Research project delineates mechanisms Egypt used to contain impact of terrorism

CAIRO – 13 April 2022: The Ministry of Social Solidarity hosted Tuesday a lecture titled "The Cost of Terrorism: An Egyptian Comprehensive Approach," which is the title of a research project prepared by the Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS).

The lecture had as speakers Head of ECSS Khaled Okasha, Director of the (abovementioned) Research Project at ECSS Gamal Abdel Gawad, Consultant to the President for Religious Affairs Osama al-Azhari, Former Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mofid Shehab, Parliamentarian and Writer Abdel Moneim Said, Former Minister of Industry Samiha Fawzy, and Security Export Major-General Fouad Allam.

Okasha pointed out that the impact of terrorism that hit Egypt over the past decades has been extended, complex and deep on all segments of the society. That is in addition to shaping a negative image of the Egyptian state at the foreign public opinion.

However, the Egyptian state succeeded in mobilizing all its institutions to accomplish security and stability, which compose the starting point of the developmental process, the expert noted. He added that such endeavors have been manifested in the great drop in terror activity, after President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi's call to consider combating terrorism a human right.

Oksaha highlighted that Egypt adopted a comprehensive approach to contain the impact of terrorism on the social, economic, political, and cultural realms.

As for the nature of terrorism in Egypt, the think tank's director explained that it begins as "soft terrorism, which aims for terrifying the state and society through an intellectual system that works on ideological justification, funding, expanding within establishments, and mobilization of social bases." Then, it evolves into "solid terrorism that targets material depredation and destruction through violence."

The research studied the cost of terrorism since the series of assassinations committed by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in the 1940s and the 1950s; then, the attacks carried out by the groups of Gamaa Islamiyah and Al Jihad in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; and finally, the violence that followed the toppling of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in 2013.

Okasha pointed out that the hike in terror attacks during the two following years incurred the classification of Egypt as one of the countries most impacted by terrorism.