Egypt’s army seems to want to make pasta as well as war
Even as it struggled to assert control on Sinai, it seized large parts of the economy
![In this picture taken on February 6, 2023, Egyptian army soldiers wait by a cafe along a highway in the Dahshur area southwest of Cairo. (Photo by AFP) (Photo by -/AFP via Getty Images)](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20230415_MAP003.jpg)
THE WAR was not going well. The enemy had made three major advances in barely a year. The population was demoralised. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi needed to show leadership. His motorcade zipped across a desolate landscape until it reached an army checkpoint, where Egypt’s president sought to rally the troops. “Don’t think this crisis will remain,” he told a clutch of camouflage-clad conscripts. “A day will come, and this crisis will become history.”
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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Of militants and money-changers”
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