Erstellt am: 9. 7. 2012 - 14:44 Uhr

Reality Check: Moving Forward Means Looking Back

The very curious case of the Egyptian Parliament, the Libyan elections, and South Sudan celebrates its first birthday.

Dissolved-Reconvened?

My friend Sarah Carr, a photo-journalist who lives in Cairo, recently said that Egyptian politics makes parody obsolete these days. I totally get what she's saying. One minute one thing looks one way, the next, everything is different.

Egypt's parliamentary speaker said the chamber would reconvene tomorrow, risking a showdown with the army after the new President, Mohammed Morsi defied the generals by quashing the dissolution of the legislature they had ordered last month.

And yet, relations between Morsi and the army seem to be friendly to say the least as the new President and the head of the military council (SCAF) appeared together, looking relaxed and in conversation, at a televised event this morning.

Apa

The Egyptian Parliament in March of this year, in Cairo, Egypt.

Karim El Gawhary, FM4 correspondent in Cairo, tried to explain what's going on...

APA

An man from southern Sudan waves his nation's flag

Happy Birthday South Sudan!

The world's youngest country, South Sudan, celebrates its first birthday today after decades of civil war between the south and north. Are the current circumstances there really worth celebrating though? That's what Reality Check's Joanna Bostock asked Friedbert Ottacher, who's on his third trip to South Sudan for the medical charity Licht für die Welt.