Egyptian government initiates national dialogue amidst security crackdown.

Egypt has launched a national political dialogue aimed at producing political, economic and social reform recommendations that could be presented for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's consideration. The dialogue is one of several steps aimed at countering criticism of Egypt's human rights record, but critics say recent steps on human rights are cosmetic, pointing to continuing detentions and arrests of dissidents, and say they doubt the dialogue signals real change. Discussions around the constitution, foreign policy and "strategic national security" would be off limits.