Sisi issues decree to form anti-terrorism council

CAIRO –26 July 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi issued a presidential decree on Wednesday to form the National Council to Combat Terrorism and Extremism.

The council aims to mobilize institutional and societal capacities to reduce the causes of terrorism and to address its effects.

It is headed by the President and includes the speaker, Prime Minister, Sheikh of Al Azhar, Pope of Alexandria, Ministers of Defense, Military Production, Endowments, Youth, Solidarity, Foreign Affairs, Interior, Communications, Justice, Education, Higher Education, head of the General Intelligence Service and Chairman of the Administrative Control Authority along with a number of public figures.

The council will analyze and study the plans and ideologies of terrorist organizations, in addition to monitoring their activities. As well as combating terrorism through a coordinated effort by all ministries and officials concerned with national security and will develop necessary strategies to eliminate extremism through intellectual, cultural, legal and security means. It will also provide means to stop local and international sources of funding terrorist groups.

Members of the council committees will be responsible for issuing recommendations and resolutions on combating the phenomenon of terrorism and extremism. These recommendations will be binding by state entities.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi first announced plans to form the counter-terrorist council in April in response to the Palm Sunday bombings that killed 48 people and injured dozens of others in Tanta and Alexandria.