Egypt

INTRODUCTION:

Egypt, an Arab-Muslim country with one of the oldest civilizations in the world, is located in the northeast of Africa. It is bordered to the west by Libya, to the south by Sudan, and to the east by Israel and the Red Sea. Egypt is the most populous of all Arab states, with 995 km of coastline on the Mediterranean and 1,941 km on the Red Sea. It extends over nearly 1,000,000 square kilometers at the northeastern tip of the African continent, and beyond the Suez Canal, on the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt’s importance is not only demographic but also cultural and political. Culturally, because of the influence of the prestigious Al-Azhar University in Cairo and the many talented writers, poets, and composers (such as Nobel Prize-winning author Naguib Mahfouz and director Youssef Chahine). Politically, nothing can be considered on an Arab, Islamic, or Middle Eastern scale without Cairo's contribution. Egypt also plays the role of mediator between the Palestinians on one side and the USA and Israel on the other.

If Egypt occupies a prominent position on the international stage, particularly in the Middle East, what is its internal situation?

EGYPT IS A CENTRALIZED STATE
A strong state exercising permanent control over its entire space and population, Egypt today faces violent opposition from armed Islamist groups. These groups criticize the government's inability to promote the economy to reduce social inequalities and its refusal to set the country on the path of democracy.

I. Economic Resources

The Egyptian economy has important and varied resources, though sometimes unpredictable and not fully exploited. Egypt’s topography includes three natural regions: the Libyan Desert (western desert), the Arabian Desert (eastern desert), with a hot and humid climate where regular rains are unknown (for example, Assiut receives only 2mm of rain per year), and the Nile Valley, which covers only 3.3% of Egyptian territory but is home to the entire population and wealth. This region depends mainly on the Nile River for agriculture. Among the numerous water management systems that optimize water usage for irrigation and energy production, the Aswan Dam has irrigated 350,000 hectares. Agriculture still occupies 40% of the workforce, but it only contributes 20% to the GDP. This imbalance is due to two-thirds of the land being concentrated in the hands of just 6% of landowners.

The government continually seeks to increase agricultural land despite most arable land being concentrated in the narrow Nile Valley. Efforts are made through reclamation projects, irrigation development, mechanization, and fertilizer use. Eighteen thousand hectares are reclaimed annually from the desert, although urbanization consumes 13,000 hectares. However, the Aswan Dam has had negative environmental effects on agricultural lands, which are no longer fertilized by the Nile floods, and the soil is also suffering from rising saltwater levels.

Egypt’s agricultural yields are now among the highest in the world, with 100% of its land irrigated. Egypt is a major producer of wheat, maize, and cotton, which it exports, ranking fourth globally in cotton exports. Additionally, Egypt produces citrus, potatoes, and onions. Despite this diversity and productivity, Egypt is not self-sufficient in food. Livestock is underdeveloped, and the number of animals per capita is three times lower than in France. The fishing industry is growing steadily, with the Nile, Delta lakes, and the Red Sea providing increasing catches, reaching 300,000 tons in 1993, two-thirds of which came from freshwater sources.

Egypt, home to the remnants of ancient civilizations (the Pharaonic civilization), has found another source of revenue in the tourism industry, employing 4 million people and generating $1.7 billion. The government has invested heavily in sophisticated infrastructure, including hotels, marinas, tourist complexes, and highly qualified personnel (4,000 guides). Egypt’s historical and cultural treasures, including its museums and archaeological sites, are priceless. Unfortunately, these assets are occasionally targeted for theft and illicit export to foreign museums.

The tourism sector has faced setbacks, first shaken by the Gulf War and later by terrorist attacks perpetrated by armed Islamist groups. Examples include the massacre of Greek tourists in front of a Cairo hotel in April 1996, the killing of German tourists in front of the Cairo Museum in September 1997, and the murder of around sixty tourists in Luxor in November 1998. Additionally, the September 11, 2001, attacks in the USA and the alleged involvement of Al-Qaeda members worsened the situation. These massacres severely impacted the tourism industry, resulting in a loss of $3 billion and massive unemployment among hotel staff, vacation village workers, and travel agents. Currently, only 5% of tour guides are active. Indirect tourism industries (restaurants, bazaars, taxis, hotel suppliers) also suffered from the crisis, despite the Ministry of Tourism's efforts to promote domestic tourism by encouraging hotels to cut their prices in half and offering discounted transportation.

Other notable resources contributing to Egypt's economic growth include the industrial sector, which accounts for 21% of GDP and employs 19% of the workforce. Since economic liberalization began, industry has diversified significantly. The textile sector, once the largest, has been overtaken by food processing, which contributes 25% of industrial value-added, and by the chemical industry, linked to the exploitation of hydrocarbons and fertilizer production for agriculture. The state still controls 70% of the industry. Most industrial activities are concentrated around Cairo and Alexandria, including the petroleum industry (44.3 million tons of oil, 16th globally) and natural gas (12.4 billion cubic meters, 23rd globally). Uranium is also extracted from deposits near Aswan.

Other major revenue sources include the Suez Canal, which generated $1.9 billion, foreign aid, mainly from the USA, and remittances from Egyptian workers abroad, particularly in wealthy Gulf states.

II. Social and Political Characteristics

Egypt, officially a Muslim-majority country, also has Jewish and Christian minorities, including the Copts, who are authentic descendants of the ancient Egyptians. Most of the Copts are peasants ("fallah"). Egypt suffers from glaring social inequalities and political authoritarianism, which are the main causes of violence and fuel the conflict between the government and armed Islamist groups.

Despite Egypt's vast and diverse economic resources, they seem to benefit only a minority that monopolizes most of the productive sectors, exacerbating the suffering and misery of a disadvantaged majority. While the first category, represented by wealthy real estate entrepreneurs, senior officials, bankers, politicians, and artists, enjoys a peaceful and prosperous life with luxury residences in Cairo's elite neighborhoods (like Zamalek), luxury cars, and travel abroad for tourism, medical care, or business, often at the state’s expense, the majority lives in difficult conditions and suffers from numerous hardships. For instance, the lack or insufficient availability of vital infrastructure such as transport, hospitals, schools, and housing has even forced some families to live in cemeteries.

Politically, the National Democratic Party (NDP) dominates, marginalizing other parties. The only political force that manages to participate in public life is the Islamist movement, operating under the guise of the Labor Party, which has achieved recent successes in professional elections (lawyers, doctors, students). However, the movement is only tolerated and is not allowed to form a political party or even an association.

President Hosni Mubarak, in power since 1981 after the assassination of Anwar Sadat, completed his third uninterrupted term, running unopposed in presidential elections where he won with a percentage typical of many Third World African countries: 99.99% of the vote. He holds multiple roles and vast powers, serving as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, with the authority to declare war and impose martial law. He appoints the Prime Minister and Vice Presidents and holds the right of pardon.

In the local elections of 1997, the NDP won the majority of the 47,382 seats, having presented 47,000 candidates—eight times more than the combined opposition. Notably, 48% of these candidates ran unopposed.

As societal morals in Egypt continue to degrade with the proliferation of drug consumption, prostitution, and growing corruption in high circles (in 1997, thirty-two officials, including four ruling party deputies, were accused of securing loans or facilitating the granting of loans, of which they only repaid one-third, embezzling around $340 million), Islamist movements have become more radical and increasingly active. Following attacks on the Coptic minority, these groups targeted Egypt's economic backbone—tourism—by carrying out deadly attacks on foreign tourists. They also targeted prominent figures in Egypt’s secular society, including the writer Naguib Mahfouz, who was assaulted in 1995. That same year, President Mubarak narrowly escaped an assassination attempt claimed by the Jamaa Islamiya while he was in Ethiopia for an African Union summit.

To counter this surge in violence, the government increased police repression, refusing to distinguish between various Islamist currents. This crackdown mixed together peaceful movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, which denounces attacks on civilians (both citizens and foreigners), with armed factions. As a result, thousands of Islamists were arrested: 34,000 according to Jamaa Islamiya, 4,932 according to Interior Minister Hassan Al-Alfi, and 16,700 according to the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR), with 7,891 arrested for participating in acts of violence. Since 1993, 87 death sentences have been pronounced against Islamists, 54 of which have been executed. The EOHR continues to demand the abolition of military tribunals, which impose harsh and unappealable judgments.

Conclusion:

Egypt, home to one of the oldest human civilizations and rich in historical sites, possesses the third longest river in the world—the Nile. Despite facing economic, social, and political challenges internally, and even after drawing the ire of most Arab countries by signing the 1979 peace accords with Israel, Egypt remains a privileged and indispensable interlocutor on the international stage, especially in the Middle East.