Egypt at a crossroads

Egyptians are given to conspiracy theories. For months, years even, after 9/11, many Egyptians including those of political maturity and sophistication would loudly assert that Osama bin Laden had nothing to do with the attack. And that it was a Zionist plot to vilify the Muslim world. They would cite as so-called evidence the supposed absence of Jewish employees from the World Trade Centre on the day.

Conspiracy theories are then both frequent and must be treated with a large degree of caution and scepticism. It has been widely surmised in the press, however, that the army orchestrated the assault on the Israeli embassy to justify the imposition of harsh new emergency regulations.

What evidence is given? First, that the two places most heavily guarded both under the Mubarak regime and in the new dispensation have been the diplomatic missions of the US and Israel. Why then did residents in the building report a withdrawal of any army presence outside the Israeli embassy the day before the demonstrations planned for Tahrir Square, some 20 minutes' walk away? Why did those who got into the building say they were shown the way by army officers?

Whatever the truth, the incident has raised questions about the army's motives. Do they want to achieve a swift transfer of power to some duly elected civilian authority, as they have said? Or are they actually intent on hanging on to power, despite the fact that they have shown so little aptitude for exercising it?

For more news and expert analysis about Egypt, please see Egypt Politics & Security.

© 2011 Menas Associates

Yemen put $100,000 reward on al-Qa'ida terrorists

Yemen's Interior Ministry has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of any one of the eight Al-Qa'ida suspects on its list. The ministry promised a reward to anyone providing information leading to the capture of the "terrorist extremists."

The ministry's list of identified al-Qa'ida terrorists includes, Amin Abdullah Abdul Rahman al-Othmani, Bashir Mohammed Ahmed al-Hlaisi, Showqi Ali Ahmed al-Baadani, Abdul Elah Ali Qasem al-Mesbahi, Abdul Hamid Ahmed Mohammed al-Hubaishi, Mohammed Ali Abdullah al-Nashri, Musleh Abdullah Ahmed al-Hlaisi and Yusef Ahmed Muthana Zayud.

It told state owned news agency Saba that the men were wanted by the authorities and that they had been recruited by militants "obsessed with murder and destruction."

Yemen, homeland to al-Qa'ida's leader Osama bin Laden, is increasingly under threat from the local branch of the jihadist network.

Source: AfricaAsia

For more news and expert analysis about Yemen, please see Yemen Focus.

Bomb in Tlidjen kills five

Five people have been killed by a remote-control bomb on a construction site in a town near Algeria's eastern border with Tunisia. The bomb exploded while public works officials were inspecting the site in Tlidjen. Those killed were three local public works officials and two entrepreneurs.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility, but attacks of this nature are often carried out by Al-Qa'ida in the Islamic North Africa, a local Islamic militant group that joined Osama bin Laden's terrorist network in 2006.

Algerian authorities believe that the perpetrators of the attack had prior knowledge of the inspection. National security forces and civil servants are often faced with attacks from the country's Islamists militants. Earlier this month, suspected militants bombed a vehicle carrying Algerian troops, killing five and injuring 10.

The presence of the Al-Qa'ida in the Islamic North Africa became stronger after Algerian army concealed the first-ever multiparty elections, in 1992, thereby thwarting a victory by the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front (FIS).

Source: AP

For more news and expert analysis about Algeria please see Algeria Focus and Algeria Politics & Security.