by Mahmoud Fouly
CAIRO, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Almost six years after political turmoil hit the most populous Arab country, Egypt still struggles and has a long way to go to
revive its ailing economy amid security challenges represented in the country's
"war against terrorism."
Economic recession in Egypt started with the 2011 uprising that ousted long-time president Hosni Mubarak, which was followed by a military-backed
uprising in 2013 that overthrew former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi and
blacklisted his Muslim Brotherhood group as a terrorist organization.
Since then, the new leadership of former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has been battling a rising wave of anti-government
terrorism that added recession to the country's already bleeding economy.
SECURITY CHALLENGES
Most of the anti-government terrorist attacks that took place over the past three years were claimed by a major self-proclaimed Islamist militant group in
restive North Sinai province, which changed its name from "Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis"
(Jerusalem Supporters) to "Sinai State" and announced loyalty to the Islamic
State (IS) regional terrorist group.
Since Morsi's removal, security crackdown killed over a couple of thousands of Islamists, whether Brotherhood followers mostly in Cairo and Giza or
militants mostly in Sinai, while anti-security terrorist attacks killed several
hundreds of police and military men.
On Monday, a blast killed two military conscripts and injured three others in Sheikh Zuweid city of North Sinai. Earlier on Friday, a bomb attack killed six
policemen in Giza province near the capital Cairo.
However, between the two blasts, a third explosion that killed 24 in a church in Cairo on Sunday took the confrontation to another level, as it is the first
over the past three years to target civilians, particularly those of the
country's Coptic minority.
It is the security challenge that plays the most part in Egypt's economic situation, which further deteriorated after a Russian plane crash in Sinai that
killed over 200 mostly Russians in October 2015, an Italian student's mysterious
death in Cairo in early February 2016 and a tragic fall of an EgyptAir flight in
May 2016 that killed all 66 people on board including 15 French nationals.
Since economy and security are interrelated, as a country's healthy security condition is a major incentive to lure foreign investors and tourists, when the
dust of Egypt's ongoing anti-terror war settles the country's economic
conditions are expected to get way better. Yet, top officials including
President Sisi and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail recurrently stated that Egypt
has "a long way" to go to battle terrorism.
STRUCTURAL REFORM
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