Egypt marks the fourth anniversary of the January 25 uprising Sunday with a mix of celebrations and violent clashes, bringing to mind the political post-revolutionary struggle that Egypt has witnessed during the last four years. Following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in December 2010, a wave of protests, later called "the Arab Spring", was sparked in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Libya, leading to the ousting of four Arab dictators and plunging the Middle East into a widespread economic, political and social state of chaos. Meanwhile, the situations in Syria, Yemen and Libya are deteriorating more and more each day. The situation in Egypt seems to be the most stable in comparison to other "Arab Spring" countries. How did Egypt reach that stage? Rundown of events from January 2011 until today: First Transitional Period (February 2011 – June 2012) After the 2011 uprising, Egypt was exposed to major power shifts. On Feb. 11, 2011, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that former president Hosni Mubarak had resigned and had transferred his authority to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), led by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawy. When the SCAF came into power, it dissolved the Parliament, suspended the Constitution, and formed a committee of jurists to draft constitutional amendments, in preparation for parliamentary and presidential elections within a six months' period. Under the military council rule, Egypt witnessed extensive military trials of more than 16,000 people including protesters, activists and journalists. On 19 March 2011, SCAF called for a constitutional referendum according to which nearly 77% of voters were in favor of the constitutional reforms and around 23% opposed the amendments. On 24 May 2011, Mubarak, his two sons, and former interior minister Habib Al-Adly were set to stand trial on charges of killing peaceful protesters during the 2011 uprising, deliberately squandering public funds and unlawfully making private financial profits. In September 2011, the military council called for parliamentary elections then postponed to November 2011 giving a chance for new political parties and revolutionary movements to get organized. Eventually, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, the well-organized Islamist group, swept the 2011 parliamentary elections by gaining 47.2 % of all seats in the new Egyptian Parliament. In June 2012, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled the elections unconstitutional and dissolved the parliament. The SCAF called presidential elections in June 2012, launching the final stage of the transitional period. President Mohamed Morsi (June 2012 – June 2013) Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi became the country's first democratically elected president against Ahmed Shafiq, who served as Prime Minister under Mubarak. In July 2012, Morsi ignored the Supreme Constitutional Court's verdict and called the parliament back into session. On 22 September 2012, the Supreme Administrative Court confirmed the Constitutional Court's first ruling to dissolve the Parliament. In a surprise move, former president Mohamed Morsi issued a Constitutional Declaration in November 2012, granting himself sweeping authorities and barring all the courts from challenging his decisions. Amid political tension and street protests, the Muslim Brotherhood formed a committee to amend Egypt's 2012 Constitution. All amendments proposed by the committee were submitted to a 50-member committee for review. The 50-member committee submitted the final draft to the president, who submitted it to a national referendum in December 2012. The amended constitution was approved with 63.8 % of the votes, however opponents argued that the constitution was too favorable to the MBs, and did not grant sufficient minority rights. Morsi's ruling period witnessed political unrest leading to nationwide public protests. In June 2013, millions of Egyptians rallied in Tahrir Square and across Egypt, responding to an invitation by a group of young people named "Tammarod" (Rebel) calling for Morsi's resignation and new presidential elections. Eventually, major political parties and movements in coordination with the Egyptian army announced the country's road map towards democracy in July 2013. Based on the map, Morsi was overthrown and former head of Supreme Constitutional Court Adly Mansour became Egypt's interim president. Second Transitional Period (July 2013 – June 2014) In July 2013, Mansour issued a presidential decree to amend the constitution. A 50-member committee was formed in September and Amr Moussa, former general secretary of the Arab League, was elected chairman. On 14 August 2013, Egyptian security forces raided two sit-ins held by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo: one at al-Nahda Square and the other at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square. As a result of the raids, the sit-ins were cleared out within hours. According to the Egyptian Health Ministry, 638 people were killed, 595 civilians and 43 police officers and at least 3,994 injured. Security forces detained hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters as well as several leaders over accusations of inciting violence and killing protesters. In September, the Cairo Court for Urgent Matters banned the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as any institution derived from or belonging to the Brotherhood. On 25 December 2013, the interim government declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group after blaming it for an attack on a police headquarters in Mansoura. The Brotherhood denied being responsible for the attack, and an the al-Qaeda affiliated group called Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis claimed responsibility for the attack. In January 2014, the first stage of the road map was accomplished in the passing of the amended constitution through a referendum, with almost 20 million votes in favor. On 28 May 2014, Field Marshal Abdel Fattah Al Sisi won the presidential elections by 23.78 million votes against the Egyptian Popular Current candidate Hamdeen Sabahi who gathered only 757,511 votes. President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi (June 2014 – Present) In June 2014, Al Sisi was sworn into office as Egypt's seventh president before the members of the Supreme Constitutional Court. In July 2014, President Sisi issued a presidential decree regarding the formation of the Supreme Elections Committee, which will undertake its duties to hold parliamentary elections, the final stage of Egypt's road map. On 9 August 2014, the Supreme Administrative Court ordered the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the freezing of its assets. On 25 September, Sisi met with US President Barack Obama for the first time. They discussed confronting terrorism in the Middle East and the situation in Libya. On 24 October, President Sisi declared a state of emergency in North Sinai after 31 soldiers were killed in two separate attacks, one on the Karm Alkwadis checkpoint in Sheikh Zuweid and a second at a checkpoint in Al-Arish. In the same month, the army began demolishing houses in Rafah city to form a buffer zone along the borders with Gaza. In December, Sisi announced a draft decree that will make insulting the January 25 and the June 30 revolutions a criminal offense. Economic reforms under Sisi In July 2014, the cabinet announced a reduction in fuel subsidies as an introduction to cut the subsidies on basic food stuffs and energy. The decision increased fuel prices up to 78 percent while the price of industrial gas rose up to 75 percent. Cutting subsidies was recommended by many international and local financial institutions. President Sisi was the first Egyptian leader who managed to implement the decision. The decision was met with anger and protests erupted in different regions of the country. Sisi called on Egyptians to make sacrifices, vowing to repair Egypt's limping economy.
In August 2014, Sisi initiated a new Suez Canal project which would increase the canal's revenues by 259 percent from the current annual revenues of $5 billion. The Suez Canal project would also involve developing five new seaports and building a new industrial zone.
On 21 January, Sisi attended the 45th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the key challenges facing the international community from economic decline to climate change.
Sisi invited the states leaders and investors participating in the forum to attend Sharm El-Sheikh international economic summit in March, by which the Egyptian government seeks to increase foreign investments in Egypt.
