Egypt

Indirect talks open in Sharm El-Sheikh under Trump plan as Gaza war grinds on Delegations representing Hamas and Israel have begun indirect negotiations in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm El‑Sheikh aimed at ending nearly two years of war in Gaza, diplomats and officials said Monday, in a U.S.‑backed effort that has raised hopes and doubts in equal measure. Under the outline promoted by former U.S. President Donald Trump — who has waded into the role of broker with envoys including businessman Steve Witkoff and his…

A grand tomb returns to the Valley of the Kings after two decades of careful work In the ochre light of Luxor’s early morning, a doorway that has been closed to the public for most of the 20th and 21st centuries has been thrown open again. The tomb of Pharaoh Amenhotep III — the 18th Dynasty monarch who presided over Egypt’s late Bronze Age heyday between about 1390 and 1350 B.C.E. — has been restored and reopened after a painstaking, Japanese-led conservation project that stretched over two decades. The burial chamber,…

Alaa Abdel Fattah’s pardon: a relief that raises bigger questions about Egypt’s politics President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s decision to pardon the prominent British‑Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah after six years behind bars marked an emotional turning point for a generation of Egyptians who once filled Tahrir Square with hope. But the gesture — long demanded by rights groups and the British government — offers relief more than resolution, and leaves unanswered questions about rule of law, diplomacy and the costs of…

Analysis: Egypt’s Troop Move to Somalia — A New Chapter in African Security and Influence The announcement that Egypt will send troops to Somalia under the African Union’s stabilization mission marks a notable juncture in an evolving map of regional power. At first glance it is a pragmatic step — extra boots to help a fragile state push back al-Shabab — but read more closely it is also a diplomatic and strategic signal from Cairo about where it wants to sit in the Horn of Africa and beyond. On the ground: what we know…

Ancient gold bracelet disappears from Cairo museum days before landmark opening What happened Egyptian authorities launched an urgent search this week after a 3,000-year-old gold bracelet vanished from a restoration laboratory at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The artifact — a delicate cuff studded with lapis lazuli beads dating to the reign of King Amenemope of the 21st Dynasty (circa 993–984 BC) — was reported missing while conservators were preparing items for an exhibition in Rome, the Ministry of Tourism and…

Egypt announces troop deployment to Somalia, intensifying Horn of Africa contest Egypt has announced it will deploy troops to Somalia under a bilateral security agreement, a move Cairo says is intended to bolster counter‑terrorism operations and help stabilize the war‑torn Horn of Africa nation. Officials described the steps as the completion of planning for the deployment, but they provided few operational details, leaving open questions about the size, mandate and timetable of the force. What Cairo says Egyptian…

Analysis: Egypt’s luxury resort at Mount Sinai — a test of faith, heritage and development When the first pilgrims come down from Mount Sinai at dusk, they still carry the small, sandy relics of a place that has been consecrated in the imaginations of billions: a rocky peak where, in the stories of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, a prophet received the law. St. Catherine’s Monastery, a fortified Byzantine complex tucked at the mountain’s base, has for centuries been the human anchor in a landscape that Bedouin communities…

Egypt’s campaign against online creators exposes a new front in the fight over free expression In the last weeks Egyptian authorities have detained and charged dozens of people who make videos, run social accounts or otherwise produce content for the internet, according to Human Rights Watch. The accusations are striking not for their specificity but for their vagueness — a range of crimes from “public morals” violations to “undermining family values” — and for whom they appear to be aimed at: a generation that came of age…

Why Ethiopia’s rebuke of the Arab League matters beyond a diplomatic spat When Ethiopia’s ambassador to Somalia, Suleiman Dedefo, posted a withering critique of the Arab League this week — asking whether the bloc had become “an instrument executing Egypt’s anti-Ethiopia policy” — he did more than punt a regional insult into cyberspace. The message tapped into a deeper, increasingly fraught debate over water, sovereignty and how international institutions choose sides when resources and livelihoods collide. The immediate…

Egypt’s Troops Prepare to Join Somalia Mission, Recasting the Horn’s Security Equation The Egyptian flag will soon fly alongside others on the front lines of Somalia’s long war with al-Shabab. After a week of site visits and quiet consultations in Mogadishu, an Egyptian military team has wrapped up an assessment that clears the way for Cairo’s first troop deployment to the African Union Support Mission in Somalia, or AUSSOM. On paper, it’s a straightforward move—one more nation committing forces to an African Union effort…