Egypt: New CRS Report on Transition, Mass Protests Against SCAF

The Congressional Research Service has released a new report about Egypt entitled, Egypt in Transition. The report gives a brief overview of Egypt’s revolution and the results of the transition that led to a military run transitional government called the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF). The report continues; “how Egypt transitions to a more democratic system in the months ahead will have major implications for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and for other countries in the region ruled by monarchies and dictators.”

The report summary concludes by discussing the latest legislation Congress is working on in regards to Egypt- especially S.1601 the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2012 which provides $1.55 billion in aid to Egypt. This bill does have certain conditions placed on the allocation of funds, including that “the Secretary of State certifies to the Committees on Appropriations that such government is meeting its obligations under the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty and that the government of Egypt had held free and fair elections and is implementing policies to protect the rights of journalists, due process, and freedoms of expression and association.”

This report was released as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians took to the streets and gathered in Tahrir Square in Cairo to demand an end to military rule. According to Marc Lynch, “Islamists and non-Islamist forces combined forces on the eve of Parliamentary elections in a show of popular strength demanding a real, rapid transition from military rule to democracy.  The size of the turnout and the unity of the message will send a strong, and incredibly important, message to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces: it should not delay a transition to civilian rule, it should back off from its proposed pro-military supra-constitutional document, and it should stop its abuses of military courts and emergency law. ” The utter size and scope of the protests was indicitive of the feelings of the Egyptian street and “The SCAF will have to conclude that the street can still challenge them.”