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EGYPT: TRENDS IN POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND HUMAN RIGHTS Michele Dunne Director and Senior Fellow Middle East Program Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Testimony before U.S. House Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism September 9, 2020 Thank you Chairman Deutch and Ranking Member Wilson for the honor of testifying before the Subcommittee. I share the concerns of other witnesses at this hearing about the abysmal human rights situation in Egypt, but my testimony will focus on the political and economic situation. I have three points: • The Egyptian people are facing intense challenges due to rapid population growth, deep and increasing poverty, widespread youth unemployment, a looming Nile water shortage, and threats to food security due to climate change. • Under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the military dominates governance as never before and has become increasingly rapacious. His regime is helping military companies to crowd out the private sector in the economy as well as diverting scarce government resources away from critical needs of the Egyptian people and towards arms purchases and vanity megaprojects. • The United States is complicit in this dangerous situation, wittingly or not. Congress should lead the reorientation of assistance policies towards Egypt as well as urge administration engagement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to promote more constructive outcomes. All me to elaborate a bit more on each of these points. Egypt’s Critical Challenges Egypt is among the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change as well as shocks such as COVID-19. It has a large and rapidly growing population of approximately 102 million, but there is no serious population control program. Only approximately three percent of its land is arable, and that is now being diminished by the effects of climate change including