Egypt has suffered under the continuous State of Emergency Law since 1980 when it was brought in after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. And so the news that Field Marshal Tantawi announced he would “end the state of emergency starting on the morning of January 25, 2012″ sounded as if it was another step
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  As the MPs pledged their loyalty to serve the Egyptian nation in the newly elected Parliament on Monday (23rd January), almost a year to the day since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, political divisions and cracks were already beginning to show. A number of parliamentarians added their own personal flourishes to the scripted oaths,
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On 19th December, ‘Capital Talk’, one of Pakistan’s most watched current affairs programs, aired a special episode on Balochistan, focussing on statements made by Baloch leader Attaullah Mengal that the Pakistan army was committing atrocities in the province. The next day, Hamid Mir, the anchor of the program, received the following message on his Blackberry:
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In light of UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s “Up yours, Delores” last week, how isolated is the UK in Europe? The Guardian newspaper would have us believe that this is literally the end of the world. The UK isn’t a member of the Euro, to which we can thank former PM Gordon Brown, possibly the
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Crisis Project is hearing an increasing number of reports that children and schools are being targeted by the Syrian army and security forces. Our contacts on the ground in Syria report numerous child fatalities in and around local schools. There appears to be no substantial explanation for these attacks, so our assumption must remain that
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   General Field Marshal Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), appeared on state television last night (Tuesday 22nd ) in an attempt to assure the swelling ranks of protesters that the military had no intention of staying in power for longer than necessary. Tantawi promised that the parliamentary elections scheduled
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To many outside observers, the collapse of the fragile peace between Sudan and the newly independent Republic of South Sudan is simply a question of time. Increasingly aggressive rhetoric between the two governments has led to a build up of troops both sides of the border, and the aerial bombardments in Unity state last week threaten
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Witnesses claim that a Kenyan aerial bombardment on 30th October killed 5 non-combatants in a refugee camp near the southern Somali town of Jibril. While the Kenyan army claim they targeted al-Shabaab Islamist fighters, killing 10 and wounding 45, MSF reports would appear to corroborate the witnesses’ accounts. This is the latest event to raise
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Hezbollah has become an integral element of the Lebanese confessional system and the cornerstone of the March 8th coalition. Having gained effective governmental power as of 13th June 2011, the paramilitary organisation has systematically increased its internal sphere of influence in a bid to bolster its credibility as a viable political entity. But just as
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The Israeli government announced it would be releasing over 1000 Palestinian prisoners from its jails in exchange for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. His capture by Hamas back in 2006 sparked the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip that year. After 5 years of unsuccessful negotiations and doubt as to whether Shalit was still
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