Cabinet shuffle coming soon, says El Sisi
Day two of El Sisi’s interview with state newspapers: Beyond dropping the bomb on the cabinet shuffle, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s sit-down with the editors of state-owned newspapers saw the president announce he is forming a political advisory council on both domestic and foreign affairs.
Egypt has made tremendous strides in combating the ideology of terrorism and the public is more aware on the dangers of fundamentalism, the president said. Egypt’s resolve to combat extremist ideology and the nation’s rejection of religious tolerance were evident in how quickly the public bounced back after the terrorist attacks at the church of St. Peter and St. Paul last month. He also played up successful operations against terror networks by pointing to how little the war on terror has impacted the economy even though this form of warfare is “more arduous” than conventional conflict. “We have adopted a flexible and adaptive strategy which has contributed to reducing the capacity of these networks,” said El Sisi.
As Egypt approaches the sixth anniversary of the 25 January, the president said the days of Egyptians need to understand that there were positives and negatives to the overthrow of the Mubarak regime in 2011. Don’t take political demands from 2011 to the extreme, the president warned. El Sisi took opportunity to criticize the media once again, but said that he had no intention of muzzling it.
On foreign relations, El Sisi downplayed delays in the return of Russian tourists, putting the industry second to Cairo’s strategic relationship with Moscow. Egypt must accept in good faith Russia’s decision to delay the return of tourists, he added. El Sisi said he is optimistic about relations with the US given the incoming Trump administration, suggesting that expanded military aid and cooperation on terrorism would be in the cards.
Our notes on the first part of the president’s interview, which focused primarily on the economy, are here. Finally, we note that the president’s interview studiously avoided mention of Tiran and Sanafir as the questions came before the Higher Administrative Court’s ruling of yesterday.