Between the Fronts: Searches of NGO Offices in Egypt (Photo: Qantara.de)

If one were to analyse the reporting on the recent wave of searches conducted of the offices of nongovernmental organisations in Egypt, a pattern could be discerned centering on the repression of the work of human rights organisations and think tanks that take issue with the violence exercised by the Military Council.

This aspect is no doubt a central one, and the suppression of critical information on the Army one of the goals the Military Council is pursuing with the searches. Nevertheless, a close examination of the events also turns up a further point: the attempt by the military to restore its credibility, which has increasingly come under fire in past weeks.

Conducting the parliamentary elections without centrally steered manipulation or force already aimed in this direction, and would have made it much easier to install a presidential candidate backed by the military, the Military Council thus demonstrating its support for more democracy in the country.

The innumerable images on state television of soldiers accompanying old and feeble voters to the polls corroborated this assumption. Things obviously turned out differently, though, and the true face of the military was revealed in the violent clashes in December.

...

Matthias Sailer; Translated by Jennifer Taylor

Read Full Original Text