Mubarak's death - the end of an era?

Former President Hosni Mubarak's policy is continued by current President

al-Sisi, both internally and externally.

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak passed away on February 25 th, at

the age of 91. The moment offers the opportunity to see again the nine short
years since the Arab Spring, the demonstrations on Tahrir Square in Cairo, after
which Mubarak withdrew from the front of the state, being emblematic.

In order to understand the character that ruled the country of the Pharaohs
for three decades until 2011, we must descend in time in the fall of 1981 when,
during a military parade, his predecessor Yearbook Al-Sadat was assassinated by
the affiliate Egyptian Islamic Jihad organization Muslim Brotherhood. General
Hosni Mubarak, also present in the official gallery, escaped by miracle. This has
made the fight against Islamist terrorism a top priority of his presidential
mandates. These experiences also shaped the interpretation grid for the Arab
Spring. Not coincidentally, in January 2011 Hosni Mubarak appoints the Deputy
Chief of Secret Services Omar Soleimani, the man who coordinated Egypt's war
against Islamist terrorism. By willingly refusing to surrender power, Hosni
Mubarak defended a regime whose exponent was the army that had been in
constant control of Egypt since the removal of King Faruk (1952). Following the
proclamation of the Republic, on June 18, 1953, the military succeeded in rulling
the country, starting with the legendary Gamal Nasser, continuing with the
Yearbook Al-Sadat and until now, with General Al-Sissi. The first has ruled Egypt
for over 14 years, and the second over 11. Long rulers are part of the Egyptian
tradition. Mohamed Morsi, the ephemeral president given by the Muslim
Brotherhood, was an accident in a country in Egypt, whose stability depends on
the Middle East and North Africa. These days the term "dictator" has been
abused. But what alternative is there in Egypt to the military-led authoritarian
regimes?
 The degradation of governance and the increase of inequalities proved to
be insoluble problems for the military regime. If the first ten years of Mubarak's
presidency, the material situation of the Egyptians has improved considerably, the
next twenty have seen a significant increase in the population on the edge of
poverty. However, there are also some objective data that led to this situation,
first of all the galloping demographics. This year the population of the country
exceeded 100 million inhabitants, being the most populated Arab country, and
the growth rate is 1 million every 6 months! If during the time of Gaddafi, many
Egyptians could find work in more prosperous Libya, today this is no longer
possible.

Another founding experience that marked Mubarak's presidency was his

fighting career in the wars against Israel and his presence alongside Al-Sadat. The
latter was the one who nominated him in 1975 as Vice President and used him
several times as an emissary in foreign policy matters. Mubarak asserted himself
as a true guardian of Sadat's legacy - maintaining the peace agreement with Israel
and approaching the US, a moderate attitude on the Israeli-Arab record. During
the first Gulf War, in 1991, Mubarak was the first Arab head of state to join the
international coalition against Iraq.

The limited democratic experience of the Arab Spring has shown that for
the moment, with small exceptions (Tunisia), there is no alternative to military
and authoritarian regimes. Even in countries much more exposed to Western
influence, such as Turkey, the alternative of a non-Islamist regime is much more
dangerous. Of course, we can persist in using the Western-European analysis
grids, and then characters like Atatürk in Turkey, Musharaf in Pakistan, Mubarak
and Al-Sisi in Egypt can be drawn as dictators. There is also a Western
responsibility to support the capacity of these regimes to respond at least
partially to the needs of the population, and assistance should not be solely on
security and military matters.

Water resources management, combating desertification in a country like

Egypt where 90% of its population concentrates in the Nile valley and Delta are
problems of the entire international community, at least of the EU and the US, if
we do not want to skip in the future. This is why in the evolution of characters
such as Mubarak the factors are multiple and not limited to the internal ones.

Mubarak's death symbolically closes a period in the history of the Nile.

Mubarak's policy is continued by the current President al-Sisi, both internally
(large construction sites to generate growth and employment) and externally
(close relationship with the US, Saudi Arabia and Israel). The power system in
Egypt remained the same.

03.03.2020

Source: www.revista22.ro