Egypt’s power cuts persist amid heat, declining natural gas production

Adam Lucente

Aug 8, 2023

The sun sets behind road lamps along a highway in El-Shorouk. — The sun sets behind road lamps along a highway in El-Shorouk, a satellite city about 47 kilometers outside the city center of Cairo, on July 24, 2023. Egypt's prime minister on July 27 announced a number of measures, including planned power cuts, to cut down on energy consumption as the country and the wider region face a brutal heat wave. — KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images

Electricity cuts in Egypt are threatening people’s well-being, a rights watchdog said on Tuesday, while natural gas production is also down.

Human Rights Watch said that the Egyptian government’s scheduled electricity cuts are putting people’s economic and social rights at risk.

“Egypt’s government has long demanded implicitly that Egyptians sacrifice their civil and political rights in return for economic prosperity,” the group’s deputy regional director, Adam Coogle, said in a press release. “But electricity cuts dramatically reduce people’s ability to realize their rights, including food, water and health care.

Heatwave