On Tuesday President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi was again confronted with the bitter reality of terror attacks when 11 conscripts were killed in an ambush in turbulent north Sinai. After more than a year of extensive security operations conducted by the army and police, extremist groups showed they still have the capacity to launch major attacks. Defeating terror is among Al-Sisi's top priorities. In pursuit of this goal, says one of his aides, the president is working to build a regional and international consensus over the actions that need to be taken. “It is very clear the threat posed by terrorism in the region is no longer an exclusively regional concern. We are now seeing the US acting to face up to it, and we have already seen European countries providing help to regional parties in their fight against terror,” says the aide. Facing up to the threat posed by extremists is expected to feature prominently in the speech Al-Sisi will make later this month before the UN General Assembly. “He will tell the world that the entire region could collapse into chaos if immediate action is not taken to halt supplies of money, arms and militants. In his meetings in New York he will be pressing for a comprehensive approach to combat terror across the region.” Security and diplomatic sources say Al-Sisi has already started to press his message home. The recent US decision to deliver several long-delayed Apache helicopters is, says an Egyptian diplomat, evidence of Washington's newfound will to support Egypt in its “war on terror”. “It has been interpreted by some analysts as signaling an improvement in the otherwise not so warm Egyptian-American relations. While this is partly true, more significant is the fact that the US recognized that Egypt needs the Apaches for its battle against terrorists in Sinai.” In his meetings in New York, Al-Sisi will also raise “the fact that some regional parties are providing support to radical Muslim groups to destabilise the Egyptian regime,” says the presidential aid. “We will ask our friends to pressure these parties to refrain from tampering with Egypt's stability.” Particularly disturbing to the international community as well as to Egypt's regional allies, not least Saudi Arabia, is the growth of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). With ISIS making advances in the eastern part of the region, and with so many radical militant groups operating across Egypt's western border in Libya, Cairo is trying to forge a region-wide strategy to halt the expansion of militant Muslim groups. Egyptian and foreign sources who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly say the strategy may include military intervention in either Libya or Syria. “We are not talking here about a full-scale military operation but the possibility of aerial strikes, sea-to-shore operations and some surgical ground operations,” says a European military source. The extent of Egypt's participation in any future military intervention is unclear. “Al-Sisi is not keen on sending soldiers beyond Egypt's borders and he is not at all keen on a go-it-alone approach, not even in Libya which is proving to be a serious national security headache,” said a close advisor to Al-Sisi. The president's eventual decision, he added, will depend on the how much resolve there is in the international community to eliminate the influence of terror groups in the region. Domestic issues will also be part of the agenda of Al-Sisi's talks in New York. The fate of “participatory democracy” in Egypt is one issue Al-Sisi's aides expect to be brought up in any meeting that may be scheduled with US President Barack Obama. Washington sources say that if Obama meets Al-Sisi he will have to ask questions about the fate of the opposition and civil society in Egypt. “We are not just talking about the Islamists anymore. We are talking about the wider opposition, and about the fate of civil society,” says one Washington source. Three issues, say Egyptian sources, are likely to be raised by the US president and any other western heads of state Al-Sisi meets: the protest law, the NGO law, and recent reports on the dispersal of Muslim Brotherhood sit-ins last summer, including that released last month by Human Rights Watch. Before leaving for New York Al-Sisi will have received a report compiled by legal aides and the semi-official National Council for Human Rights on ways to amend the controversial protest law, the subject of widespread criticism by local and international rights groups. “We have been passed a clear message that this law will soon be amended. We are not sure whether the amendments will meet all our demands but the changes are expected to be substantial,” says a key figure in civil society. “We also anticipate the release of activists detained on charges of violating the protest law, starting mid-September. “Of course, we have received such promises before and nothing happened. This time round we think it will happen. The president needs to defuse pressure on this front before he heads to New York.” Such optimism is not shared by all NGOs. Many are considering winding down their operations in Egypt, arguing that the draft NGO law means it will be impossible for them to make any serious contribution to expanding freedoms or oppose violations of rights. Nor is there much optimism among Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. While the recent release on bail of two Brotherhood leaders is unlikely to lead to a serious breakthrough in the standoff between the group and the state, government officials believe it does send the message that the authorities are willing to eventually open up to moderate figures within the group. “We have differences with Washington as with other western capitals. We are not expecting them to disappear overnight. As is always the case in international relations, resolving such differences is a matter of give and take,” says a senior foreign ministry source. Egyptian diplomats argue that by visiting New York Al-Sisi will gain the international recognition necessary to end, once and for all, any questions about his legitimacy. “We have already gone a long way in this direction, with the role Egypt played in securing an end to the war on Gaza,” insists a foreign ministry source. The president is also expected to raise the economic conference Egypt hopes to host either towards the end of this year or early in 2015. “The president was slightly hesitant about whether he should go to New York to head the Egyptian delegation or send the prime minister. He decided to go himself because doing so will underline Egypt's return to the international scene after a long period of internal instability,” said the presidential aide.
