Egypt is now ‘on the right track’

CAIRO // Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi said Egypt was “on the right track” six years after the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak.

Speaking yesterday in a televised address commemorating the revolution, Mr El Sisi called on young activists who took part in protests in 2011 to work for the country’s future.

“An objective assessment of developments in Egypt in recent years makes clear that we are moving on the right track,” the president said.

Addressing those who took part in the uprising, Mr El Sisi said Egypt needed their efforts to continue on the “road of reform, construction and development”.

January 25 marks the anniversary of the day in 2011 when protesters began to gather in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, demanding an end to Mubarak’s 30-year rule. For 18 days, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, staying in a makeshift tent camp, protested against social inequalities, government corruption and police abuse and called for democratic reforms.

After the protests in Cairo and other cities, Mubarak resigned on February 1.

The former leader is still being held at a military hospital on the outskirts of Cairo, where he was transferred in 2014 after house arrest.

As on previous anniversaries, police were out in Cairo yesterday to prevent any gatherings during the national holiday, which before the revolution was the country’s national police day.

Critics accused Mr El Sisi of cracking down on freedoms won during the revolt since the former army chief toppled Mohamed Morsi, who was elected as president after the revolution, in 2013.

Years of political turmoil and an Islamist insurgency that has killed hundreds of soldiers and police since Morsi’s overthrow, have taken a toll on Egypt’s economy.

Mr El Sisi, whose government last year secured a US$12 billion (Dh44bn) loan from the International Monetary Fund, yesterday promised further efforts to revive the economy. “We will continue to reform the economy, build massive development projects throughout Egypt, support small and medium projects, and improve the domestic and foreign investment climate,” he said.