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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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US Troops Need to Stay in Syria to Counter ISIS, Austin Says

FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
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US Troops Need to Stay in Syria to Counter ISIS, Austin Says

FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)
FILE - US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a speech at Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

The US needs to keep troops deployed in Syria to prevent the ISIS group from reconstituting as a major threat following the ouster of Bashar Assad's government, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told The Associated Press.
American forces are still needed there, particularly to ensure the security of detention camps holding tens of thousands of former ISIS fighters and family members, Austin said Wednesday in one of his final interviews before he leaves office.
According to estimates, there are as many as 8,000-10,000 ISIS fighters in the camps, and at least 2,000 of them are considered to be very dangerous.
If Syria is left unprotected, “I think ISIS fighters would enter back into the mainstream,” Austin said at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he traveled to discuss military aid for Ukraine with about 50 partner nations.
“I think that we still have some work to do in terms of keeping a foot on the throat of ISIS," he said.
President-elect Donald Trump tried to withdraw all forces from Syria in 2018 during his first term, which prompted the resignation of former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. As the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, advanced against Assad last month, Trump posted on social media that the US military needed to stay out of the conflict.
The US has about 2,000 troops in Syria to counter ISIS, up significantly from the 900 forces that officials said for years was the total number there. They were sent in 2015 after the militant group had conquered a large swath of Syria.
The continued presence of US troops was put into question after a lightning insurgency ousted Assad on Dec. 8, ending his family’s decades long rule.
US forces have worked with the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces on operations against ISIS, providing cover for the group that Türkiye considers an affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which it identifies as a terror organization.
The Syrian transitional government is still taking shape, and uncertainty remains on what that will mean going forward.
The SDF “have been good partners. At some point, the SDF may very well be absorbed into the Syrian military and then Syria would own all the (ISIS detention) camps and hopefully keep control of them,” Austin said. "But for now I think we have to protect our interests there.”