Another year on with Egypt enduring tough predicaments that hurt, not only its people, but its social structure, economy and whatever is left of the overall welfare. Four tumultuous years could have taken Egypt and put it on a pedestal, but instead, the country dwelt on multiple issues that will be written down in history as the country that led its people astray. 1- Illegal Immigration: Immigration has been always, even before the 2011 uprising, the way out of the country for youth and children to seek a decent living or find a rewarding job. Such attitude was propelled by a weakened economy, unemployment and not enough benefits to begin with. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of Egyptians immigrating from Egypt reached 17% in 2014 compared to the previous year. The number of males emigrating reached 446, which is 88.3% of the total, and 59 which is 11.7% females left the country. A fairly recent report showed that the number of those leaving the country have Bachelors' degrees constituting 50.5% of the total number in 2014, 245 migrants. The head of the European Union Delegation to Egypt, Ambassador James Moran, had stated that 60 percent of the Egyptian immigrants who are illegally traveling to Italy are minors. Last October, the Italian shores witnessed the arrival of 560 children. The Egyptian news website Ahram Online quoted Nabila Makram, Egypt's Minister of Immigration and Affairs of Egyptians Abroad, as saying. She made the announcement during her speech at the celebration of the International Day of Statistics which was held by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in Cairo. "The children's ages did not exceed 11-years-old," she said, adding that they were being provided with residence in Italy and shelters, where they are learning crafts." According to Sputnik News Agency. And, according to the same website, Makram also pledged to get in touch with Egyptian volunteers at the Italian shelters in order to determine the exact number of undocumented Egyptian migrants in Italy.Makram said that looking after Egyptian migrants abroad is a task that should be jointly implemented by the country's Ministries of Immigration, Defense, the Interior and Education. But it seems that the problem is deeply engrained and rooted to be easily talked about as if a solution could rise any moment. 2- Displacing the Copts: Beni Suef governorate has been a culprit in a new series of displacing Copts after some villagers alleged they had posted cartoons that are insulting to the Prophet Mohamed. This incident is one of few that rarely has something to do with religion but has got a lot to do with differences between families. According to al-Monitor, the forced displacement incident in May raised the ire of rights organizations such as the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, as well as human rights organizations such as the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. It also drew criticism from several Egyptian parties such as the Free Egyptians Party, Misr al-Qawiya and the Egyptian Popular Current. These parties deemed the displacement sentence as a type of persecution, while Abu Taleb, who attended the customary court hearing, was widely blamed for agreeing with the displacement sentence, which violates the law. Illiteracy and lack of awareness have played an igniting role in such incidents. 3- The Currency Crisis: Imposing a maximum of 10,000 dollars per day or 50,000 dollars per month as a deposit for businesses has harmed Egypt's economy more than the devaluation of currency. Former Central Bank of Egypt governor, Hisham Ramez managed to devalue the Egyptian currency numerous times, twice of which in June and July alone, to attract more foreign investments. Yet, with such restrictions, limiting it to necessary goods and commodities made it a lot harder to attract domestic and foreign funding. Standing at 7.83 Pounds for selling, under the supervision of current CBE governor, Tarek Amer, the economy is slowly picking up and potentially fluctuating without introducing any new value. 4- Torrents and Flooding: The Middle East in general witnessed a sweeping rain and pounding hair that took the streets by surprise. Egypt's city of Alexandria alone had six dead, by electrocution due to a falling cable of a tramway, while one drowned in his car. State news agency Mena reported heavy rains in several other Egyptian governorates, with authorities closing the port of Ain Sokhna near the southern end of the Suez Canal because of high winds and waves, according to The National. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also ordered the government to provide aid to the hard-hit Alexandria area, while sandstorms and flash floods hit parts of the Sinai Peninsula. Cairo was also hit by a rare rainstorm. Governor Hany el-Messiry resigned after the floods swept the city, taking the blame for an overdue reform that never took place, partly because the drains were according to media outlets, "clogged". 5- The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD): In a new twist and while the six-party meeting is being held, the Ethiopian government has announced that it has diverted the Blue Nile's course to run through the GERD, following the completion of the first four water inlets, according to the Ethiopian EBC TV. The Ethiopian Prime Minister Getachew Reda's Executive Assistant told journalists that Ethiopia will not stop any constructions in the dam, but is committed to reaching an agreement with both Egypt and Sudan. According to al-Monitor, on Dec. 11, the foreign affairs and water ministers met in six-party talks in Khartoum, after the failure of technical initiatives to break the deadlock over a mechanism to reduce the dam's repercussions on Egypt and Sudan. These talks represent a new attempt at direct political negotiations to reach an agreement or a mechanism guaranteeing no harmful effects for Egypt and Sudan will come from the dam. However, construction is underway regardless of the results of the negotiations or studies, which are supposed to modify the construction standards if needed to mitigate the damage. It seems that the three countries are not reaching an agreement and the reason is because none of the three can foresee the consequences quite clearly, whether it is the practicality of the dam, or the scarcity of water for a country like Egypt. 2015 has witnessed the utmost blow and change which led to setting a harsh and stark challenge to the new year, the new parliament and the government.
