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This R&D provides resources on Egypt’s fight against Islamic militants. The Egyptian government has spent the early part of 2015 conducting military strikes on militants on the Sinai peninsula. Militants there have attacked Egyptian military personnel since a coup ousted the Muslim Brotherhood in July 2013. The Egyptian military has also directed strikes against members of the Islamic State in Libya last week after the group released a video showing the beheading of Egyptian Christians.
Analysis: Egypt left to fight alone against Islamist terrorism http://t.co/AGAB5Pz9M7
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) February 23, 2015
#Egypt: MB Turn To Terrorism Against Al-Sisi Regime: Calls For Jihad And For Assassination Of Al-Sisi http://t.co/SgmeEddjz4
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) February 20, 2015
Sisi’s way: “terrorism” becomes “harming national unity” and a green light to crush dissent. http://t.co/eDHPX5kGqZ pic.twitter.com/jVd4TujjOj
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) February 25, 2015
Since 1979, when Egypt was a signatory to the Camp David Accords with Israel, whereby Egypt normalized its relations with Israel in exchange for the Sinai Peninsula, the United States has maintained strong military and diplomatic ties with the Egypt. Today, the United States government provides an estimated $1.5 billion in aid to the Egyptian military. American foreign policy views Egypt as a bulwark against unrest in the Middle East and a constructive player in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. However, that foreign policy view left the United States backing Egyptian strongmen like former President Hosni Mubarak, who ruled the country under a state of emergency for nearly thirty years. The Arab Spring in Egypt in 2011 ousted Mubarak and brought to power the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political organization and religious social organization, which had been declared an illegal organization after it was accused of trying to assassinate Egyptian Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1954. After being unable to stabilize the country politically or economically, protests against the Brotherhood’s rule were launched in June, which culminated in a military coup on July 3rd that installed a provisional government headed by Supreme Constitutional Court Chief Justice Adly Mansour. In light of the military government’s recent crackdown on sit-ins launched by the Brotherhood six weeks ago to pressure the provisional government to step down, which caused the deaths of at least 600 people, the United States and the Egyptian governments are in a tricky situation. Should the U.S. end its military aid to Egypt and risk alienating its governing authorities? How would that affect the geopolitical situation in the Middle East? Also, what is the effect of this unrest on Egyptian society and is there a way for the Egyptian provisional government to put the country on the path towards peace, prosperity, and political reconciliation?