Galtung's Triangle Model: Instability in Egypt - Sarah Seeliger

 Instability in Egypt 

Recently, Egypt has been facing a lot of instability. Some of this instability has been caused by a group called Wilayat Sinai. This is a terrorist group that surfaced from the Sinai Peninsula after President Hosni Bubarak was overthrown in 2011. Wilayat Sinai declared allegiance with the Islamic State in 2014. They have since been responsible for several attacks in religious buildings that have killed numerous people. Some of these attacks include an attack on a Mosque in November of 2017 that killed at least 100 people as well as  two attacks on Coptic churches in April of 2017. 

In February of 2018, Abdel Fata al-Sisi, the president of Egypt, ordered the Egyptian military to defeat Wilayat Sinai, and the military announced widespread counterterrorism measures in both the Sinai Peninsula and parts of the Nile Delta and Western Desert.  These operations included destruction of homes, commercial buildings, and farms. These operations have also displaced thousands of people. After all of these military pursuits, President Sisi was elected for his second term. Since being re elected, Sisi has passed several laws that are meant to combat terrorism. One law, created in August of 2018, increased government control of the internet. Sisi has also made economic reforms to help improve Egypt's economy and created counterterrorism laws to prevent insurgency. Despite all of these good laws, some people claim that Sisi's actions marginalize poor people and infringe on human rights. 

This issue in Egypt fits perfectly into Galtung's conflict triangle. There are two contradictions in this issue. The first one is that Wilayat Sinai wants to possibly commit insurgency, but the government doesn't want that. The second contradiction is that some people believe Sisi's laws are good because they prevent insurgency from Wilayat Sinai, but other people think they infringe on human rights and hurt poor people. The attitudes in the first contradiction between Wilayat Sinai and the government are that the government dislikes Wilayat Sinai and wants to prevent them from doing anything, and Wilayat Sinai dislikes the government and wants to commit insurgency. The attitudes regarding Sisi and his laws are that the people in favor of them would dislike the people who aren't in favor of them and would assume that they don't care about the safety of the country. The behaviors from Wilayat Sinai are to proclaim their allegiance with the Islamic State and to commit several attacks in Egypt. In response, the government sent the military to defeat Wilayat Sinai, and the military announced counterterrorism measures. The government also passed several laws meant to combat terrorism including increasing government control of the internet. The behavior  of people in favor of Sisi and his laws was to re elect him. 

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