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
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”
From the April 15th 2023 edition
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