HISTORY WON'T BE CONTINUING ONLY ALONG THE NILE:

New surgeon, same old scalpels (The Economist, Jul 15th 2004)

BEING prime minister of Egypt is a thankless task. Like a doctor attending a chain-smoking diabetic, you are supposed to tackle such ills as swelling unemployment and rising budget deficits, but without exacerbating other chronic ailments, such as a palsied bureaucracy and spreading corruption. You have to do all this without inflaming those touchy organs, the army, the intelligence services, or the all-powerful presidency with its clinging appendage of business cronies. Worse, when your medicine fails to produce a miraculous cure, the blame falls on you, never on your boss, the untouchable president, or on the twisted constitutional scheme that stacks the odds against you.

So it was with a mix of pity and relief that Egyptians welcomed President Hosni Mubarak's appointment of a new man to the post on July 9th. Pity, because the outgoing prime minister, Atef Ebeid, had endured even more than the usual abuse during a five-year term marked by recession and policy drift. Relief, because the change this time was accompanied by a purge of other long-tenured and even less popular officials, and also because it ended a great wave of rumour-trading about Mr Mubarak's health. Last month, when he suddenly left the country for medical treatment in Germany, trading on Cairo's stock exchange virtually halted. Now, his slipped disc fixed, he is back to work.

There was also relief because the choice of the new team suggests that change is afoot. Along with nearly half the cabinet, half of Egypt's 26 regional governors, whom Mr Mubarak also appoints, were replaced. The presidency even answered longstanding pleas from journalists, among others, and named an official spokesman for itself, a move that may curb some of the Kremlinological excesses of Cairo's rumour mill.

To many, such moves hinted that Mr Mubarak, who seemed almost to enjoy ignoring pressure for change, now understands its urgency. Some see the hand of America behind this—noting the nudges from President George Bush, who said recently that the country which had led the region in peacemaking (and, after Israel, in receiving American aid) should also lead it in democratisation. Others see the influence of Mr Mubarak's ambitious, pro-business son Gamal, whose lobbying within the ruling National Democratic Party had so far been parried by reactionaries.

What's that now, about 5 regimes George W. Bush has changed in the Islamic world?

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 19, 2004 3:14 PM