Managing chaos

The bread crisis, economic instability and inflation preoccupy the pundits, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed

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Regional capitals have been agog with the visits of American political bigwigs including United States Vice-President Dick Cheney and Republican presidential candidate John McCain. They did not visit Egypt, but the country's papers were full of commentaries concerning the subject.

Nor is it fair to say that Cairo has stayed still. On the contrary, domestic political concerns preoccupied the pundits. There was much speculation about whether the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) would suffer an electoral setback in the upcoming municipal councils' elections. Scheduled for early April, the elections have made the headlines and have become a favourite topic among pundits. "The National Democratic Party has monopolised the municipal council elections nominations, leaving nothing for the rest of the Egyptians," ran the headline of the weekly independent Al-Osbou. The paper reported on the irregularities that marred the nomination process, as well as the police intervention to deprive other opposition forces from running.

The big fear among government supporters, of course, is that the Muslim Brotherhood would perform rather well, given the public discontent with the disappearance of bread -- the Egyptian staple -- from bakers' shelves and soaring bread prices.

The hounding of prominent Brotherhood members was the subject of much discussions. Commenting on the ongoing state security clampdown on hundreds of members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, the Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood Mohamed Mahdi Akef was quoted in the daily opposition Al-Dostour as saying that the government has overstepped the line. "Security bodies are dealing mercilessly [with the Brotherhood] in an unreasonable, illogical manner," Akef was quoted as saying. Security bodies were reported to have arrested hundreds of the group's members to prevent them from running for the coming municipal council elections in April.

Indeed, the question of human rights violations continued to be something of a hot potato. The official dailies either avoided the subject or played it down. The opposition papers, on the other hand, were more critical of the government's stance and the human rights violations committed by the authorities. The daily liberal-leaning Nahdet Masr ran a report about the human rights organisations' assessment of the coming municipal elections. "Human rights organisations say that the absence of judicial supervision threatens the fairness of the elections," read the headline. "Violations marred the nomination process," the paper added.

Popular unrest and discontent with social and economic concerns were also much reported on. Inflation, low wages and the lowering of living standards were some of the hot topics tackled by the press. The daily Al-Badeel reported on the demonstrations staged by physicians to pressure the government to get salary raises. "Egypt is boiling... as doctors are demonstrating in Cairo and provincial governorates, calling for a substantial raise in their wages," ran the headline of the paper.

Meanwhile, Ambassador Mervat Tellawi was interviewed in Nahdet Masr, giving a counter argument. "Labour strikes will not transform into a revolution," she was quoted as saying. She added that, "the government doesn't know [exactly] who are the poor... and there is a misdistribution of subsidies. However, it's impossible to do away with it."

The paper also ran a headline about the ongoing bread shortages. Many papers stressed that President Hosni Mubarak regarded resolving the bread crisis as an absolute priority and an issue of national security. "Mubarak gives the Armed Forces the task of solving the bread shortage crisis," Nahdet Masr noted .

The official daily Al-Ahram also ran a similar headline. There was much speculation over whether the military would resolve the bread crisis. The papers concurred that the highest authorities in the land are extremely concerned about the bread crisis.

Meanwhile, the daily official Al-Akhbar quoted Suleiman Awad as saying: "The president is looking forward to ending the queues in front of bread kiosks."

Writing in Al-Osbou, Mustafa Bakri argues that there is an Israeli plan aimed at settling 280,000 Palestinians in Sinai. "The seven warnings carried by [chief of Egyptian intelligence] Omar Suleiman to Israel," ran the headline of the article. Among them, Bakri argued, is warning Israel against making the Palestinians emigrate to Sinai, and warning it also against continuing to kill the Egyptians who are living along the Egyptian-Israeli border. Bakri added that President Mubarak would send a message to the Israelis, to be carried by Suleiman, demanding them to allow for doubling the number of Egyptian border guards in order to prevent the alleged smuggling of weapons from Egypt into Gaza.

On a very different note, the state of the economy was the preoccupation of the pundits. Writing in the daily independent Al-Masry Al-Yom, Tarek Abbas painted a grim picture of the current state of affairs in Egypt, as the majority of people continue to struggle to get their basic needs, while precious few are thinking about democracy. "The [Egyptian] people's suffering has hit unprecedented limits that could not only lead to explosion, but to committing suicide. It's impossible for a hungry man to think about democracy."

Political concerns, and especially the prickly topic of succession, cropped up as well. The opposition weekly Sawt Al-Umma ran an article by Mohamed Fathi Younis about what he described as "the sheikhs beat the drums for the bequeathing of the presidency [to Gamal Mubarak]". The article refers to evidence in a statement issued by Ansar Al-Sunna (Supporters of Sunna) Group in Beheira, pledging allegiance to Gamal Mubarak as the coming president, and finding his succession in line with an old tradition in the early days of Islam. "The regime has conducted deals with Ansar Al-Sunna group to pledge allegiance to Gamal Mubarak," the paper said.

In commemoration of Women's Day, the daily opposition Al-Badeel reported that "20 per cent of Egyptians are [financially] supported by women."

In Al-Akhbar, Essam Boseila criticised mobile and landline telephone companies: "The government has granted three licences to three mobile telephone operators and the second landline licence is to be granted to another company soon. However, until now, there is no [real] discount on the price of phone calls, and the connections are frequently cut off."