Sisi’s Calls For Dialogue Receive Wide Welcome In Egypt

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi during a meeting held Thursday with newspaper editors and talk show hosts (Egyptian Presidency)
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi during a meeting held Thursday with newspaper editors and talk show hosts (Egyptian Presidency)
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Sisi’s Calls For Dialogue Receive Wide Welcome In Egypt

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi during a meeting held Thursday with newspaper editors and talk show hosts (Egyptian Presidency)
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi during a meeting held Thursday with newspaper editors and talk show hosts (Egyptian Presidency)

Political and media circles in Egypt welcomed Friday President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s call for a political dialogue among the country’s political forces.

At a meeting held a day earlier with journalists and talk show hosts, the Egyptian President said his country needs a comprehensive political dialogue compatible with the notion of building or launching the new republic.

Journalist Emad El-Din Hussein, editor-in-chief of Al-Shorouk newspaper, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Sisi’s invitation for dialogue reveals that the Egyptian state is now consolidated and strong and that any future development requires cooperation between the country’s forces at several levels, including the need to hold a political dialogue.

Hussein, who attended the meeting with the president, said Sisi’s speech also aims to tackle a new and different future for Egypt through holding a joint dialogue between parties, civil society, and political forces within the framework of the new republic.

Also, Atef Maghawry, a member of the Egyptian Parliament and vice president of the Democratic Gathering, welcomed the President’s speech.

He told Asharq Al-Awsat that Sisi’s invitation for dialogue is considered the foundation of the new republic and its achievements.

“If this new republic is not protected by political dialogue, it will be threatened in the future,” he said, adding that any economic and social achievements must be protected by a strong political structure based on the participation of all parties.

For his part, Dr. Abdel Moneim Saeed, a political analyst and a member of the Senate, said he was surprised by Sisi’s call for political dialogue.

Speaking with Asharq Al-Awsat, he said the Egyptian President had always paid attention to the file of economic reform.

According to Saeed, Sisi had not raised the issue of political dialogue, although the president previously referred to it when speaking about his hopes to hold an open discussion on education, health, culture, and political issues.

“What is new this time is that Sisi mentioned the word political dialogue and linked it to the new republic,” Saeed stressed.

Two days ago, IMF managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said that she sees conditions for the Egyptian economy worsening.

According to Hussein, Sisi’s call for dialogue is not the result of political pressure or an economic crisis, as some claim.

He said Egypt was never forced to implement the demands of external forces.

“The Egyptian State is now more stable on the security and social levels and despite difficult economic conditions, Cairo is implementing a strong economic reform plan capable of facing all difficulties,” he stressed.

For his part, Saeed said that any political dialogue in Egypt has two parts: The first is related to the need of passing and reviewing several laws, especially regarding equality, discrimination, and personal status issues.

As for the second part, he said it is related to political openness, freedom of expression, and the principles of transparency and accountability.

“There is a need for the country’s political forces to turn words into actions and to set an agenda and rules for political dialogue, and bases for discussion,” he said.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.