7 years have passed since the June 30, 2013 demonstrations that paved the way for the military coup carried out by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi when he was defense minister, and then jumped to power to rain down the Egyptians with promises over the past 6 years of prosperity and livelihood, and that Egypt would become "the world", he said, Was the result on the ground after all these years?
The result seems to be very different from the promises, according to observers that Egypt suffered "heavy losses" inflicted even on its land and national soil, as well as its national wealth, unlike the decline of its soft power, while supporters of the authority insist that Egypt has witnessed many achievements.
According to international indicators - most notably the World Bank reports - Egypt lost part of its estimated total area until 2018 by one million square kilometers due to the gradual contraction of its wealth and lands with the rise of Sisi.
On top of that is the relinquishment of two islands and Sanafir in the Red Sea for Saudi Arabia, unlike a thousand square kilometers that will be deducted from the Sinai Peninsula in favor of the Saudi "NEOM" project, in addition to Egypt's neglect of some of its economic rights in the Mediterranean waters where promising fields of natural gas are available.
In addition to the national soil and sea water, Egypt's share of the Nile's water, which has been historically stable for decades, is in doubt after Sisi signed the 2015 agreement with Ethiopia, which approved Egypt's agreement to build the Renaissance Dam, and then negotiations were stalemated between the two sides currently and still are, while reports are frequent on enabling The Emirates of the joints of the Egyptian economy and investments.
Not only that, there has been a case of controversy recently regarding the government's intention to get rid of some of its debts by selling state-owned assets to Arab and foreign investors in partnership with the recently launched "Egypt's sovereign fund".
And last month, the Central Bank announced that the volume of external debt owed on Egypt increased to about $ 112.67 billion, to jump by 145% from what it was when Sisi came to power, when he did not exceed $ 46 billion.
Bleeding points
political and prominent Egyptian opposition Ayman Nour believes that Egypt in the era of Sisi "exposed to bleeding points related to its reputation, wealth, land and opportunities to achieve an economic, social and political balance in the future, in light of conditions deteriorating every year from the year before."
In an interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Nour said, "What Egypt lost in terms of wealth, land, and geographical extension is much less than what it endured from a loss related to its strategic weight and its value in its regional and international surroundings during the 6 years in which Sisi came to power."
And he considered that the value of Egypt - the largest in its worst conditions - "descended to a point that it had not previously fallen to, after it was leading the region and was an influential international party", denouncing in this regard what he described as "the Egyptian regime's dependency on its Emirati counterpart", saying that " This dependency has a great cost to Egypt's reputation and image. "
He added that "the material losses that Egypt lost as a result of the abdication of Tiran and beeps or the wasted area in the territorial waters of the Mediterranean - in light of suspicious agreements between the regime and some southern European countries contradicting with Turkey - represent huge and dangerous losses that will be borne by the people and future generations."
He stressed that "these wasted resources and areas were supposed to reduce the severity of the debts and loans, which increased dramatically and significantly in the years of Sisi's rule."
A warning from absenteeism
that Egypt's declining soft power in recent years has noticeably prompted Sami Sharaf, who is one of the founders of the General Intelligence and the personal secretary of former President Gamal Abdel Nasser, to warn of the deliberate absence of the Egyptian media through his content and messaging.
In an article in the newspaper "Al-Masry Al-Youm" last year, Sharaf said that "Egypt is no longer the Arab press, and its thinkers no longer constitute the Arab practical, intellectual and cultural scene, and even Egyptian newspapers and channels review their leadership role."
After Egypt had been the leader of Arab action for decades, it seemed that it had retreated, as some accused it of being subordinate to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates due to receiving significant aid from them, as was the decline in the Egyptian role and its regional limitations, to the extent that those who mediated in the conflicts that accompanied the Sudanese revolution last year were Ethiopia and not Egypt.
Geographical contraction
In recent years, the total area of Egypt has witnessed a rare contraction, after the abdication in favor of Saudi Arabia of the two islands of Tiran (80 square kilometers) and Sanafir (33 square kilometers), which are a tourist destination and an important strategic location in the Red Sea, despite widespread popular rejection.
The two islands had great strategic importance for their role in the strategic defense assurance of the Sinai and the Egyptian territorial waters in the Red Sea, and Egypt enabled them to completely close the Gulf of Aqaba in the event of any war with Israel.
In contrast to the relinquishment of the two islands, Cairo and Riyadh signed in 2018 an agreement to develop more than one thousand square kilometers of land in southern Sinai, to be part of the Saudi "NEOM" project, which still faces widespread doubts, controversy and fears of Israeli investments in it.
While the Egyptian authorities confirmed on more than one occasion that the two islands are "Sauditian", while the "NEOM" project will be a kiss for international trade for Egypt, the Kingdom and Jordan (one of the sides of the project).
2015 agreement
In light of Ethiopian insistence to unilaterally fill the Renaissance Dam "with or without an agreement," the Egyptians held Sisi responsible for giving up the historical right to the waters of the Nile after signing the "Agreement of Principles" in 2015, as the signers considered the signature an official recognition of Ethiopia's right to build the dam, and they jumped On old agreements, Egypt maintains 55.5 billion cubic meters of Nile water.
Ethiopia plans to start filling the dam by the middle of next July in exchange for a Sudanese-Egyptian refusal to fill a unilateral decision without an agreement, while Egypt has formally submitted a request for international intervention.
Mediterranean Gas
In late 2014 - and on behalf of the House of Representatives (absent at the time) - Sisi began his term by ratifying a framework agreement with Cyprus on cooperation in developing gas fields in the waters of the Mediterranean, which has become one of the most important reserves of natural gas in the world.
In May 2015, Egyptian oil expert Ramadan Abu El-Ela revealed in press statements that the approval of the agreement deprived his country of its rights in the Cypriot "Aphrodite" and "Leviathan" fields, whose fortunes are estimated at about $ 200 billion.
And a scientific research by the Egyptian academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (American) Nile El Shafei revealed that the two fields are located inside the exclusive Egyptian economic waters.
And at the end of last year, documents revealed by Al-Jazeera network regarding the demarcation of the border between Egypt and Greece in 2018 showed that Sisi ignored his country's foreign objection to Egypt's ceding 7 thousand square kilometers, including 3 thousand square kilometers in exchange for the Turkish coasts from Egypt's water borders, and insisted on completing the demarcation .
Despite Egypt's rapprochement with Greece, Cyprus and Israel, the trio signed in the absence of Egypt at the beginning of this year an agreement to extend the "Eastern Mediterranean" pipeline to transport natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean to Europe, to eliminate Egypt's hopes of becoming a regional gas platform.
In 2018, Cairo and Tel Aviv also announced an agreement to import Egypt's gas from Israel valued at $ 10 billion over 15 years, from fields that observers confirm are primarily subject to Egypt's sovereignty.