Egypt Security Sector Report
From war criminals in dress uniform to military-run real estate empires, Cairo’s ruling class is putting on a show. This week, Saddam Haftar was honored at a top army academy, while Egypt’s generals tightened their grip on land, housing, and healthcare. Lawyers are preparing to strike, refugees face looming cuts, and intelligence is scripting the housing narrative. Behind the scenes, the military-state machine is quietly tightening its hold on every corner of civilian life.
📁 Warlord’s Son, Torturer-in-Chief, Cairo’s Honored Guest
Last week, Lt. Gen. Saddam Khalifa Haftar—the 34-year-old son of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar—landed in Cairo for a round of talks with Egypt’s Chief of Staff Ahmed Khalifa. The two generals discussed “deepening military cooperation” and “border security.”
Later, Haftar Jr. participated in the graduation ceremony at Egypt’s Military Academy for Postgraduate and Strategic Studies, the same institution that had awarded him a PhD in 2024, seemingly in exchange for loyalty rather than merit. The image of him presiding over academic pomp would be comic if not so grotesque.
After all, this is no ordinary military officer. Saddam Haftar has been the commander of the notorious Tariq Ibn Ziyad Brigade, which Amnesty International has linked to a brutal catalogue of human rights abuses. The brigade is accused of executing detainees, kidnapping civilians, torturing prisoners, and forcibly displacing entire communities. Black migrants were stripped, beaten, and dumped in the desert. Detainees were filmed chanting “Field Marshal Haftar is my master” while being tortured. Families in Benghazi’s Sabri district were expelled en masse. These are not just war crimes—they are systematic terror campaigns carried out under Saddam’s command.
Yet in Cairo, there were no questions—just protocol, national anthems, and polite applause. Because when your father runs half of Libya and your military career is sponsored by hereditary entitlement, doors open, critics vanish, and even the worst crimes are rebranded as “stabilization efforts.”
In the theatre of Arab autocracy, Saddam isn’t just playing soldier—he’s playing heir apparent.