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WORLD NEWS Monday 26 March 2018

Portraits of Egypt's leader fill iconic Cairo Square

By BRIAN ROHAN been blocked.
Associated Press El-Sissi has said such mea-
CAIRO (AP) — Seven years sures are necessary to re-
ago, Cairo's Tahrir Square store stability and revive
was filled with tens of thou- the economy in a country
sands of Egyptians de- of 100 million, one that is
manding change. Now it grappling with widespread
is plastered with portraits of poverty and confronting an
the president, vowing con- Islamic State-led insurgen-
tinuity. cy in the Sinai Peninsula. He
Almost all traces of the has also enacted a series
popular revolt that over- of long-overdue economic
threw longtime autocrat measures, such as cutting
Hosni Mubarak in 2011 are subsidies and floating the
now gone. Instead there local currency, and has
are banners and posters — championed mega-proj-
dozens of them — showing ects aimed at improving in-
a beaming Abdel-Fattah frastructure and providing
el-Sissi, the general-turned- jobs. The economy is show-
president who's running for ing signs of improvement,
re-election this week in a Young Egyptians take photographs of themselves standing in front of newly-painted murals on but the austerity measures
vote widely dismissed as a a street leading off from Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. Seven years ago, Cairo’s Tahrir have made it even harder
farce. Square was filled with tens of thousands of Egyptians demanding change. In March 2018, it is fes- for Egyptians to make ends
"What happened in Tah- tooned with portraits of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, vowing continuity. Almost ll traces of the meet in a country where
popular revolt that overthrew autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 are now gone.
rir was the biggest threat (AP Photo/Ben Curtis) more than a fourth of the
to the network of corrup- population lives below the
tion and theft throughout mockery from some crit- plastered with pro-el-Sissi tens of thousands of people poverty line.
Egypt's modern history," said ics. But it is in Tahrir Square, posters. "Times are tight returned to Tahrir Square, With heavy restrictions on
Wael Eskandar, a blogger where mass protests raised but we're betting on him. demanding his resignation. public opinion polling and
and activist who took part hopes of democratic He saved the country," he The military, under the lead- an absence of critical
in the protests that brought change in the Arab world's said. He asked that his full ership of el-Sissi, removed voices in the media, it's im-
down Mubarak. "Tahrir sym- most populous country, name not be used, fear- Morsi from power and possible to know whether
bolizes that threat and is a that the effect is most jar- ing reprisals for talking to launched a massive crack- el-Sissi is as popular as the
reminder that people can ring. foreign journalists, who are down on the Brotherhood, posters suggest. The best
awaken and ask for their In February 2011, protest- regularly vilified by Egypt's which won a series of elec- indication may come from
rights. That's why el-Sissi and ers who had clashed with pro-government media. tions held after the 2011 up- turnout, which the govern-
his regime insist on appro- police and camped out The 2011 uprising ushered rising but is now outlawed ment hopes will bolster the
priating it to erase a na- in the square for 18 days in a period of instability, as as a terrorist group. Authori- election's legitimacy.
tion's memory." erupted into cheers as the Egypt's military, the Muslim ties have jailed thousands Mohammed, a delivery-
The election, which begins end of Mubarak's 29-year- Brotherhood group and of Islamists as well as sev- man who asked that his full
Monday with voting stag- rule was announced on a other Islamists, and a loose eral well-known secular ac- name not be published for
gered over three days, giant screen. Now, a mas- coalition of liberal parties tivists, including many who fear of reprisal, didn’t know
nearly ended up as a one- sive LCD monitor plays pro- vied for power. Egypt's first played a leading role in the the name of the candi-
man referendum, after all Sissi videos on a perpetual freely elected president, 2011 uprising. The media is date running against el-Sissi
serious challengers were loop. the Brotherhood's Moham- dominated by pro-govern- and doesn’t plan on vot-
arrested or pressured into "Everyone loves him," said med Morsi, proved divisive, ment commentators, and ing. “Normal people don’t
withdrawing. The only oth- Hossam, as he left a store and in the summer of 2013 hundreds of websites have want (el-Sissi) to win.q
er candidate to make the
ballot, Moussa Mustafa
Moussa, is a little-known Israel PM lauds US law to curb Palestinian aid
politician who supports el-
Sissi and has made almost
no effort to campaign JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli killed or jailed in fighting ald Trump. On Sunday, Ne- The Palestinians say the
against him. Prime Minister Benjamin Ne- with Israel. tanyahu called the law a families are victims of vio-
Banners extolling el-Sissi, of- tanyahu is praising the U.S. The Taylor Force Act, "powerful signal by the U.S. lence. Palestinian official
ten bearing the names of government for passing a named after an American that changes the rules" by Nabil Abu Rdeneh con-
local businessmen or orga- law that suspends some fi- killed in Israel by a Palestin- cutting "hundreds of millions demned the law, saying it
nizations advertising their nancial aid to the Palestin- ian in 2016, was folded into of dollars for the Palestinian doesn't "allow for the cre-
support, have proliferated ians over the stipends paid a $1.3 trillion spending bill Authority that they invest in ation of an atmosphere
across Egypt, prompting to families of Palestinians signed by President Don- encouraging terrorism." conducive to peace."q