a court of urgent matters annulled the supreme court’s ruling. Parliament took a decisive step forward on April 10, one day after Coptic Christian churches in Alexandria and Tanta were bombed in attacks claimed by the Province of Sinai. In its first session after the bombings, Parliament referred the case to its legislative and constitutional affairs committee, where it will undergo a preliminary vote before a final vote takes place in the general assembly. It is a development aligned with what officials have said in closed quarters for some time.
“Saudi Arabia has reassurances from Cairo that it will receive the two islands in any case. But it also blames Cairo for managing this issue poorly,” says an Egyptian official working at the General Secretariat of the Arab League, who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity.
Egypt Zamalek FC’s hardcore fans: The journey of the Ultras White Knights | MadaMasr
►http://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/03/22/panorama/u/zamalek-fcs-hardcore-fans-the-journey-of-the-ultras-white-knights
It has been 10 years since the Ultras White Knights (UWK), an association of hardcore fans of Zamalek Football Club, was founded. Though they are of varying ages and come from different social classes and education, they are united in their unwavering support for their team.
The UWK have remained committed, despite the team’s financial and administrative problems over the last decade, proving their loyalty to the white-flagged club time and time again, even in defeat.
They have been determined to attend matches in large numbers and well-organized formations, even at training sessions. This support is summed up in their renowned slogan, “We will remain loyal.”
The bond that binds them runs deeper than a love for football. The UWK are also known for the role they played in Egypt’s January 2011 revolution, when they were a key part of confrontations with police, marches and sit-ins, with their well rehearsed chants and songs. Their participation on the front lines of clashes with security forces on the Friday of Rage (January 28, 2011) and in the battle of Mohamed Mahmoud (November 2011) is particularly remembered.
Since then, there has been a level of mutual hostility between the ultras and Egypt’s security forces. This has been exacerbated by several events, including the deaths of 72 Ultras Ahlawy, fans of Ahly Football Club, in the northern Suez canal city of Port Said on February 1, 2012, during a deadly stadium riot that many say was prolonged or even sparked by security forces, and resulted in the suspension of football matches or matches with no spectators.
After matches resumed and fans were permitted to attend games again, another bloody incident took place at Cairo’s Air Force Defense Stadium on February 8, 2015, when 20 Zamalek Football Club fans were killed. Security officials accused the UWK of being responsible for these deaths and arrested several members.
In fact, over the past six years, security forces have imprisoned around 250 ultras, and in May 2015, ultras organizations were banned by the state.
Egyptian media has also portrayed ultras associations in a negative light, disseminating false information on them and capitalizing on their insistence to not give media interviews.
“Ultra” in Latin means over and above, and members describe themselves as being “brothers in blood.”
The ultras commemorate members who have been imprisoned or killed over the years, immortalizing them in pictures, chants and songs. The UWK have released three albums of these songs to commemorate their martyrs: “Zamalek is the Life,” “Voice of the Knights” and “February 8.”
Egypt-Fatah tensions come to a head at Cairo airport
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/egypt-deny-entry-palestinian-fatah-official-abbas-dahlan.html
A Palestinian politician in Gaza and a close associate of Dahlan told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Egypt was very offended by Rajoub’s recent meetings with Fatah leaders in the West Bank. He even attacked Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. This angered many Egyptian officials who were offended. The deportation was a prelude to completely eliminate his chances of becoming head of the PA, as Egyptians can now veto Rajoub’s plan to become Abbas’ successor.”
Egypt does not hide its desire to play a key role in choosing Abbas’ successor. This was made clear in August 2016, when Egypt made the first move toward achieving reconciliation between Dahlan and Abbas, but the latter continues to reject and exclude Dahlan from any opportunity to succeed him, thus angering Egypt.
Rajoub’s deportation from Egypt reverberated in Israel. Writing in Haaretz on March 6, author Jack Khoury said Rajoub’s deportation was due to Sisi’s anger toward Abbas for rejecting Sisi’s initiative, announced in May 2016, to hold a regional conference in Cairo with the participation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside Arab leaders.
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/egypt-deny-entry-palestinian-fatah-official-abbas-dahlan.html#ixzz4bI7gu
Disagreement between Egypt, Palestine over proposed amendment to Arab Peace Initiative | MadaMasr
▻http://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/03/09/feature/politics/disagreement-between-egypt-palestine-over-proposed-amendment-to-arab-peace
Disagreement seems to be brewing within the Arab League this week between the delegates of Egypt and Palestine in light of a proposed amendment to the wording of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative (also known as the Saudi Initiative) pertaining to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and other territories.
While there have been denials regarding any official disagreement on the Arab League’s 15 year-old resolution, sources have confirmed that Egypt’s proposed amendments this week were rejected by the Palestinian delegation. These sources claimed that the Egyptian delegation aimed to open a debate to further develop the Arab Peace Initiative, a proposal which was supported by the Secretary-General of the League and Egypt’s former foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit.
In his comments to reporters at the conclusion of the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo on Tuesday, Aboul Gheit spoke of the need to consider “new ideas with which to resolve the crises in the region.” However, the meeting’s closing statement mentioned the adherence of state-parties to the Arab Peace Initiative without amendments to it.
With Lebanon no longer hiding Hezbollah’s role, next war must hit civilians where it hurts, Israeli minister says
▻http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.776419
présenté comme d’habitude, et pour la énième fois, par le propagandiste Amos Harel,
Lebanese President Michel Aoun paid an official visit to Cairo a month ago, ahead of which he gave a number of interviews to the Egyptian media. Aoun was only elected president after a long power struggle in which Iran and Hezbollah finally held sway, and he spoke about the fact that the Shi’ite organization continues to be the only Lebanese militia that refuses outright to disarm.
Hezbollah is a significant part of the Lebanese people, Aoun explained. “As long as Israel occupies land and covets the natural resources of Lebanon, and as long as the Lebanese military lacks the power to stand up to Israel, [Hezbollah’s] arms are essential, in that they complement the actions of the army and do not contradict them,” he said, adding, “They are a major part of Lebanon’s defense.”
Brig. Gen. Assaf Orion from the Institute for National Security Studies wrote recently that Aoun’s comments were a “lifting of the official veil and tearing off of the mask of the well-known Lebanese reality – which widely accepted Western diplomacy tends to blur. The Lebanese president abolishes the forced distinction between the ostensibly sovereign state and Hezbollah. Thus, the Lebanese president takes official responsibility for any actions by Hezbollah, including against Israel.”
Aoun’s declaration also tallies with the facts on the ground. At a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee this past week, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the Lebanese army is now “a subsidiary unit of Hezbollah.”
What does that mean with regard to an Israeli response against Hezbollah in case another war breaks out on the northern front? This column recently discussed the basic difficulty that faces the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon: limited ability to deal with the threat of high-trajectory rockets directed against both the Israeli civilian population and the strategic infrastructure on the rear front. On the southern front, even though the air force lacks a proper offensive response to rockets, the missile intercept systems – chiefly the Iron Dome batteries – are enough to thwart most of the launches.
In the north, with Hezbollah able to launch more than 1,000 rockets into Israel on a single day of fighting, the offensive solution seems partial and the defensive solution limited.
The state comptroller’s report on the 2014 war in Gaza disappeared from the headlines within a few days, but the difficulties facing Israel in future conflicts in Gaza – and even more so in Lebanon – remain.
At this point, it’s interesting to listen to security cabinet member Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi), whose opinions the state comptroller accepted with regard to disagreements with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Hamas attack tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
While in the political realm Bennett seems determined to create unilateral facts on the ground (i.e., settlements in the territories) even at the risk of a potential face-off with the Europeans and embarrassing the Trump administration, it seems his positions on military issues are more complex. More than once he has shown healthy skepticism over positions taken by top defense officials, and he refuses to accept their insights as indisputable conclusions.
Hunting rocket launchers during a war is almost impossible, Bennett told Haaretz this week, adding that he says this “as someone who specialized in hunting rocket launchers.”
During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, when he served as a reserve officer, Bennett commanded an elite unit sent deep into southern Lebanon to find Hezbollah’s rocket-launching squads.
“When we worked in a particular area, we did reduce the teams of rocket launchers there – but they simply moved a little farther north,” Bennett related. Since then, he said, 11 years have passed and Hezbollah has learned to deploy in a more sophisticated manner. “They moved their launchers from the nature reserves, outposts in open areas, to dense urban areas [ reconnaissance éhontée d’un mensonge passé et nouveau mensonge tout aussi éhonté ]. You can’t fight rockets with tweezers. If you can’t reach the house where the launcher is, you’re not effective, and the number of houses you have to get through is enormous,” he explained.
“After I was released from reserve duty, I read all of the books you wrote about the war,” Bennett told me. “I understood in retrospect that the fundamental event of the war took place on its first day, in a phone call between [former Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert and Condoleezza Rice.” President George W. Bush’s secretary of state had asked the prime minister not to hit Lebanon’s infrastructure, and was given a positive response. As a result, “there was no way that Israel could win the war,” Bennett said.
“Lebanon presented itself as a country that wants quiet, that has no influence over Hezbollah,” he continued. “Today, Hezbollah is embedded in sovereign Lebanon. It is part of the government and, according to the president, also part of its security forces. The organization has lost its ability to disguise itself as a rogue group.”
Bennett believes this should be Israel’s official stance. “The Lebanese institutions, its infrastructure, airport, power stations, traffic junctions, Lebanese Army bases – they should all be legitimate targets if a war breaks out. That’s what we should already be saying to them and the world now. If Hezbollah fires missiles at the Israeli home front, this will mean sending Lebanon back to the Middle Ages,” he said. “Life in Lebanon today is not bad – certainly compared to what’s going on in Syria. Lebanon’s civilians, including the Shi’ite population, will understand that this is what lies in store for them if Hezbollah is entangling them for its own reasons, or even at the behest of Iran.”
At the same time, he notes that this is not necessarily the plan for a future war, but instead an attempt to avoid one: “If we declare and market this message aggressively enough now, we might be able to prevent the next war. After all, we have no intention of attacking Lebanon.”
According to Bennett, if war breaks out anyway, a massive attack on the civilian infrastructure – along with additional air and ground action by the IDF – will speed up international intervention and shorten the campaign. “That will lead them to stop it quickly – and we have an interest in the war being as short as possible,” he said. “I haven’t said these things publicly up until now. But it’s important that we convey the message and prepare to deal with the legal and diplomatic aspects. That is the best way to avoid a war.”
Bennett’s approach is not entirely new. In 2008, the head of the IDF Northern Command (and today IDF chief of staff), Gadi Eisenkot, presented the “Dahiya doctrine.” He spoke of massive damage to buildings in areas identified with Hezbollah – as was done on a smaller scale in Beirut’s Shi’ite Dahiya quarter during the 2006 war – as a means of deterring the organization and shortening the war.
That same year, Maj. Gen. (res.) Giora Eiland proposed striking at Lebanon’s state infrastructure. To this day, though, the approach has not been adopted as Israeli policy, open or covert. Bennett’s declaration reflects an attempt by a key member of the security cabinet (albeit Netanyahu’s declared political rival) to turn it into such policy.
The fact that Israel only tied with Hamas in Gaza in 2014 only convinced Bennett that he is right. There, too, Hamas finally agreed to a cease-fire after 50 days of fighting only after the Israel Air Force systematically destroyed the high-rise apartment buildings where senior Hamas officials lived.
#Liban #Israel #Israel #crimes #criminels #victimes_civiles #impunité #Eiland
MEDU - MAPPA INTERATTIVA
►http://esodi.mediciperidirittiumani.org
Je ne connaissais pas (aussi ce lien : ▻http://www.mediciperidirittiumani.org/en)
cc @cdb_77
EXODI is an interactive web map built upon testimonies of 1,000 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa that were collected in nearly three years of activity (2014-2016) by the operators and volunteers of Medici per i Diritti Umani/Doctors for Human Rights (MEDU).They are part of those 730 thousand men, women and children landed on Italian shores in the last 15 years, of which more than half in the last 32 months. The map describes in the simplest and detailed way the Migratory Routes from Sub-Saharan Countries to Italy, the difficulties, the violence, the tragedy and hopes encountered during the trip by the protagonists. This map is addressed to all those who want to understand and deepen the human experience marking our time. In this sense, EXODI is not only a map showing the stages and paths, as well as a report with data and statistics, but above all, a testimony that describes life stories. It is an interactive and in progress web map that will be periodically updated with new testimonies gathered from all those who will share the story of their own journey. The information was collected in Sicily (in the Centres of Special Reception for Asylum Seekers/CAS of Ragusa and in the Reception Centre for Asylum Seekers/CARA of Mineo) and in Rome (in informal reception centres and at Medu Psychè Centre for rehabilitation of victims of torture). Testimonials were also collected in Ventimiglia and Egypt, specifically in Aswan and Cairo. In all these places Medu’s work guarantees social and health support to migrants, first medical assistance as well as medical and psychological rehabilitation services for victims of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. Through updated data EXODI aims also to describe the physical and mental consequences of the journey on the health of an entire generation of young Africans; a journey in which, as a witness said, “you are no longer considered as a human being”.
#cartographie #visualisation #cartographie_interactive #cartographie_participative
Tu as vu qu’il y a aussi des #croquis / #dessins dans certaines étapes, comme ici ?
Tu as vu qu’avec la carte il y a aussi un #rapport?
The interactive web map is built upon the testimonies of 1.000 migrants coming from Eritrea, Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Sudan and other Sub-Saharan Countries.Five major routes departing from West Africa or the Horn of Africa and leading to Europe through Algeria, Libya and Egypt are described. Concerning the push factors to migration, less than one migrant out of ten reported having left the country of origin for economic reasons. Regardless of their motivations, all migrants face dramatic conditions in crossing the desert and the Mediterranean sea. Nine out of ten witnesses were victims of intentional violence, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment in the country of origin and/or along the migration route. The psychological consequences of these extreme traumas are often more insidious and debilitating than physical injuries. Indeed it can be considered as a “hidden epidemic” that needs to be addressed by countries of asylum.
Lavrov calls for Syria’s return to Arab League | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR
▻https://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2017/Feb-01/391854-lavrov-calls-for-syrias-return-to-arab-league.ashx
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Syria’s return to the Arab League would allow the organisation to play a role in finding a political solution to the country’s conflict.
“The League could play a more important, more effective role if the Syrian government was part of the organisation,” Lavrov, whose country is a key ally of the Damascus regime and also a broker in peace efforts, told a press conference in the Emirati capital.
He said Syria was a “legitimate” member of the United Nations and yet “can not take part in discussions inside the Arab League”.
“This does not help our joint (peace) efforts,” said Lavrov.
But Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who was also at the press conference, ruled out an early return of Syria to the Cairo-based organisation.
Egypt’s policy in Libya: A Government of National Accord by other means | MadaMasr
▻http://www.madamasr.com/en/2017/01/26/feature/politics/egypts-policy-in-libya-a-government-of-national-accord-by-other-means
As various parties return to discussion of political agreements and reconciliation, it might seem as though time stood still in Libya since the end of 2015. A little over a year has passed since the United Nations-sponsored Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) was signed in Skhirat, Morocco. Rather than stemming division, however, implementation of the deal has been held back by the factions it was designed to tame. Thus, talks have begun anew, and, this time around, Egyptian and Algerian representatives find themselves in prominent assisting roles.
Egypt has maintained an influential position in the conflict, between the most recent talks and the signing of the LPA, wagering political and speculated military support on several forces that have eroded the legitimacy of the Government of National Accord (GNA), the unity government that was produced by the December 2015 deal and is internationally recognized despite failing to be endorsed by the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk. In the last month, however, Egyptian authorities have seemingly marshaled a new policy that opens the door to dialogue with both Libyan governments. Libyan parties also say Egypt is preparing to host a direct meeting between the Tobruk HoR and Tripoli General National Congress (GNC) for the first time in over a year.
Egypt has also recently expended efforts to draw in regional players. Ministers from countries neighboring Libya gathered for a meeting in Cairo, which was also attended by UN envoy to Libya Martin Kobler, and issued a communique on January 21 that emphasizes the importance of their vision to resolve the conflict. Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry traveled to Tunisia on January 24 to discuss the conflict with Tunisian president Beji Caid Essebsi.
#afro-futurisme et #avant-garde des musiques noires #4
▻http://www.radiopanik.org/emissions/historias-minimas/afro-futurisme-et-avant-garde-des-musiques-noires-4
01 - Astral Traveling – Pharoah Sanders
02 - All is well - Ras G & The african Space Program
03 - Ramadan In space time – Sallah Ragab & El Cairo Jazz Band
04 - Bamako – Roswell Dudd & Toumani Diabaté
05 - How we be - Sinkane
06 - Six Space Shuttles And 144000 elephants – Lonnie Holley
07 – Diaspora – Youngblood Brass Band
08 - Me and my friends – Droplet
09 -This is land - Sharon Jones & the dap kings
10 - Let’s Start – Fela Kuti & Ginger Baker
11 - Let me down easy - Betty Lavette
12 - Imarhan – Imarhan (Moscoman Remix)
13 – In the Now instrumental - Olivier St Louis (produced by Oddisee)
14 - Identify With Your Root (Which One You De) – Odion (...)
#dub #world_music #exploration_sonore #hip-hop #historique #african_music #black_music
▻http://www.radiopanik.org/media/sounds/historias-minimas/afro-futurisme-et-avant-garde-des-musiques-noires-4_03164__1.mp3
Le CILAS, le premier Liberal Arts College égyptien.
▻http://www.sciencespo.fr/actualites/actualit%C3%A9s/mes-mentors-m%E2%80%99ont-dit-%E2%80%9Csois-courageux-lance-toi-%E2%80%9D/2406
Karim Goessinger est de nationalité égyptienne et autrichienne. En 2011, il assiste à la révolution égyptienne depuis Paris où il étudie en master à Sciences Po. Spectateur d’événements qui ont transformé pour toujours les mentalités égyptiennes, il rentre au Caire à la fin de son Master et crée CILAS, le premier Liberal Arts College égyptien.
Comment vous est venue l’idée de créer un Liberal Arts College au Caire ?
En 2011, quand il y a eu la révolution en Égypte, ça a créé un espace incroyable ! Les jeunes parlaient de changement social et j’observais à distance - car j’étais à l’époque en Master à Paris - que les jeunes égyptiens commençaient à discuter de la pensée de Marx, à parler des théories de justice, etc. Cet élan révolutionnaire a duré quelques mois, mais sans cadre pour se développer, il ne pouvait pas perdurer. C’est pourquoi mon idée a été de créer un cadre pour que cet élan révolutionnaire, cette pensée critique naissante puisse grandir. Tous ces jeunes révolutionnaires n’avaient pas de fondamentaux théoriques, mais j’ai trouvé chez eux une grande sensibilité, et de bonnes intuitions pour des projets innovants. Par exemple, ils ont créé des espaces de coworking pour pouvoir se rassembler facilement et continuer à débattre. Lors des réunions dans les espaces de coworking, ils avaient envie d’étudier les grands textes, mais comment aborder ces textes souvent ardus sans méthodologie ? En Égypte, la qualité de l’enseignement supérieur est mauvaise et les universités forment seulement aux disciplines techniques, très professionnalisantes. Aujourd’hui, les jeunes ont envie d’autre chose. En observant tout ça, je me suis dit que je pouvais les faire bénéficier des études que j’ai suivies aux Pays-Bas et en France. Mes amis m’ont soutenu, mes mentors m’ont dit “Sois courageux ! Lance-toi !”, et en 2013, j’ai créé CILAS, le Cairo Institute of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Comment se déroule la formation à Cilas, et quelles sont les disciplines enseignées ?
La formation dure un an et s’articule en trois parties. Comme dans tous les Liberal Arts Colleges au monde, on commence par étudier un tronc commun. Les disciplines enseignées sont les humanités, les arts et la culture, les sciences sociales et les sciences naturelles. L’objectif pour les étudiants est d’acquérir des fondamentaux théoriques. Pendant le premier trimestre, les étudiants nous font également part des sujets qui les intéressent et qu’ils aimeraient traiter. En fonction de leurs intérêts, nous créons les cours thématiques du 2e et 3e trimestre.
Egypt While a bad year for civil society, all vow to find ways to continue | MadaMasr
▻http://www.madamasr.com/en/2016/12/26/feature/politics/while-a-bad-year-for-civil-society-all-vow-to-find-ways-to-continue
Between bills, court cases and security measures, civil society groups have been bearing the brunt of state repression. Yet, for many of them, the question is not whether to continue but how
2016 was the first time that Karim-Yassin Goessinger felt paranoid and threatened.
Goessinger set up the Cairo Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2013 with a small personal investment. Three years on, CILAS has grown to become a key learning space that provides a yearlong theoretical, discussion-based and practical educational program in the humanities, arts and culture and natural sciences.
In the past year, CILAS offered courses on elitism, oppression and resistance. But despite the growth, 2016 has seen several hiccups, including authorities refusing to allow a development grant through and limiting the institute’s ability to continue to use the space from which they have operated since being established. The programming was disrupted; some team members left.
Ominously, the year opened with the murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, a commonly seen figure at CILAS. Regeni was found dead on a highway outside of Cairo in February, his body bearing signs of torture. In the course of the investigation, which is still ongoing, it emerged that the PhD student had been under surveillance by Egyptian security services.
Is Abbas turning his back on Egypt?
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/12/palestinian-abbas-egypt-hamas-dahlan-relations.html
President Abbas announced on several occasions his rejection of any interference in Palestinian affairs. In a speech at Fatah’s seventh congress on Nov. 30, Abbas said, “We confirm our categorical rejection of any interference in our internal affairs and preserve our national and independent decision,” thus reaffirming statements he had made in September that "no one can dictate positions or decisions to us.”
“We make and implement our own decisions, and no one can exercise any power over us,” he added.
Abbas’ statements were reportedly aimed at Egypt, given the latter’s close relationship with Dahlan. This prompted the Egyptian Youm7 newspaper to fiercely attack Abbas in September and even accuse him of “political dementia and dancing on the bodies of Palestinians.”
In light of the dispute between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Egypt, Cairo seemed more open to Hamas and the Dahlan bloc, allowing Dahlan’s supporters to hold meetings on Egyptian territory. This support can also be seen in Egypt’s more frequent openings of the Rafah land crossing with Gaza, most recently on Dec. 17 for three days, a week after it was opened Dec. 10. Add to this Cairo’s declaration of humanitarian support to the Gaza Strip.
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/12/palestinian-abbas-egypt-hamas-dahlan-relations.html#ixzz4Ter5mkZG
Who murdered Giulio Regeni? | Alexander Stille | World news | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/04/egypt-murder-giulio-regeni
When six senior Italian detectives arrived in Cairo in early February, following the discovery of the brutally battered body of 28-year-old Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni, they faced long odds of solving the mystery of his disappearance and death. Egyptian officials had told reporters that Regeni had probably been hit by a car, but clear signs of torture on his body had raised an alarm in Rome.
The Egyptian authorities guaranteed “full cooperation”, but this was quickly revealed to be a hollow promise. The Italians were allowed to question witnesses – but only for a few minutes, after the Egyptian police had finished their own much longer interrogations, and with the Egyptian police still in the room. The Italians requested the video footage from the metro station where Regeni last used his mobile phone, but the Egyptians allowed several days to elapse, by which time the footage from the day of his disappearance had been taped over. They also refused to share the mobile phone records from the area around Regeni’s home, where he disappeared on 25 January, and the site where his body was found nine days later.
Enquête. Qui a tué Giulio Regeni ?
Le 3 février 2016, le corps supplicié du jeune chercheur Giulio Regeni était retrouvé en banlieue du Caire. Pour expliquer sa mort, qui a suscité une vive émotion en Italie, les autorités égyptiennes ont avancé toutes sortes de théories farfelues – qui sont pourtant faciles à démentir à l’âge du numérique.
Egypt Passes Law to Curb Trafficking of Migrants Bound for Europe
CAIRO — Egypt passed legislation on Monday to crack down on people traffickers linked to a major surge in the numbers of migrants departing from the country’s Mediterranean coast on often disastrous sea journeys to Europe.
▻http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2016/10/17/world/africa/17reuters-europe-migrants-egypt.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0
#Egypte #passeurs #asile #migrations #réfugiés #smugglers #trafiquants
The no-shows at Arafat’s funeral - Opinion - Israel News | Haaretz.com
All those who don’t understand why it was so difficult for the Palestinian-Israelis’ political representatives to show their final respects to Shimon Peres, should recall Arafat’s funeral and the ’respect’ shown him by the Israelis.
Shlomo Sand Oct 14, 2016
read more: ▻http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.747364
On November 11, 2004, Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat died under mysterious circumstances. The next day his body was brought to Cairo, where a official state funeral was held. Representatives of 50 countries participated in the event, both admirers and rivals.
Behind his coffin marched Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Syrian President Bashar Assad, King Abdullah of Jordan, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, the presidents of Tunisia and Sudan, the leaders of Sweden, Brazil, Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan, the deputy prime minister of China, the vice presidents of Austria, Bulgaria, Tanzania, Iraq and Afghanistan, the foreign ministers of Great Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, Greece, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia, Canada, Indian and Slovenia, the parliamentary leaders of Italy, Russia, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. It was an official farewell that was less impressive that Shimon Peres’ funeral, but still quite respectable for a president without a country.
The United States, the well known neutral intermediary between Israel and Palestine, sent a low-ranking representative: William Burns, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs. Israel, on the other hand, gave it the finger.
No Israeli representative, either high- or low-ranking, or even very low-ranking, attended. None of the leaders of the opposition dreamed of showing his final respects to the leader of the Palestinian people, the first who recognized the State of Israel, and signed the Oslo Accords. Not Shimon Peres, not Ehud Barak, not Shlomo Ben-Ami and not even Uzi Baram bothered to participate in the Palestinians’ mourning.
Some of them had courageously shaken his hand in the past, other had embraced him enthusiastically several years earlier. But with the outbreak of the second intifada he was once again categorized as a satanic terrorist. The pundits of the sane, moderate left repeatedly claimed in innumerable learned articles that he was not a partner and there was nobody to talk to. When the body of the rais was transferred to Ramallah, the funeral was attended by several “extremist,” marginal Israelis, the likes of Uri Avnery and Mohammed Barakeh.
All the other peaceniks had to wait for the screening of the film “The Gatekeepers” in 2012; in other words, for the videos of all the chiefs of the Shin Bet security services, who declared that in real time they knew that Arafat did not encourage, organize or initiate the mass uprising in the second intifada, nor the acts of terror that accompanied it. For lack of choice the leader was forced to join the wave, otherwise he would have lost his prestige and his status. The disappointment at Barak’s unprepared and totally bizarre diplomatic step, and Ariel Sharon’s ascent to the Temple Mount, were among the main reasons for the eruption of the Palestinians’ unbridled opposition.
Will Abbas reconcile with Hamas over Dahlan?
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/10/palestinian-abbas-arab-pressure-dahlan-hamas-reconciliation.html
Abbas has said he is willing to resume reconciliation talks with Hamas that Qatar has been hosting since 2012. In July 2013, Egypt suspended the reconciliation talks it had held since June 2008 due to the tense relations between Hamas and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime, after Cairo accused Hamas of meddling in Egyptian affairs.
Tensions rose between Abbas and the Arab Quartet — which includes Egypt, Jordan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia — against the backdrop of the reconciliation efforts with Dahlan following statements by Abbas and PA leaders like Ahmed Majdalani and Azzam al-Ahmad, who asked the Arab Quartet states not to interfere in internal Palestinian affairs on Sept. 4.
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/10/palestinian-abbas-arab-pressure-dahlan-hamas-reconciliation.html#ixzz4MD
Migrants lured by sex into Egypt’s backstreet kidney trade, says report | Reuters
▻http://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-migrants-organs-idUSKCN1181MP
On vit une époque formidable... (via The Arabist).
Brokers in Egypt’s underground trade in human body parts use prostitutes to tempt migrants to sell their kidneys as hospitals turn a blind eye to illicit dealing in donated organs for transplants, a report says.
Undocumented African migrants arriving in Cairo, desperate for cash, told the British Journal of Criminology that sex workers were offered as a “sweetener” before or after removal of their organs.
“(One pimp) used the services of sex workers as leverage when negotiating fees with both sellers and buyers,” the report said. “A night with a sex worker was offered as an extra inducement to sell.”
Organ purchase is banned in Egypt, though the country is a common destination for transplant tourism, along with India, Pakistan and Russia, according to separate research by Erasmus MC University Hospital Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
In April, images published on social media showed the badly scarred bodies of Somali migrants on an Egyptian beach, suggesting they had had organs removed.
In July, a British newspaper reported that African migrants were being killed for their organs in Egypt - a common transit country for migrants - if they could not afford to pay off their people smugglers.
“The Egyptians come equipped to remove the organ and transport it in insulated bags,” people smuggler Nouredin Atta was quoted by Britain’s Times newspaper as telling investigators after his arrest.
The picture of organ trading in Egypt extends beyond the criminal underworld, with mainstream hospitals conducting transplants using kidneys procured through backstreet deals, according to Sean Columb, the report’s author.
Columb, a law lecturer at Liverpool University in Britain, spent weeks in the Egyptian capital interviewing brokers and donors, mostly from Sudan.
Nobody from Egypt’s Health Ministry was immediately available to comment on his findings.
While the buying of kidneys is banned in Egypt, it is not illegal to pay for a transplant procedure, Columb’s report said, with some recipients paying up to $100,000 for a new organ.
Little data is available on the amount donors receive in Cairo, but one of the 13 sellers Columb spoke to said he was paid 40,000 Egyptian pounds ($4,500) for his kidney.
Deals were usually struck in a public place, such as a cafe, in the company of a broker and representative of a registered transplant laboratory, the report said.
Egypt, at a crossroads between the Middle East, north Africa and the Mediterranean, has become a major transit hub for thousands of migrants and refugees seeking to enter Europe.
Around one in 10 - or some 10,000 - migrants and refugees arriving in Italy from the north African coast have sailed from Egypt since the start of the year, the International Organisation for Migration said, with the remainder traveling from Libya.
Hamas accuses Abbas of blocking local elections to protect Fatah
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/09/palestinian-local-elections-suspension-hamas-fatah.html
There may not be a single reason behind the postponement of the local elections. Various motivations include the appeals against Fatah lists in some areas, especially in Gaza, which would have increased Hamas’ chances of winning the elections. Also, Fatah, which is plagued by internal division, may not have been encouraged to participate in the elections in light of Egyptian, Jordanian and Israeli pressure on Abbas to suspend them for fear of Hamas’ winning.
A former Palestinian minister well informed on the preparations of the local elections told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Many Arab countries, namely Egypt and Jordan, have been pressuring Abbas to postpone the local elections and maybe to cancel them, if necessary. This is because their security reports confirm Hamas’ high chances of achieving an overwhelming victory. Cairo and Amman share a long border with the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and they do not want Hamas to have any political presence near them, should it win the elections.”
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/09/palestinian-local-elections-suspension-hamas-fatah.html#ixzz4KKvohffE
Giulio Regeni murder in Egypt
Cambridge graduate had mysterious ’letters’ carved into his body by torturers in Egypt, post-mortem reveals
▻http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/08/cambridge-graduate-had-mysterious-letters-carved-into-his-body-b
Nick Squires, rome
8 SEPTEMBER 2016 • 4:17PM
A Cambridge University graduate who was murdered in Egypt had mysterious letters carved into his corpse during several days of torture, a post-mortem examination has revealed.
Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian who was studying for a PhD at Girton College, disappeared in Cairo in January, on the fifth anniversary of the Tahrir Square demonstrations which led to the downfall of president Hosni Mubarak.
He was researching the activities of anti-government trade unions. His horrifically tortured body was found dumped in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital a week later.
A post-mortem by the Italian authorities has found that not only was he sadistically beaten over a period of several days, his torturers used knives to carve what appeared to be four or five letters into his skin.
A letter resembling an X was cut into his left hand, while other markings were carved into his back, above his right eye and on his forehead. “They used him like a blackboard,” his mother, Paola, said.
The macabre details emerged from a 220-page post-mortem report conducted by two Italian coroners, Professors Vittorio Fineschi and Marcello Chiarotti.
Is Fatah reconciliation underway ahead of local elections?
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/09/fatah-reconciliation-abbas-dahlan-local-elections.html
It seems difficult to talk about efforts for internal Fatah reconciliation without discussing the Palestinian preparations for the local elections to be held Oct. 8, in light of Hamas’ high competitiveness and Fatah’s and Israel’s concerns about an expected victory for Hamas. These concerns are justified by the ongoing internal division within Fatah, which prompted the Fatah movement to seek reconciliation between Abbas and Dahlan to unify the movement’s ranks and guarantee a win in the upcoming local elections.
A Palestinian minister told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “The last meeting held by Fatah’s Central Committee on Aug. 30 addressed the Egyptian and Arab efforts for reconciliation between Abbas and Dahlan. The meeting even discussed possible scenarios, which included Dahlan’s apologizing to Abbas for accusing him of financial corruption on several occasions. Some Fatah leaders are expected to visit Cairo in early September to discuss the terms of reconciliation, while Fatah’s leadership has agreed in principle on the return of certain members close to Dahlan who were dismissed in recent years. If the efforts succeed, Dahlan will arrive in Ramallah in a few weeks, but maybe not before the election take place on Oct. 8.”
For its part, Hamas did not issue an official statement and did not comment on the Arab and Egyptian efforts to achieve reconciliation within Fatah. Hamas may be aware that reconciliation may strengthen Fatah and give it a lifeline to win in the upcoming local elections.
Ahmed Youssef, former Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former political adviser to deputy head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, told Al-Monitor, “Hamas sees in any internal Palestinian reconciliation a national goal that must be encouraged and supported. Division among Palestinians only serves Israel, and any Arab step aiming at reconciliation within Fatah pleases us. We hope that this reconciliation would be followed by steps toward strengthening our project and national goals.”
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/09/fatah-reconciliation-abbas-dahlan-local-elections.html#ixzz4JJbv9kE5
#CometWatch – late August round-up
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/08/26/cometwatch-late-august-round-up
This week’s CometWatch entry was taken with #Rosetta's #navcam on 17 August 2016, when the spacecraft was 13.9 km from the nucleus of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This close-up view shows a portion of the #Imhotep region, on the large #comet lobe. The top part of the image portrays the flat, smooth-covered portion of Imhotep, scattered with a variety of boulders of different sizes. Towards the top right is a cluster of three large boulders, including the 45-m sized Cheops, named after the Great Pyramid at Giza near Cairo in Egypt. Around the comet’s perihelion, #rosetta observed many spectacular changes on this portion of Imhotep (see blog post ’Comet surface changes before Rosetta’s eyes’). To have an idea of the surface changes, you can compare the new CometWatch with a number of (...)