On the second anniversary of 30 June uprising and the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood regime, a regional Nasserist initiative expressed concerns over increasing security turbulence in Egypt.
Yet, in an official statement on Saturday, its members assured they will continue their support for President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi “endlessly” against “foreign conspiracies”.
The ‘Arab Popular Initiative’ was launched over two years ago by a group of politicians and intellectuals across several Arab countries, including Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and Sudan. In Egypt, it was joined by Nasserist leaders, including board members of the Nasserist Party.
“After two years of the 30 June uprising the security situation is still turbulent. Targeting top officials such as the prosecutor general is a powerful strike to all the plans made by the current security leaders and is a humiliation for Egypt,” Alaa Abou Zaid, co-founder of the initiative and a political leader in the Nasserist Party in Egypt, told Daily News Egypt.
A string of explosions took place amid continuing clashes between “State of Sinai” and the army in the North Sinai town of Sheikh Zuweid on Wednesday. Meanwhile, almost a week ago, Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat was killed in a car explosion that targeted his home in Heliopolis.
“I do not want to say there is a failure, I understand there is a burden imposed on current political leaders now, but there is also a huge defect in the policies used to maintain security. We are countering terrorism with a 20-30 year old mentality, and with very primitive tools,” Abou Zaid said.
The statement reviewed the current situation in Egypt post-30 June, stating it is similar to the wake of World War II which led to the Bandung conference. It also called on the formation of a popular united Arab front to counter the “foreign conspiracy” presented by “Islamic State” (IS) militants.
According to Abou Zaid, there could be much better political strategies in helping Egypt retain its security by increasing talks and partnerships with Egyptian allies in the Arab region and worldwide to equip Egypt with needed modern tools to counter terrorism. “We tried to approach Al-Assad’s office once again recently through our Syria-based initiative members to brainstorm and present new solutions for hardships in different Arab countries,” he said.
Known for their Arab nationalism tendency, which was adopted by Gamal Abdel Nasser, Nasserist leaders in Egypt previously met Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in October 2013 in Damascus. The meeting was attended by almost 35 Egyptian Nasserist leaders and discussed the increasing threat of IS in Syria.
