Daily Times

Hisham Barakat, Egypt’s chief government prosecutor, was assassinated in Cairo on June 29. A vehicle laden with high explosives hit the convoy carrying Barakat shortly after he left home. Seven police personnel assigned to his security were seriously wounded. This happened a day before the second anniversary of the removal of Morsi’s government. Three days later, militants in Sinai Peninsula launched a series of attacks on security outposts and killed 70 persons of whom 22 were military personnel. The government suspected Islamic State (IS) had carried out the attack and vowed to retaliate. A few days ago, rockets were fired from Sinai. They landed in southern Israel but caused no casualty. Israel has now deployed additional troops along the border with Sinai. In May, three judges were gunned down in restive Sinai and a group reportedly loyal to IS claimed responsibility. All these suggest that the situation in Egypt is far from normal and the government is not in control.
Security forces launched massive airstrikes on targets in Sinai late last week and claim to have killed 23 militants. President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi has suggested expediting the implementation of the court’s verdicts, i.e. the execution of the Brotherhood’s leaders. Mohammad Morsi and 22 senior leaders of the Brotherhood have been sentenced to death by the court and Barakat, as state prosecutor, had overseen all indictments of criminal cases since 2013.
The insurgency in Sinai has steadily grown during the past two years and the group loyal to IS has established a base there. Local residents claim that the militants are not adopting a ‘hit and run’ tactic anymore. Instead, they are using heavy weapons, mortars and rockets from secured locations in a town 115 miles northeast of Cairo. The US State Department condemned the assassination of Barakat and pledged that it would firmly support the Egyptian government in its fight against terrorism. Recently, the US government lifted the ban on arms supply to Egypt and resumed annual economic assistance to the tune of $ two billion to Cairo.
The present volatile situation in Egypt has not come as a surprise. Morsi came to power in 2012 through a legitimate and acceptable election. He secured about 52 percent of the votes and became the first elected president in the history of modern Egypt. Morsi consolidated his position rather swiftly and took certain actions that alienated his allies who had fought shoulder to shoulder with the Brotherhood in the uprising that overthrew former dictator Hosni Mubarak. They condemned the arbitrary actions of Morsi, including the detention of demonstrators and shutting down a number of electronic channels. The opposition came out onto the streets and demanded Morsi’s resignation. The army took advantage of the split in the democratic camp, removed Morsi and seized power. The military led by General Sisi, on the pretext of restoring law and order, turned against the groups opposed to Morsi and rounded them up as well. Thousands of activists were imprisoned, tried and handed down long sentences. Some of the activists indicted are US nationals and their family members are urging the State Department to secure their release from Egyptian jails.
Egypt has been a close ally of the US for the past four decades. It continues to receive economic and military assistance from the US and the Egyptian army has established a sound working relationship with the Pentagon. Washington was slow to endorse the uprising against President Mubarak but did not hesitate to accord recognition to the Morsi government once it got elected through a credible electoral process. Egypt remains the only country with whom Israel frequently confers in dealing with its archenemy, Hamas. Since the Camp David Accord, Cairo has played a leading role in brokering truce between the Palestinians and Israel. Despite its poor economy, Egypt has assumed the role of a regional power and Washington felt content in according Cairo regional status. Notwithstanding Morsi’s Islamic political agenda, the Obama administration did not welcome the removal of an elected government. It opposed the oxymoronic judicial process under which Morsi and his party colleagues have been indicted and handed down death sentences. Human rights organisations characterised the trials as a travesty of justice. International observers believed Washington could have exerted effective pressure on Sisi’s government to be respectful of human rights and treating political adversaries with dignity.
Washington’s fervent desire to court Cairo in the regional coalition to challenge the threat of IS took precedence over human rights abuses and victimisation of political adversaries. In the process, it positioned Sisi’s government against its people. Insurgency has never been so intense and widespread in Egypt as it is now. IS has not only established secure bases in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, it has made inroads into Libya, Tunisia and now Egypt. Al-Shabab in Somalia and Boko Haram in Nigeria have found a network to draw inspiration from in carrying out their respective agendas. Given this instability threatening the entire region, the persecution of adversaries belonging to political parties will only inspire the youth to turn into radicals. It is surprising that neither Washington nor Cairo has taken the regional quagmire into consideration in recasting bilateral relations.
President el-Sisi should not be emboldened by the support of the US government in fighting terrorism because Washington has been a part of the problem and not a part of the solution in the Middle East. Many of the militant groups have been the corollary, if not the products, of flawed US policy. IS would not have come into existence had Iraq not been invaded 12 years ago. Hamas and Hezbollah would not have survived if the US had firmly brokered a fair peace deal between Israel and Palestine.
Defence experts maintain that insurgency takes a short period to move from infancy to maturity but once it attains striking capability, it becomes a formidable enemy. Even for the most well equipped army, it takes 15-20 years to dismantle an insurgency. President el-Sisi should not lose sight of the reality: he ousted a popularly elected government that still commands the confidence of a large section of the population. Imprisonment, execution and persecution of political adversaries will only make the situation intractable. President el-Sisi should rise up to the occasion and adopt a farsighted political approach in order to rescue the country from the precipice. He should immediately release the political prisoners, stop farcical trials and initiate meaningful dialogue with the political parties, including the Muslim Brotherhood, with a view to formulating a roadmap to the democratic system of governance. Only a democratic, inclusive and secular government committed to good governance can deny IS a foothold in the land of the pyramids.

The writer is a former official of the United Nations