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Arab World

Egypt Takes First Step in Islamic Finance Market

With the issuance of this law, Egypt is entering the Islamic finance market for the first time, with the volume of sukuk issuances reaching $2.7trln (Reuters)
With the issuance of this law, Egypt is entering the Islamic finance market for the first time, with the volume of sukuk issuances reaching $2.7trln (Reuters)
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Egypt Takes First Step in Islamic Finance Market

With the issuance of this law, Egypt is entering the Islamic finance market for the first time, with the volume of sukuk issuances reaching $2.7trln (Reuters)
With the issuance of this law, Egypt is entering the Islamic finance market for the first time, with the volume of sukuk issuances reaching $2.7trln (Reuters)

Egypt is getting ready to offer its first sovereign bonds (Sukuk), almost the first of its kind for the country, following parliament’s — House of Representatives — approval on the sovereign bonds (Sukuk) bill, said Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait on Monday.

The parliament approved on Sunday the new bill, which is waiting on the final vote of a two-thirds majority of MPs.

The bill received cabinet approval in November 2020.

The bill paves the way for Egypt’s government to usher in an Islamic financing system, which recorded $2.7 trillion in transactions globally by the end of June, according to Maait.

If passed, the bill will see Egypt attracting new types of investors who will pour extra finances and liquidity into Egypt’s governmental financial market and will contribute to putting the cost of the state’s public budget deficit on a downturn as well, according to the minister.

Egypt will likely offer Islamic Sukuk in both local and hard currencies for the sake of providing cash liquidity for the Egyptian economy and decreasing the cost of investments, he added.

Egypt will issue its Islamic Sukuk in either a paper or electronic certificate according to the specs the bill’s bylaws will set, according to Maait.

He added that a state-owned corporation will be established to be an agent for Sukuk owners and will manage and execute the Sukuk issuance.

He also noted that the time ceiling of the right to use the state-owned assets, under Sukuk bonds, is set at 30 years with the availability of re-letting these assets.

According to the minister, the bill bans foreclosing on these assets and forbids taking any regulatory procedures on them.

The sovereign Sukuk bill is part of the finance ministry’s plan to diversify its base of investors who want to invest in governmental financial securities, especially that the new legislation will be issued in line with the principles of Islamic Sharia.

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Arab World

Sudan Army Says Retakes Key Town Near Chad

A car with bullet holes on it in a square in Khartoum, Sudan, June 11, 2026. (Reuters)
A car with bullet holes on it in a square in Khartoum, Sudan, June 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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Sudan Army Says Retakes Key Town Near Chad

A car with bullet holes on it in a square in Khartoum, Sudan, June 11, 2026. (Reuters)
A car with bullet holes on it in a square in Khartoum, Sudan, June 11, 2026. (Reuters)

The Sudanese army said it had retaken Kulbus, a strategic town near the Chadian border, in what appeared to be its biggest battlefield gain in western Darfur since the fall of el-Fashir last year.

The Rapid Support Forces, at war with the army since April 2023, consolidated control over most of Darfur after capturing el-Fashir, the military's final stronghold in the region.

The military and its allied Joint Forces, a coalition of armed groups, meanwhile retained pockets of control along the Chadian border.

Kulbus lies on a vital corridor near the border, roughly halfway between the army-held border town of Al-Tina in North Darfur and El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, which remains under RSF control.

In a statement late Monday, the Joint Forces said their fighters had taken "full control" of the town in West Darfur after what they described as "decisive battles", claiming to have inflicted heavy losses on RSF units and seized vehicles and weapons.

The claims could not be independently verified and the RSF has not commented.

In a separate statement, a pro-army popular resistance group accused the RSF of using Kulbus as a staging ground for "thousands of fighters crossing the border" and as a key supply hub linked to El-Geneina.

Video footage circulated by local media appeared to show men wearing Sudanese army uniforms celebrating in front of a sign reading "West Darfur State -- Kulbus Locality".

Fighting has intensified in recent months along the frontier between North and West Darfur as the army seeks to secure a strategic corridor along the border with Chad, which it accuses of being aligned with the RSF.

Al-Tina, already at risk of famine according to the UN, has come under repeated RSF attacks this year.

In recent days, the UN, several governments and aid organizations have warned of a possible RSF offensive on El-Obeid, a key city in the neighboring Kordofan region, raising fears of a repeat of the assault that led to the fall of el-Fashir.

Now in its fourth year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced millions and created the world's largest hunger crisis.

Arab World

Countries Request Urgent UN Debate on Sudan's al-Obeid

Sudanese women make a wicker bowl at the al-Rahmaniyah camp for displaced people, near the city of El-Obeid in the South Kordofan region, on June 29, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese women make a wicker bowl at the al-Rahmaniyah camp for displaced people, near the city of El-Obeid in the South Kordofan region, on June 29, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
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Countries Request Urgent UN Debate on Sudan's al-Obeid

Sudanese women make a wicker bowl at the al-Rahmaniyah camp for displaced people, near the city of El-Obeid in the South Kordofan region, on June 29, 2026. (Photo by AFP)
Sudanese women make a wicker bowl at the al-Rahmaniyah camp for displaced people, near the city of El-Obeid in the South Kordofan region, on June 29, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

The UN Human Rights Council has received a request for an urgent debate on the situation in Sudan's al-Obeid city, a spokesperson said on ⁠Tuesday.

"That will most ⁠likely take place on Friday," Pascal Sim, a spokesperson for the ⁠council, told a press briefing in Geneva.

The request was submitted by countries including Britain and Germany.

The UN has warned of "substantial" Rapid Support Forces troop movements around the city ahead of a possible ground assault, raising fears of a repeat of the atrocities seen in El-Fasher, the Darfur city which fell to the RSF last October in an attack the UN said bore "the hallmarks of genocide.”

After breaking a prolonged siege in February last year, the Sudanese army has struggled to stop the RSF from reimposing a blockade through repeated drone strikes targeting al-Obeid, its infrastructure and the main highway out.

Recent attacks have hit the main power station and fuel depots, plunged neighborhoods into darkness and shut down water pumps.

Arab World

Egypt Moves to Step Up Fuel Supply Ahead of Rise in Power Demand This Summer

Egyptian youths play football in an open area beside a mountain near Cairo, Egypt, June 29, 2026, as the country follows the FIFA World Cup. (Reuters)
Egyptian youths play football in an open area beside a mountain near Cairo, Egypt, June 29, 2026, as the country follows the FIFA World Cup. (Reuters)
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Egypt Moves to Step Up Fuel Supply Ahead of Rise in Power Demand This Summer

Egyptian youths play football in an open area beside a mountain near Cairo, Egypt, June 29, 2026, as the country follows the FIFA World Cup. (Reuters)
Egyptian youths play football in an open area beside a mountain near Cairo, Egypt, June 29, 2026, as the country follows the FIFA World Cup. (Reuters)

Egypt's ‌electricity and petroleum ministers met on Tuesday to coordinate fuel supply and grid management ahead of a summer in which power demand is expected to rise 8% over last year's record peak of 40,000 megawatts, according to a joint ministry statement.

Electricity Minister Mahmoud Esmat and ‌Petroleum Minister Karim ‌Badawi said the two ‌ministries ⁠were working as "one ⁠team" to secure fuel supplies for power stations and stabilize the national grid during peak hours.

Esmat said the electricity sector planned to add 2,200 MW of renewable ⁠energy capacity and 1,300 MW ‌of battery ‌storage to the grid this year, and ‌had already cut fuel consumption ‌per kilowatt to below 170 grams.

Badawi said that LNG regasification vessels were operating at high efficiency to supplement gas ‌production, while the Damietta LNG export terminal was being used ⁠to ⁠store LNG cargoes to be used when needed.

Egypt suffered severe rolling blackouts in 2023 and had to rely on foreign funding to stabilize its grid in 2024.

Egypt's gas production stood at 3,214 million cubic meters in April, while imports were 2,190 million cubic meters, according to the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI).