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Egypt Prepares for its Move to the New Administrative Capital

An aerial view of roads and the construction site in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
An aerial view of roads and the construction site in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
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Egypt Prepares for its Move to the New Administrative Capital

An aerial view of roads and the construction site in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)
An aerial view of roads and the construction site in the New Administrative Capital (NAC) east of Cairo, Egypt. (Reuters)

The Egyptian government is training its employees to work in the New Administrative Capital (NAC), ahead of its move before the end of this year.

The government implemented several projects, worth around $300 billion, in the New Administrative Capital, which is located 75 kilometers east of Cairo.

Head of the Central Agency for Organization and Administration (CAOA) Saleh El-Sheikh said that 4,942 employees nominated for the transfer completed their training amid strict precautionary measures to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced that government services are set to start operating in NAC on an experimental basis in August.

The operation will begin after government employees are relocated to the NAC, aiming to ensure that all facilities are available before the official inauguration, which was scheduled for last year but was delayed because of the pandemic.

The plan aims to train employees on issues relating to raising national awareness and job performance, concepts and challenges of national security, and an explanation of the concept of fourth-generation warfare.

The training will also address the components of state success, the concepts of governance and anti-corruption, as well as basic computer skills, as indicated by the head of the Central Agency.

The plan also includes training the nominated employees on a package of competency programs, according to the evaluation of behavioral competencies carried out by the Ministry of Planning.

In addition, each nominated employee will receive a “training card”, which includes the needs of their behavioral competencies such as the need for achievement, emotional balance, communication effectiveness, performance efficiency, self-confidence, teamwork, decision-making and time management.

Each group will be coached according to its field of work, and they will be receiving training about the New Administrative Capital applications so that transferred employees become fully aware of how to operate and use these programs.

The NAC will house 10 ministerial complexes grouping together 34 ministries, in addition to the headquarters of the cabinet and the parliament and includes 52,300 state employees.

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Arab World

Anxiety Clouds Easter for West Bank Christians

Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
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Anxiety Clouds Easter for West Bank Christians

Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP
Residents of the West Bank town of Zababdeh say its church bells are often drowned out by the roar of Israeli air force jets headed for action nearby. - AFP

In the mainly Christian Palestinian town of Zababdeh, the runup to Easter has been overshadowed by nearby Israeli military operations, which have proliferated in the occupied West Bank alongside the Gaza war.

This year unusually Easter falls on the same weekend for all of the town's main Christian communities -- Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican --- and residents have attempted to busy themselves with holiday traditions like making date cakes or getting ready for the scout parade.

But their minds have been elsewhere.

Dozens of families from nearby Jenin have found refuge in Zababdeh from the continual Israeli military operations that have devastated the city and its adjacent refugee camp this year.

"The other day, the (Israeli) army entered Jenin, people were panicking, families were running to pick up their children," said Zababdeh resident Janet Ghanam.

"There is a constant fear, you go to bed with it, you wake up with it," the 57-year-old Anglican added, before rushing off to one of the last Lenten prayers before Easter.

Ghanam said her son had told her he would not be able to visit her for Easter this year, for fear of being stuck at the Israeli military roadblocks that have mushroomed across the territory.

Zabadeh's Anglican church was busy in the runup to Easter but across the West Bank Christian communities have been in sharp decline as people emigrate in search of a better life abroad.

Zabadeh looks idyllic, nestled in the hills of the northern West Bank, but the roar of Israeli air force jets sometimes drowns out the sound of its church bells.

"It led to a lot of people to think: 'Okay, am I going to stay in my home for the next five years?'" said Saleem Kasabreh, an Anglican deacon in the town.

"Would my home be taken away? Would they bomb my home?"

- 'Existential threat' -

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and in recent months far-right ministers in its coalition government have called for the annexation of swathes of the territory.

Kasabreh said this "existential threat" was compounded by constant "depression" at the news from Gaza, where the death toll from the Israel's response to Hamas's October 2023 attack now tops 51,000, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Work has been hard to find for Zababdeh's mainly Christian residents since Israel rescinded Palestinian work permits following the October 2023 attack by Hamas that sparked the Gaza war.

Zababdeh has been spared the devastation wreaked on Gaza, but the mayor's office says nearly 450 townspeople lost their jobs in Israel when Palestinian work permits were rescinded after the Hamas attack.

"Israel had never completely closed us in the West Bank before this war," said 73-year-old farmer Ibrahim Daoud. "Nobody knows what will happen".

Many say they are stalked by the spectre of exile, with departures abroad fuelling fears that Christians may disappear from the Holy Land.

"People can't stay without work and life isn't easy," said 60-year-old maths teacher Tareq Ibrahim.

Mayor Ghassan Daibes echoed his point.

"For a Christian community to survive, there must be stability, security and decent living conditions. It's a reality, not a call for emigration," he said.

"But I´m speaking from lived experience: Christians used to make up 30 percent of the population in Palestine; today, they are less than one percent.

"And this number keeps decreasing. In my own family, I have three brothers abroad -- one in Germany, the other two in the United States."

Catholic priest Father Elias Tabban insists the hard times his congregation has been going though have deepened their faith.

Catholic priest Elias Tabban adopted a more stoical attitude, insisting his congregation's spirituality had never been so vibrant.

"Whenever the Church is in hard times... (that's when) you see the faith is growing," Tabban said.