RSSGach Iontráil Tagged Leis: "David B.. Ottaway"

Amárach Arabach

DAVID B. OTTAWAY

Deireadh Fómhair 6, 1981, Bhí sé i gceist go mbeadh sé ina lá ceiliúrtha san Éigipt. Ba chomóradh é an bua is mó a bhí ag an Éigipt i dtrí choimhlint Arabach-Iosraelach, nuair a chuaigh arm faoi thalamh na tíre trasna Chanáil Suez i laethanta oscailte na tíre 1973 Cogadh Yom Kippur agus chuir sé trúpaí Iosraelacha sa tóir ar chúlú. Ar fionnuar, maidin gan scamall, bhí staidiam Cairo pacáilte le teaghlaigh Éigipteacha a tháinig chun na crua-earraí míleata a fheiceáil. Ar an seastán athbhreithnithe, Uachtarán Anwar el-Sadat,ailtire an chogaidh, d'fhéach sé le sásamh agus fir agus meaisíní ag paráid os a chomhair. Bhí mé in aice láimhe, comhfhreagraí eachtrach nua-theacht.Suddenly, Stopadh ceann de na trucailí airm díreach os comhair an tseastáin athbhreithnithe díreach agus sé scaird Mirage ag ruathar lastuas i dtaibhiú androgsaineach, péinteáil an spéir le rianta fada dearg, buí, corcra,agus deatach glas. Sheas Sadat suas, de réir dealraimh ag ullmhú chun beannachtaí a mhalartú le meithle eile de thrúpaí na hÉigipte. Rinne sé sprioc foirfe dó féin do cheathrar feallmharfóirí Ioslamacha a léim as an trucail, stormed an podium, agus lán urchair ar a chorp. Mar a lean na marfóirí ar aghaidh ar feadh an chuma ar an tsíoraíocht chun an seastán a spraeáil lena tine mharfach., Rinne mé machnamh láithreach ar cé acu an mbuailfinn ar an talamh agus an baol a bheith á satailt chun báis ag lucht féachana a raibh scaoll orthu nó fanacht faoi chois agus an baol ann piléar strae a thógáil. Dúirt Instinct liom fanacht ar mo chosa, agus chuir mo chiall ar dhualgas iriseoireachta brú orm dul ag fáil amach an raibh Sadat beo nó marbh.

Egypt at the Tipping Point ?

David B.. Ottaway
In the early 1980s, I lived in Cairo as bureau chief of The Washington Post covering such historic events as the withdrawal of the last
Israeli forces from Egyptian territory occupied during the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and the assassination of President
Anwar Sadat by Islamic fanatics in October 1981.
The latter national drama, which I witnessed personally, had proven to be a wrenching milestone. It forced Sadat’s successor, Hosni Mubarak, to turn inwards to deal with an Islamist challenge of unknown proportions and effectively ended Egypt’s leadership role in the Arab world.
Mubarak immediately showed himself to be a highly cautious, unimaginative leader, maddeningly reactive rather than pro-active in dealing with the social and economic problems overwhelming his nation like its explosive population growth (1.2 million more Egyptians a year) and economic decline.
In a four-part Washington Post series written as I was departing in early 1985, I noted the new Egyptian leader was still pretty much
a total enigma to his own people, offering no vision and commanding what seemed a rudderless ship of state. The socialist economy
inherited from the era of President Gamal Abdel Nasser (1952 chun 1970) was a mess. The country’s currency, the pound, was operating
on eight different exchange rates; its state-run factories were unproductive, uncompetitive and deep in debt; and the government was heading for bankruptcy partly because subsidies for food, electricity and gasoline were consuming one-third ($7 billion) of its budget. Cairo had sunk into a hopeless morass of gridlocked traffic and teeming humanity—12 million people squeezed into a narrow band of land bordering the Nile River, most living cheek by jowl in ramshackle tenements in the city’s ever-expanding slums.