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WORLD NEWS Monday 30 July 2018

Egypt president defends painful austerity measures

By HAMZA HENDAWI lion people. "Everything is linked to sta-
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's presi- He has also overseen the bility and security. I want us
dent zealously defended largest crackdown on dis- to develop an acute fear
his economic policies on sent in Egypt's recent his- of instability," he said.
Sunday, saying he was tory, jailing thousands of Addressing the same youth
left with no choice but to Islamists as well as some conference Sunday, el-Sissi
embrace painful auster- secular pro-democracy warned that economic
ity measures to revive an activists, and rolling back reform was open-ended
economy mauled by years many of the freedoms won and that he intended to
of political turmoil and vio- following the 2011 uprising continue down the same
lence. that toppled longtime au- route. "I will press on be-
Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi was tocrat Hosni Mubarak. cause I don't have another
speaking at a youth con- In March, el-Sissi won a path," declared the gen-
ference a day after he ex- second, four-year term af- eral-turned-president who
pressed his displeasure over ter running virtually unop- routinely calls on Egyptians
recent online postings urg- posed. to endure hardships for the
ing him to step down over The economic reform pro- sake of their country and In this photo provided by Egypt's state news agency MENA,
the economy. He said he gram has won el-Sissi lavish declares that only God will Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaks during a youth
was "upset" over the posts, praise from Cairo's west- judge his actions.q conference in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, July 29, 2018.
which he said were inap- ern backers and bank- Associated Press
propriate. ers and showed him as a
The #Sissi_leave hashtag leader who was prepared
surfaced this summer fol- to adopt painful measures,
lowing steep price hikes like lifting state subsidies
for fuel, drinking water and on basic items, regardless
electricity as part of auster- of the political cost, some-
ity measures designed to thing his predecessors had
overhaul the economy, still not been able to do for
recovering from years of fear of unrest or losing pow-
turmoil following the 2011 er. El-Sissi's policies, howev-
popular uprising. er, have made more diffi-
"They have pushed us into cult the plight of a majority
being a nation of poverty, of Egyptians who are now
a nation of neediness, but forced to cope with steep
when I begin working to- hikes in the price of every-
ward getting us out of this, thing from utilities and fuel
I find the hashtag #Sissi — to food and transportation.
leave," he said. "Should I El-Sissi has in the past told
have been upset or not? I Egyptians not to listen to
was upset. I was upset." anyone but him and re-
El-Sissi was first elected in peated that he would
2014, a year after, as de- only listen to viewpoints
fense minister, he led the different from his if they
military's ouster of Mo- are based on thorough re-
hammed Morsi, an Islamist search. In his latest remarks,
who was freely elected he repeated his frequent
but whose one year in of- assertions about unnamed
fice proved divisive. He parties tirelessly working to
has since taking office undermine and destabilize
launched multibillion-dollar the country.
infrastructure, develop- Egypt, he warned Sunday,
ment and housing projects would not survive another
that he says will transform "revolutionary" phase like
the country of some 96 mil- that of 2011.