U.S. President Donald Trump called Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on November 4 to express support for ongoing negotiations regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Al-Sisi then praised Trump on social media, calling him a “man with unique power to confront crises.”
The United States is hosting GERD negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan today in Washington, D.C. Talks between the countries hit a impasse last month.
According to The Associated Press, President al-Sisi “thanked Trump for his ‘generous concern’ for helping revive Egypt’s deadlocked dispute with Ethiopia.”
For more on the GERD and how the United States does (or does not) fit into the picture, check out this piece by POMED's Andrew Miller.
Ahmed Tantawi, an opposition member of parliament, said on November 6 that he may be removed from parliament after he was referred to an ethics committee for making comments critical of President al-Sisi. His statement came after approximately 100 lawmakers spoke out against him, saying that criticism of the president "has no place in Egypt."
Tantawi had posted a video criticizing al-Sisi’s constitutional amendments from earlier this year that greatly expand the president’s power. He also criticized economic reforms that have hit the middle class and the poor particularly hard.
His referral to the ethics committee could eventually lead to his removal from parliament.
The Egyptian parliament’s foreign relations committee released a statement accusing “foreign actors”—referring to Amnesty International and the European Union—of targeting Egypt with campaigns to tarnish its human rights record. The committee stated, “Egypt rejects these flawed and politicized campaigns, and also rejects any form of interference in its internal affairs.”
Recently, al-Sisi has faced criticism for his recent “crackdown on dissent,” in which he arrested thousands of Egyptians in the largest crackdown under al-Sisi’s presidency. There have been multiple accounts of human rights abuses and torture against those arrested.
Meanwhile, the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR)—which is essentially state-controlled—conducted a visit of a prison in Port Said on October 31. The report mentions tours of the facilities and meetings with various officials but does not offer any substantive insight into the human rights conditions of the prison, of which outside observers have been highly critical.
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November 4 - Egypt’s parliament approved President al-Sisi’s decree to extend the state of emergency for three more months. (AhramOnline)
