CAIRO ELIMINATES EL-SISSI’S OPPOSITION IN UPCOMING ELECTIONS
This week the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters eliminated a large swath of potential opponents for Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sissi by ruling that the leaders of ex-president Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party will not be qualified to run in the upcoming summer election. Egyptian presidential frontrunner el-Sissi vowed on television that the Muslim Brotherhood will be finished if he wins the election. El-Sissi will continue to head the interim government until elections are held. (Washington Post May 6, 2014)
LIBYA PARLIAMENT ELECTS 5TH TRANSITIONAL PRIME MINISTER
Libya’s transitional parliament has chosen businessman Ahmed Maitiq to assume the prime ministership. Almost as soon as he was sworn in, lawmakers and the caretaker prime minister, Abdullah al-Thinni, questioned the verdict. Critics say the assembly did not meet the minimum number of members required to make the vote valid. Maitiq, a student of international business in London and the son of a powerful family, is the fifth prime minister since longtime Libyan autocrat Moammar Qaddafi was killed in October 2011. (The New York Times May 4, 2014)
EGYPT SENTENCES TOP MB LEADER TO DEATH
The Egyptian court system has sentenced 682 Muslim Brotherhood supporters, including Mohamed Badie, the organization’s general guide, to death on Monday. Badie was charged with inciting violence against the military-run government that overthrew President Mohammad Morsi in July. The ruling has sparked outrage among Brotherhood supporters and two bombs were found in the car of an army officer Monday. The White House has condemned the ruling and the trials as lacking “even those most basic standards of international justice.” Last Tuesday, the White House approved the delivery of 10 Apache helicopters and $650 million in aid for border security, counterterrorism, anti-smuggling and non-proliferation to Egypt. It is unclear how the court ruling may affect delivery. (Reuters, April 28, 2014)
U.S. RECOGNIZES SYRIA OPPOSITION OFFICES AS ‘FOREIGN MISSION’
Washington will provide a $27 million increase in non-lethal assistance to the Syrian National Coalition (SNC), an opposition group leading the fight to oust President Bashar Assad. The decision came at the opening of an SNC delegation to Washington, where the U.S. declared the SNC a “foreign mission.” The news comes shortly after Assad announced he would hold national elections on June 3. US aid to the Syrian opposition now totals $287 million. (Reuters May 5, 2014)
HAMAS FREES SIX FATAH PRISONERS AS PART OF UNITY PACT
Rival Palestinian parties are strengthening a unity pact they signed two weeks ago by exchanging prisoners. This week the interior minister of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, released six prisoners of rival party Fatah, which controls the West Bank. The parties both took prisoners during a bloody civil war in 2006. Fatah has yet to release any Hamas prisoners. (Reuters May 5, 2014)
QATAR EXPELS MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD MEMBERS
Qatar has started expelling Muslim Brotherhood members in adherence to Part 6 of the 1983 Riyadh Arab Agreement for Judicial Cooperation regarding the “Extradition of Accused or Convicted Persons." Qatar has long hosted members of the Islamist group, and the Qatar-based al-Jazeera news channel has long been a supporter. While the interim government of Egypt has initiated most of the extradition requests, the UAE and Saudi Arabia are also calling for extradition of certain Brotherhood members. The wanted men are destined to be tried by the Gulf Cooperation Council for activities against the Gulf countries and Egypt. (Egypt Independent May 5, 2014)