Militarization Drive Accelerates, SCAF Quietly Reshuffled
Egypt Security Sector Report
This week’s report tracks the state’s continuing militarization drive. Sisi warns traders accused of price manipulation they could face military courts, while again defending the Military Academy’s ideological training programs as part of the post-2011 project to “build the Egyptian person.” The issue also reviews the latest reshuffle inside the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the Air Force’s expanding role in governing new cities, the military’s lead role in the nationwide land crackdown, the latest deaths reported in Ministry of Interior (MOI) detention facilities, and a new US Foreign Military Sales contract linked to Egypt.
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Sisi Warns Traders, Floats Military Courts
Sisi told an audience of senior officers and government officials that traders accused of manipulating prices could face military courts during a Ramadan iftar hosted by the Egyptian Military Academy on 5 March.
Speaking before ministers, commanders, and cadets, he said he had directed officials to study referring “those who manipulate prices” to the military judiciary, arguing that the country is currently in a “quasi-state of emergency” amid regional war and its potential economic repercussions.
Sisi urged merchants not to exploit the situation by raising prices or tampering with basic goods, saying the state must not allow manipulation of people’s needs.
The proposal builds on earlier legislation expanding the role of military courts in economic regulation. In 2024, a law extended their jurisdiction to cover Tamween offenses. Tamween refers to the state’s supply and consumer goods system, regulating the distribution and pricing of essential commodities such as food and other subsidized goods. Under the law, traders accused of manipulating prices or withholding goods from the market can be arrested by the army and tried before military courts.
Attempting to reassure the public, Sisi added that the country remained stable despite mounting regional tensions, telling Egyptians to “rest assured, by the grace of God we are fine.” He later joined attendees in performing the evening and tarawih prayers at the academy mosque.
During the same event, Sisi again defended the militarization drive through the training programs—the six-month ideological indoctrination bootcamps—run by the Military Academy, presenting them as part of a broader effort to “build the Egyptian person.” According to the presidency, the academy’s programs draw on specialists in sociology and psychology and are intended to shape the outlook of thousands of students and officials enrolled there. He explicitly linked the initiative to what he described as the lessons of the upheavals that began in 2011, warning that “when a cohesive nation fragments, it may never return again through the hands of its own people,” and arguing that state institutions must cultivate cadres with the awareness and discipline needed to prevent a repeat of that period.
Hot Money Flees Treasuries as War Shakes Markets
