Egypt

A few days ago, one of my friends asked me if I had seen or heard about what was going on in Egypt. At the time, I was completely oblivious to what was happening. So, I decided to get myself caught up on it yesterday and then decided that I would post a blog with the basic info about what is going on. The main point of this blog is to be a more specific prayer list so we can lift up the Egyptian people in a real way.


Here's some basic info about what's going on. I'm quoting straight from the NYT's info page on Egypt:


Basic Info on Current Events

Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, erupted in mass protests in January 2011 that have brought the 29-year regime of President Hosni Mubarak to an apparent end, with his announcement on Feb. 1 that he would not run for re-election.

The protests began on a Tuesday, Jan. 25, growing in strength with tens of thousands of people gathering to demand that Mr. Mubarak to step down. The government quickly banned all demonstrations, but on Wednesday the protesters returned in gathering numbers and clashed with the police in cities across the country despite curfews.

Control of the streets cycled through a dizzying succession of stages. After an all-out war against hundreds of thousands of protesters on the night of Jan. 28, the legions of black-clad security police officers — a reviled paramilitary force focused on upholding the state — withdrew from the biggest cities. After the jails were opened, looters smashed store windows and ravaged shopping malls as police stations and the national party headquarters burned through the night, creating an atmosphere that protesters said would justify a crackdown.

The uprising had come about with virtually no leadership, as angry young people used cellphones and social media to coordinate the first protests.Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate and a leading critic of the Mubarak government, returned to his homeland and called on the president to step aside for a new “national unity government.”

US Involvement/Response 

President Obama increased the pressure on Mr. Mubarak, warning that violence against protesters could lead to the loss of the billions Egypt receives in American aid. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States government stood ready to help "with a transition.'' Yet neither Mr. Obama nor Mrs. Clinton specifically called on Mr. Mubarak to step down.

But Mr. Mubarak's [announcement to not run in the upcoming elections] was rejected as insufficient by demonstrators, and Mr. Obama strongly suggested that it was not enough, declaring that an “orderly transition must be meaningful, it must be peaceful, and it must begin now.”

Mr. Mubarak 

Mr. Mubarak has been in office since the assassination of Anwar el-Sadat on Oct. 16, 1981. Until the recent unrest, he had firmly resisted calls to name a successor. He had also successfully negotiated complicated issues of regional security, solidified a relationship with Washington, maintained cool but correct ties with Israel and sharply suppressed Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism — along with dissent in general.

Egypt - Background 

Egypt is a heavyweight in Middle East diplomacy, in part because of its peace treaty with Israel, and as a key ally of the United States. The country, often the fulcrum on which currents in the region turn, also has one of the largest and most sophisticated security forces in the Middle East.

The grievances are economic, social, historic and deeply personal. Egyptians often speak of their dignity, which many said has been wounded by Mr. Mubarak’s monopoly on power, his iron-fisted approach to security and corruption that has been allowed to fester. Even government allies and insiders have been quick to acknowledge that the protesters have legitimate grievances that need to be addressed.

In the last few years, Egypt has struggled through a seemingly endless series of crises and setbacks.The sinking of a ferry left 1,000 mostly poor Egyptians lost at sea, an uncontrollable fire gutted the historic Parliament building, terrorists attacked Sinai resorts, labor strikes affected nearly every sector of the work force and sectarian-tinged violence erupted.

The Protests 

Nearly every day in 2010, workers of nearly every sector staged protests, chanting demands outside Parliament during daylight and laying out bedrolls along the pavement at night. The government and its allies have been unable to silence the workers, who are angry about a range of issues, including low salaries. From 2004 to 2008 alone, about 1.7 million workers have engaged in 1,900 strikes and other forms of protest, demanding everything from wage increases to job security in state-owned industries that were privatized.

At least six young Egyptians have set themselves on fire in recent weeks, in an imitation of the self-immolation that set off the Tunisian unrest. Egypt has forbidden gas stations to sell to people not in cars and placed security agents wielding fire extinguishers outside government offices.

The Emergency Law 

The government has maintained what it calls an Emergency Law, passed first in 1981 to combat terrorism after former President Anwar el-Sadat was assassinated. The law allows police to arrest people without charge, detain prisoners indefinitely, limit freedom of expression and assembly, and maintain a special security court. In 2010, the government promised that it would only use the law to combat terrorism and drug trafficking, but terrorism was defined so broadly as to render that promise largely meaningless, according to human rights activists and political prisoners.

To sum up, there is a lot of history that goes into the current tension in Egypt, but perhaps most of the immediate problems are manifested in the current social and economical statuses of the country's citizens. Below I have compiled a prayer list of people/topics that, gathering from the news, could use our immediate prayer.


Mr. Mubarak - the current president of Egypt

• that he would hear the cries of his country and seek socio-economic peace between the government and its people
• that he would allow the other leaders of the Egyptian government to step in and answer the calls of the people
• that he would seek to install a governmental system free from corruption and unnecessary political suppression

The citizens of Egypt

• that they would seek peaceful negotiations with the government and cease to fight physically and self-destructively
• that God would intervene in the lives of prominent citizens and allow them to work in the central Egyptian communities to further facilitate peace in this time of transition
• that God would provide them with a leader that will treat them with equality, respect and love

Other

• that God would raise up a leader in the country of Egypt to lead this people group into a time of social, economical, and religious peace during which the Egyptian people will come to know Him
• that Egypt will become a nation for God

***For a more comprehensive prayer list, check out Ramez Atallah's post - Ramez Atallah is the general secretary of the Bible Society of Egypt***