CAIRO: Seven years after the Egyptian uprising, young people say they feel marginalized and apathetic about next week’s presidential elections.
They say their demands for “bread, freedom and social justice” went unfulfilled so they are uninterested in either of the two candidates — Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the current president, and Musa Mustafa Musa, who leads a party that had initially backed El-Sisi’s re-election bid.
El-Sisi said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday he had wanted more contenders but the country was “not ready.” Several prospective election candidates, including a former chief of staff, Sami Anan, have been arrested. El-Sisi is practically guaranteed a second term.
“In 2012, we had 14 candidates to choose from. Today, we have only two choices and one of them is actually supporting El-Sisi,” said Mohamed Amir, 23, who now works as a driver after graduating in agriculture. “I don’t see anyone on the political scene better than El-Sisi. So in simple words: Let it flow.”
The presidential elections are the third since the 2011 Arab Spring when youth anger was sparked by what they called police brutality under Hosni Mubarak, the former president who was ousted.
El-Sisi won nearly 97 percent of the vote in 2014, a year after toppling Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s first competitively elected leader, after mass protests against his rule.
“I will not participate. There is no room for political activities nor any other views in the country,” said one youth in Cairo who spoke on condition of anonymity. “All real political parties have vanished. This election is just similar to the previous one, just a constitutional step. We are back to the old days again.”
He added: “I believe the country’s and people’s hopes for real democracy have been crushed.”
But there are some young people who do support El-Sisi, a former army chief, and even favor military command. “We support El-Sisi for another term to evade terrorism,” said Mina Fahim, who has a printing company.
Younger people had been excited by Khaled Ali, a 45-year-old human rights lawyer who suspended his campaign after deciding he had no chance of winning. “We knew from the beginning that the climate was not ideal,” said Hala Fouda, Ali’s campaign manager. “What we are seeing is a clear message that this is the end of all political life in Egypt now.”
El-Sisi said in Tuesday’s speech that “what happened seven or eight years ago will never be repeated,” referring to the uprising that ousted Mubarak. He also stressed the importance of youth participation in building Egypt. “What we do now is for the youth,” he said.
In 2011, Egypt witnessed high levels of political participation by young people, several opposition parties were founded, and the constitution became a popular conversational topic amid high hopes for change.
More than half of Egyptians are under 25 and their generation is growing the fastest. Egypt’s official statistics agency, CAPMAS, said last year that 23.6 percent of the country’s population — 21.7 million people out of a total of 93 million — was aged between 18 and 29.
The government, meanwhile, is dominated by political veterans: The youngest member of the Cabinet is Nabila Makram, the 49-year-old immigration minister, and the average age of ministers is 58.
Voting in the presidential elections started for overseas Egyptians on March 16 and the rest of the population will vote over three days starting next Monday.
Egyptian youth feel ‘marginalized’ by elections
Egyptian youth feel ‘marginalized’ by elections
Syrian army pushes into Aleppo district after Kurdish groups reject withdrawal
- Two Syrian security officials told Reuters the ceasefire efforts had failed and that the army would seize the neighborhood by force
ALEPPO, Syria: The Syrian army said it would push into the last Kurdish-held district of Aleppo city on Friday after Kurdish groups there rejected a government demand for their fighters to withdraw under a ceasefire deal.
The violence in Aleppo has brought into focus one of the main faultlines in Syria as the country tries to rebuild after a devastating war, with Kurdish forces resisting efforts by President Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led government to bring their fighters under centralized authority.
At least nine civilians have been killed and more than 140,000 have fled their homes in Aleppo, where Kurdish forces are trying to cling on to several neighborhoods they have run since the early days of the war, which began in 2011.
ِA ceasefire was announced by the defense ministry overnight, demanding the withdrawal of Kurdish forces to the Kurdish-held northeast. That would effectively end Kurdish control over the pockets of Aleppo that Kurdish forces have held.
CEASEFIRE ‘FAILED,’ SECURITY OFFICIALS SAY
But in a statement, Kurdish councils that run Aleppo’s Sheikh Maksoud and Ashrafiyah districts said calls to leave were “a call to surrender” and that Kurdish forces would instead “defend their neighborhoods,” accusing government forces of intensive shelling.
Hours later, the Syrian army said that the deadline for Kurdish fighters to withdraw had expired, and that it would begin a military operation to clear the last Kurdish-held neighborhood of Sheikh Maksoud.
Two Syrian security officials told Reuters the ceasefire efforts had failed and that the army would seize the neighborhood by force.
The Syrian defense ministry had earlier carried out strikes on parts of Sheikh Maksoud that it said were being used by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to launch attacks on the “people of Aleppo.” It said on Friday that SDF strikes had killed three army soldiers.
Kurdish security forces in Aleppo said some of the strikes hit a hospital, calling it a war crime. The defense ministry disputed that, saying the structure was a large arms depot and that it had been destroyed in the resumption of strikes on Friday.
It posted an aerial video that it said showed the location after the strikes, and said secondary explosions were visible, proving it was a weapons cache.
Reuters could not immediately verify the claim.
The SDF is a powerful Kurdish-led security force that controls northeastern Syria. It says it withdrew its fighters from Aleppo last year, leaving Kurdish neighborhoods in the hands of the Kurdish Asayish police.
Under an agreement with Damascus last March the SDF was due to integrate with the defense ministry by the end of 2025, but there has been little progress.
FRANCE, US SEEK DE-ESCALATION
France’s foreign ministry said it was working with the United States to de-escalate.
A ministry statement said President Emmanuel Macron had urged Sharaa on Thursday “to exercise restraint and reiterated France’s commitment to a united Syria where all segments of Syrian society are represented and protected.”
A Western diplomat told Reuters that mediation efforts were focused on calming the situation and producing a deal that would see Kurdish forces leave Aleppo and provide security guarantees for Kurds who remained.
The diplomat said US envoy Tom Barrack was en route to Damascus. A spokesperson for Barrack declined to comment. Washington has been closely involved in efforts to promote integration between the SDF — which has long enjoyed US military support — and Damascus, with which the United States has developed close ties under President Donald Trump.
The ceasefire declared by the government overnight said Kurdish forces should withdraw by 9 a.m. (0600 GMT) on Friday, but no one withdrew overnight, Syrian security sources said.
Barrack had welcomed what he called a “temporary ceasefire” and said Washington was working intensively to extend it beyond the 9 a.m. deadline. “We are hopeful this weekend will bring a more enduring calm and deeper dialogue,” he wrote on X.
TURKISH WARNING
Turkiye views the SDF as a terrorist organization linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and has warned of military action if it does not honor the integration agreement.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, speaking on Thursday, expressed hope that the situation in Aleppo would be normalized “through the withdrawal of SDF elements.”
Though Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda commander who belongs to the Sunni Muslim majority, has repeatedly vowed to protect minorities, bouts of violence in which government-aligned fighters have killed hundreds of Alawites and Druze have spread alarm in minority communities over the last year.
The Kurdish councils in Aleppo said Damascus could not be trusted “with our security and our neighborhoods,” and that attacks on the areas aimed to bring about displacement.
Sharaa, in a phone call with Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani on Friday, affirmed that the Kurds were “a fundamental part of the Syrian national fabric,” the Syrian presidency said.
Neither the government nor the Kurdish forces have announced a toll of casualties among their fighters from the recent clashes.
