Prominent Egyptian politician Mohamed Abul Ghar, who supported Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s bid for presidency in 2014, likened Egypt’s current state of affairs to its defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, in an opinion article on Tuesday. “Twice, I felt hopelessness in saving my country from falling into the abyss. The first was in June 1967 after the heavy defeat that killed my nation and tens of thousands of its soldiers and officers,” Abul Ghar wrote in the privately-owned Al-Masry Al-Youm. Abul Ghar heads the Egyptian Democratic Social Democratic Party, which was founded after the 2011 uprising that toppled long-serving President Hosni Mubarak. The party has only four seats in the current 596-seat parliament. “Now, I have become certain that the chances are slim,” he wrote, lamenting the country’s “fragmentation,” a police that “beats and tortures,” cabinet ministers whose presence is “ceremonial” and an economy that has “collapsed” as the Egyptian pound’s exchange rate plunged against the US dollar. He also criticized the president for “working alone,” “implementing giant projects without [prior] economic studies” and for delivering a “frustrating speech in which he symbolically announced putting himself on sale.” In a speech…
Once a Supporter of Sisi, Egyptian Politician Criticizes Country’s President and State of Affairs
March 9, 2016
