Egyptian authorities have arrested six suspected members of a “terrorist cell” behind a failed suicide attack on a church in the outskirts of Cairo, the interior ministry said Sunday.
A suicide bomber attempted to attack the Virgin Lady Church in the Shobra el-Kheima district on Saturday but blew himself up before reaching his target, officials said.
Authorities said an explosive device hidden beneath his clothing detonated as he retreated due to the heavy police presence around the church.
The police identified the bomber as Omar Mohamed Ahmed.
They said he was part of a “terrorist cell”, but did not specify which group it belonged to.
After searching the assailant’s residence, police said they found evidence on co-conspirators and plans to carry out further attacks.
The interior ministry listed by name six members of the “terrorist cell” who had been arrested.
Christian sites of worship across Egypt have been repeatedly targeted in attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.
A string of bombings on Coptic churches in Cairo, Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta in 2016 and 2017 killed at least 80 people.
Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s predominantly Sunni Muslim population of some 96 million.
The Egyptian army is currently waging a major operation focused on the Sinai Peninsula to wipe out IS.
China’s GCL Group has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Egypt’s ministry of military production to build a solar panel facility at a cost of up to $2 billion, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram reported on Thursday.
Under the MOU, which was signed on Wednesday, the facility will manufacture panels capable of producing 5 gigawatts (GW) annually, it said, without mentioning the location or timeframe of the project.
Egypt in 2014 announced extensive plans to develop renewable energy targeting 4.3 GW of wind and solar projects to be installed over three years, but many investors pulled out following contract disputes.
Egypt aims to meet 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2022.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former general who took office in 2014, has promised to revive the economy, which has struggled since a 2011 uprising scared away investors and tourists, Egypt’s main sources of foreign currency.
He has called in the military to assist in major infrastructure projects and with distribution of subsidized commodities to help curb price rises.
The economic weight of the military, which produces everything from bottled water to macaroni, has long been a topic of speculation in Egypt but official comment on its economic activities is rare.
Sisi said in March that the military’s economic activities were equivalent to 2-3 percent of GDP, well below the more than 50 percent that some have claimed.
Nigeria’s record league titleholder, Enyimba of Aba is the highest ranked team among the country’s four entries in the CAF Confederation Cup, which draw will hold today in Cairo, Egypt.
The 2003 and 2004 African champion is in the same pot with MFM’s conqueror in the Champions League play-off, USM Alger (Algeria), Supersport of South Africa and Hilal Obied of Sudan.
Plateau United and MFM, which dropped from the CAF Champions League to the Confederation following their defeats by Etoile du Sahel and USM Alger respectively in the last play-off round, are in Pot C, while Akwa United is in Pot D of the play-offs.
Plateau United and MFM could face a team from Pot B or D, while Akwa United could be pitched against a team from Pot A or C.
The 16 teams that finished runners-up in the CAF Champions League first round and the 16 Confederations Cup first round finalists, have been placed in four pots depending on the CAF’s five-year seeding criteria.
Four clubs relegated from the Champions League were seeded (Pot A) and top four ranked teams from the Confederations Cup (Pot B).
The remaining 12 teams from the Champions League were drawn into Pot C and the others from the Confederations Cup into Pot D.
The first draw will be to determine the matches between teams from Pot A and Pot D. The procedure will be repeated four times.
After, a ball from Pot B will be drawn against Pot C to determine the matches. The procedure will be repeated four times.
Once completed, the remaining eight teams from Pot C will be drawn against other eight from Pot D.
One ball from Pot C will be drawn against another ball from Pot D. The procedure will be repeated eight times to complete the fixtures.
With Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the cusp of winning a second term in this month’s election, what’s left of the opposition is reduced to praying he will step aside in four years.
There is little else his critics can realistically hope for after Sisi eviscerated his opposition in his first term.
In the run up to the March 26-28 election, a succession of would-be candidates were abruptly sidelined like doomed characters in an Agatha Christie novel.
“Watch out. That stuff that happened seven or eight years ago (the 2011 democratic uprising) will not happen again in Egypt… it looks like you really don’t know me well. Ha ha,” Sisi said in a January speech after his latest rival, a reserve military general, was detained for announcing his candidacy.
Such words play well with Sisi’s supporters, including many Egyptians who have had enough of the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising that ousted president Hosni Mubarak.
The ‘higher interest’
A former army chief, Sisi was first elected in 2014, a year after he ousted his bungling predecessor Mohamed Morsi.
Morsi was the country’s first freely elected civilian president, but also a divisive Islamist whose policies sparked massive protests.
Since then, the country has grappled with a persistent jihadist campaign that killed hundreds, along with long-deferred economic reforms that have resulted in sky-rocketing inflation.
“The priority is to fix the situation, and not necessarily according to the traditional standards of a democracy,” said Mostafa El-Feki, a prominent government supporter and head of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, a major library in Alexandria.
“This is his priority, and this is the higher interest of the Egyptian people. I and most Egyptians believe he is on that course.”
But it is difficult to ascertain what most Egyptians believe, given scant independent opinion polls and a domestic media that often touts Sisi’s achievements while underplaying criticism against him.
His security services tolerate little outright dissent like that which foreshadowed the 2011 uprising.
For now, the opposition — a collection of small parties and groups that hold little sway on the street — is merely trying to “exist,” said Khaled Dawoud, a prominent dissident.
Mohamed Anwar Sadat, who withdrew his candidacy in January citing restrictions, said he hoped Sisi would begin democratic reforms in his second term — his last, unless the constitution is amended to allow him more time in power.
“It would be a golden opportunity for the president to start dealing with the political file and reforms and look into building real institutions that can fulfil their role,” Sadat said.
Sisi faced two heavyweight rivals in the election: former military chief of staff Sami Anan, who was detained, and former premier Ahmed Shafiq.
The latter was deported from his exile in the United Arab Emirates after declaring his candidacy, and on his arrival was driven by government officials straight to a hotel where he stayed until he withdrew his candidacy.
Another, a military colonel, was jailed for six years for announcing his candidacy while still an officer.
The last remaining candidate, Moussa Mostafa Moussa, an ardent Sisi loyalist, entered the race just as it appeared Sisi would embarrassingly have to stand alone in a throwback to referendums held by autocrats.
‘It’s existential’
Sadat said Sisi would probably have won even with Shafiq and Anan in the race. But the authorities were not keen on debates.
“Perhaps the concern was if there were real candidates there could have been debate on their priorities, there would have been a discussion, and I think they didn’t want one in the current period,” he said.
Michael Wahid Hanna, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation think tank, said the government’s approach was “one of zero tolerance”.
“The Sisi regime is not going to allow space that could allow political forces to grow and gain confidence,” he said.
Sisi and his supporters often portray Egypt as a victim of a foreign plot. Its agents, according to this theory, could include anything from Islamic State jihadists to foreign-funded civil society groups or foreign media outlets.
Following Morsi’s ouster and a bloody crackdown on his supporters that killed and jailed hundreds, wiping out the Muslim Brotherhood movement as a political force, Washington sanctioned Egypt by temporarily suspending military aid.
Such international censure against crackdowns on dissidents or civil society groups have little effect on Sisi, a former Barack Obama administration official said.
“They believe the state will collapse,” she said, on condition of anonymity.
“It’s existential for them. Almost anything can be sacrificed (to prevent that outcome). In that situation it is very hard to imagine the external leverage that would be sufficient.”
The Indomitable lions of Cameroon have won the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon after coming from behind to defeat the pharaohs of Egypt.
Arsenal’s Mohammed Elneny opened the scoring in the first half when he met Salah’s pass and scored at the near post. Nicolas Nkoulou then equalized for Cameroon in the 59th minute, rising highest to power home a header on the hour mark.
Substitute Vincent Aboubakar swept in the winner two minutes away from the end of regular time, flicking the ball over defender Ali Gabr and thumping it home. Aboubakar scored the winner when he controlled a long ball played out from the defense, lobbed the first defender in his way and volleyed the ball on the floor to score.
Egypt who finished as runners up have won a record seven titles with goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary, 44 as the tournament’s oldest ever player.
This is Cameroon’s first AFCON title win since 2002 and their fifth overall. Egypt were denied their eighth overall African title. Cameroon will also play at the upcoming 2017 Confederations Cup.
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