Mrs.

Minor, A period

Current Issues in
Egypt
By: Shannon Kehoe
 With a population well over eighty million, Egypt is the sixteenth largest country in the

world [ CITATION CIA10 \l 1033 ]. At first glance, Egypt looks well suited to care for its

population, what with the easy access to water; the Mediterranean Sea on the North, the Red Sea

on the East and the Nile River in middle. Unfortunately, first glances rarely reveal the truth:

Egypt struggles to care for its people and faces much turmoil, both internally and externally. The

country is plagued by disputes and changes with the dictatorial government, a dispute over who

controls the Nile River, and internal religious differences between the Coptic Christians and the

Muslims.

Egypt is currently facing a political quagmire. Their current president Muhammad Hosni

Mubarak has ruled continuously for neigh on thirty years [ CITATION Geo10 \l 1033 ]. He took

control after Anwar Sadat was assassinated on October 14th of 1981. During this time, Mubarak

imposed a state of emergency. A state of emergency, as defined by the Longman Dictionary of

Contemporary English, is “when a government gives itself special powers in order to try to

control an unusually difficult or dangerous situation.” As the president had just been

assassinated, declaring a state of emergency is understandable: people are upset; riots could

break out; worries of another assassination attempt run rampant. What is not understandable is

the fact that Mubarak never ended the state of emergency. The government has had “special

privileges” for almost thirty years. Only recently has Mubarak begun to try and alter his current

label from dictator to democratic leader.

For example, on May 11th, 2010 Telegraph.co.uk reported that the law that “gave police

broad powers of arrest and allows indefinite detention without charge… would be restricted and

only apply to terrorist and drugs cases”. This alteration of the legislation, though a step in the

right direction, is seen as “’farcical’” by many with a watchful eye on Egyptian politics. The
law, they say, can still be used to oppress activists and “opposition parties”. As Mubarak is

currently in poor health and it is unknown if he will run for President again next year, the

decision to lighten the laws may have been made in order to change people’s perception of him

before his time is up, rather than to lessen oppression.

This is where Mohamed ElBaradei enters the picture: he wants to be the next Egyptian

president. Unlike Mubarak, ElBaradei is renowned for his peaceful and democratic decisions.

In 1962 he earned his bachelor’s degree in law from the University of Cairo and in 1974 his

doctorate in International Law from the New York University School of Law [ CITATION Moh05 \l

1033 ]. In 1964 he began working for the Egyptian Diplomatic Service, then left in 1980 to work

for the United Nations. In 2005 he and the International Atomic Energy Agency were, together,

awarded the Nobel peace prize for preventing “’nuclear energy from being used for military

purposes” and making certain that this type of energy is used safely, and peacefully. It is this

history that is causing the grassroots movement that ElBaradei is spearheading in Egypt to

burgeon. The movement seeks to change the Egyptian constitution and “make a genuine shift

toward democracy” [ CITATION Geo10 \l 1033 ]. Both goals are peaceful, and will, if

accomplished, enact genuine change in the country. ElBaradei’s history makes many Egyptians

realize that, with enough support, these goals could be realized.

Egypt’s constitution, as it stands now, forbids an independent running for the Presidency

[ CITATION Egy10 \l 1033 ]. In fact, “only officials of parties that have been licensed and

established for at least five years are eligible”. ElBaradei wants to run as an independent; he

doesn’t want to deal with the pressures and ties needed to run through a party. This conundrum

has not stopped officials in the government from experiencing an elevated level of angst:

ElBaradei’s grassroots movement receives an enormous amount of support. A grassroots

movement, as defined by renewamerica.com and wordwebonline.com, is a movement among

ordinary citizens, most of whom do not hold a political office, which seeks to significantly

impact an issue.

ElBaradei says he will not “flirt with Democracy” and it is this resolve that makes him so

popular, and therefore such an enormously powerful instrument of change in Egypt [ CITATION

Egy10 \l 1033 ]. He has the potential to topple the current regime and bring reason back into the

Egyptian equation, for as it stands now, with Mubarak in office, Egypt is entirely unreasonable.

The Nile River is a perfect paradigm of Egypt’s unreasonableness. Currently, the ten

nations of Nile basin dispute the allocation of the Nile’s waters. Egypt and the Sudan claim the

majority of the water, utilizing 90% of the Nile’s annual flow [ CITATION Eas10 \l 1033 ]. This

leaves a mere 10% for the other eight countries to squabble about. This unfair allocation of

water stems from an agreement made in 1929, an agreement heavily influenced by the British,

who were still a colonial power in Africa [ CITATION Kef10 \l 1033 ]. At that time, Ethiopia was

the only truly independent Nile Basin country, but was too weak to resist the treaty. Later, in

1959, the Sudan was stronger, so it could, and did, make more demands for water on Egypt.

Egypt was, at that time, willing to share. In both treaties, Egypt retained the right to veto any

project that might diminish its share of water from the Nile.

Now, however, times have changed. Each of the ten Nile basin countries are

independent, and each depends on the Nile to provide for their country. Egypt, which has so

long enjoyed a practical monopoly on the region’s water, is even more unwilling than ever to

relinquish its claim as it depends on the Nile for 95% of its water in order to feed its enormous

population [ CITATION Mik10 \l 1033 ], the 16th largest in the world [ CITATION CIA10 \l 1033 ].
Paying to construct more irrigation, transport vast quantities of water, or even distil the sea

water, would cost too much money, negatively impacting its entire economy.

On the other hand, Ethiopia contains the 14th largest population in the world, even larger

than Egypt’s, and has access to a mere fraction of the amount of water that Egypt does. This

would explain why Ethiopia seems to be spearheading a new movement. It and many of the

other Nile basin countries have broken with the Sudan and Egypt and have formed their own

treaty, which removes Egypt’s veto power. Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania

have signed the treaty while Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi and Eritrea are still

undecided [ CITATION Mik10 \l 1033 ]. Egypt has warned that any attempt to diminish their water

supply will be considered an act of war. However, with China being such a large investor in

Africa (they have already helped Ethiopia construct a hydroelectric dam), it would be dangerous

for Egypt to carry out its threat as China may retaliate, militarily or economically.

To solve this impending crisis, I think that Muhammad Mubarak needs to be removed

from office and ElBaradei instituted in his place. As has already been elucidated, ElBaradei is

experienced at preserving peace and preventing war. His extensive service in the UN would also

make the UN more willing to help formulate a new treaty that will satisfy the eight, under

watered nations without completely depleting the water sources of Egypt and the Sudan. The

UN would also ensure that reallocation of water is enacted at a reasonable pace so that the under

watered nations may begin to grow and develop without destroying Egypt or the Sudan;

becoming less dependent on the Nile and finding other sources of water will take time, especially

when one considers the fact that Egypt is 95% desert [ CITATION Eth05 \l 1033 ]. If ElBaradei’s

support is any indication of the voter turnout in the election, this solution is a definite possibility,

a probability even.
 Lastly, Egypt is also plagued by religious tensions between the Muslims and the Coptic

Christians. Egypt’s population is about 90 % Muslim and 9% Coptic Christian, while the

remaining 1% of the populace belongs to a variety of other religious denominations. The Coptic

Christians are a completely different sect of Christianity; they follow their own Pope, who has

traditionally resided in Alexandria [ CITATION Egy101 \l 1033 ]. The major difference between the

Coptic Church and the Catholic Church is that the latter believes that Christ had two natures:

one divine, the other human and mortal [ CITATION Who10 \l 1033 ]. The Coptic Church holds that

Christ was “purely divine”; that the idea of Christ having two different natures is demeaning to

Him.

Muslims, on the other hand, are followers of the Islamic religion, which holds that there

is one God, named Allah, and that Jesus, Moses, Abraham, and Muhammad each were prophets

of this God [ CITATION Isl09 \l 1033 ]. Muhammad, however, was the most important of these and

is the prophet that the religion focuses on the most. Conflict between these two religions, Islam

and Christianity, stretches all the way back before the Crusades, which began in 1096 A.D with

Pope Urban II asking for help in the emancipation of Jerusalem [ CITATION Fir10 \l 1033 ].

Recently, the Egyptian government has begun to seriously persecute members of the

Coptic religion. On May 31, 2010, catholicculture.org reported that the Egyptian government

issued a mandate ordering the Coptic Church to allow divorce and remarriage, two things that

violate Coptic doctrine. The Coptic Church is unable to appeal the decision in Egyptian courts

and thus have responded by declaring their refusal to abide by this law. The US considers Egypt

to be an ally of importance in the Middle East. Egypt’s new law blatantly violates the original

reason for the United State’s creation: the separation of Church and State. Though the US will
most likely refrain from intervening in this issue, should it persist they will not be able to ignore

it, and it will significantly impact the series of alliances in the Middle East and Africa.

The Coptic Church was, again, persecuted by the Egyptian government back in April of

2009[ CITATION Who10 \l 1033 ]. In a supposed response to the massive outbreak of swine flu, the

government ordered between 300,000 and 350,000 pigs slaughtered. The vast majority of these

pigs belonged to Coptic Christians, and the slaughter decimated the Coptic economy, inciting

riots. The slaughter of these pigs has been deemed “medically pointless”. A massive slaughter

that is medically pointless and affected only the Copts (Muslim’s don’t eat pork): obviously the

true target was not the pigs that were massacred, it was the Copts.

Religious persecution, political turmoil, and a tumultuous argument for access to, let

alone control of, the Nile have cloaked Egypt in a shroud of confusion and unrest. The disputes

between Muslims and Coptic Christians grow greater in severity with each injustice allowed.

The uncertainty surrounding the Egyptian presidency, whether Mubarak will continue to reign or

if ElBaradei shall claim his perch, sews fear through the people and contributes to the country’s

instability. The quagmire presented by the Nile Basin’s refusal to accept outdated treaties throws

into jeopardy Egypt’s near monopoly of the Nile, a resource of paramount importance. Their

proclamation of what constitutes an act of war only serves to throw gasoline on the fire;

however, electing Muhammad ElBaradei would douse the situation, due to his vast experience in

peace-keeping. Should Egypt’s issues remain unresolved, the country will not retain its current

level of prosperity. Egypt must modernize: out with the old, in with the new.

Works Cited
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world-factbook/geos/eg.html>.
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<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8682387.stm>.

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Egypt 'thirsty for change' says Mohamed ElBaradei . 14 April 2010. 5 June 2010

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8619084.stm>.

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<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4274757.stm>.

First Crusade (1096-1099). 5 June 2010

<http://www.umich.edu/~eng415/timeline/summaries/First_Crusade.htm>.

Islam at a Glance. June 30 2009. 5 June 2010

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/ataglance/glance.shtml>.

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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. 1 June 2010

<http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/state-of-emergency>.

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River Waters: Whose Faults Were They? 5 June 2010

<http://www.ethiopians.com/abay/engin.html>.

Mohammed ElBaradei- biography. 2005. 5 June 2010

<http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2005/elbaradei-bio.html>.
Pflanz, Mike. East African nations to challenge colonial Nile treaty . 4 june 2010. 4 June 2010

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/7804670/East-

African-nations-to-challenge-colonial-Nile-treaty.html>.

Who Are Egypt's Copts and Coptic Christians? 2010. 1 June 2010

<http://middleeast.about.com/od/egypt/f/copts-coptic-christians.htm>.

WordWeb Online. 1 June 2010 <http://www.wordwebonline.com/en/GRASSROOTS>.