No place in national dialogue for anyone known to engage previously in violence: Amr Hamzawy

CAIRO – 14 July 2022: Egyptian political science professor and director of the Carnegie Middle East Program Amr Hamzawy said that any party that engaged previously in violence and known not to accept the otherers has no place in the national dialogue.

During an interview with Diaa Rashwan, General Coordinator of the National Dialogue, Thrusday, Hamzawy indicated that it is necessary for the parties participating in the national dialogue to reflect the current social and economic situation.

Amr Hamzawy explained that ‘changing or making an affect from abroad’ has proven not to be an affective idea in the human history in general, not only in Egypt.

Hamzawy noted that any positive impact should be from inside Egypt, not from the outside, and that any attempt to change from outside; ‘will surely fail.’

Hamzawy said that he returned to Egypt in order to be able to ‘listen and discuss’, and engage in the political openness required for Egypt.

Earlier in June, the country’s national dialogue, Dialogue’ general coordinator Diaa Rashwan announced that he invited Egyptian political science professor and director of the Carnegie Middle East Program Amr Hamzawy as well as space scientist Essam Heggy to join the dialogue.

Meanwhile, Hamzawy accepted the invitation, Heggy said that he is not interested to be part of any political dialogue; however, he is willing to participate in any activity or project that serves science and education in anyway.

During televised statements, , Rashwan praised Heggy’s choice saying that ‘Egypt does not have a lot of international scientists, therefore, it is important for Heggy to continue his work and progress in his specialty   for the sake of Eruptions and all humanity.’

“Heggy, also has announced that he is willing to participate in the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) expected to be held in Sharm El Sheikh with a research paper in his specialty, and that he is interested to participated in any scientific discussions.” Rashwan said.

As for political science professor and director of the Carnegie Middle East Program Amr Hamzawy, he expressed his willingness to participate in the political dialogue.

Rashwan said that the dialogue will include a wide range of well-known names that reflects the Egyption society, and that the announced board of trustees will be only coordinating and organizing the dialogue.

The board of trustees of the National Dialogue has been appointed, consisting of 19 members, after a 20-day consultation among politicians, trade union officials and political parties’ members and representatives participating in this dialogue, according to a Sunday statement.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said that the objective of the national dialogue, which has been announced recently by him last month, aims at listening to people’s opinions for “the sake of the nation.”

President Sisi’s comments were stated during his meeting with a number of editors and media professionals from Egyptian newspapers, on the sidelines of his tour of Egypt's Future Project for Agricultural Production, which he inaugurated on May 21, 2022.

The national dialogue comes as part of Sisi's national human rights strategy, launched in September with vows to open the public space to be more and more inclusive. As such, hundreds of inamtes, including dozens of human rights activists, have recently been released by the Presidential Pardon Committee.