THE GEOGRAPHY (Foreign Office UK)
Full Country Name: Arab Republic of
Egypt
Area: 1,001,450 Sq Km
Population: 67.2 million (2002)
Capital City: Cairo (population: over 17
million)
People: Eastern Hamitic stock
(Egyptians, Bedouins, and Berbers)
(99%), Greek, Nubian, Armenian, other
European (primarily Italian and French)
(1%)
Languages: Arabic (official), English
and French widely understood by
educated classes
Religion(s): Muslim (mostly Sunni)
(94%), Coptic Christian and other (6%)
Currency: 1 Egyptian Pound = 100
piasters
Major political parties: Green Party;
Misr al-Fatah Party; Nasserist Arab
Democratic Party; National Democratic
Party (NDP); National Progressive
Unionist Grouping (NPUG); New Wafd
Party (NWP); Social Justice Party;
Socialist Labour Party (SLP); Socialist
Liberal Party (LSP)
Government: Republic
GEOGRAPHY
Egypt is the centre of the Arab world
– geographically as well as culturally
and intellectually. It sits on the
Mediterranean coast of North Africa,
with Libya to the west, Sudan to the
south and Israel and the Red Sea to the
East. Egypt forms the only land bridge
between Africa and the remainder of
the Eastern Hemisphere and controls
the Suez Canal, the shortest sea link
between the Indian Ocean and the
Mediterranean Sea.
THE HISTORY (Foreign Office UK)
HISTORY
Recent History
In 1954, Neguib was replaced as
president by Gamal Abd Al-Nasser. A
popular vote affirmed this in 1956.
Under his presidency, Egypt
recognised Sudanese independence;
Israel, Britain and France launched a
tripartite attack (the Suez War); Egypt
and Syria enjoyed a short-lived union,
the United Arab Republic (1958-61); and
following the June 1967 War, the Sinai
Peninsula was occupied by Israel. Yet
Nasser was the object of popular
adulation across the entire Arab world,
and his death in 1970 sent shockwaves
far beyond Egypt's borders.
Nasser's successor, Anwar Al-Sadat
presided over the expulsion of Soviet
military advisers (1972); the October
1973 War, which represented a partial
triumph for Egypt; improved relations
with the USA; economic infitah
(opening up); and peace with Israel
following US-brokered talks at Camp
David. The latter prompted Egypt's
expulsion from the Arab League and
complicated Sadat's already ambivalent
relations with domestic opponents: on 6
October 1981, militant Islamists
assassinated him at a military parade.
Following the assassination of Sadat,
Vice-President Hosni Mubarak was
appointed president, a post he occupies
to this day. Mubarak oversaw the
return of Egypt to the Arab League in
1991, following over a decade of
isolation. During this time, Egypt had
joined the international coalition which
drove Iraqi occupation forces out of
Kuwait, and since then, Mubarak's
Egypt has placed a pivotal role in the
Middle East Peace Process.
Longer Historical Perspective
The Nile Valley has hosted imperial
powers since the Pharaonic era
(beginning in the fourth millennium BC).
Then came the Persians, the
Alexandrian Greeks, the Romans and
Byzantines. By 641AD the Muslim Arabs
had conquered the whole country.
Following the Abbasid caliphate, the
Fatimids invaded in 969. It was the
Fatimids who founded the city of Cairo
(Al-Qahira – the Conqueror) and
established Al-Azhar University.
Subsequent rule by Salah Al-Din
(Saladin) and the Mamluk sultans was
ended by Ottoman occupation in 1517.
Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, and
this effectively concluded Ottoman
rule, even though the French were
expelled by an Anglo-Ottoman alliance
in 1801. In the ensuing power struggle,
the Albanian Muhammad Ali triumphed.
His dynasty oversaw westernisation of
Egypt, the building of the Suez Canal,
and colonisation of northern Sudan. In
1882, a British force occupied Cairo,
and the British Consul-General became
the effective ruler. Puppet
governments prompted a nationalist
backlash, and in 1922 Britain was
obliged to recognise Egypt as a
sovereign state. Despite this, and the
installation of an Egyptian royal family
descending from the sultans, the
British military presence (and
influence) remained, the final British
troops leaving the Suez Canal zone in
1956.
Nationalism and defeat in the 1948
Arab-Israeli war discredited the
monarchy, and on 23 July 1952 the
Free Officers seized power in a coup
d'etat. The King abdicated. The
following year, General Muhammad
Neguib was proclaimed President of
the new republic.
THE ECONOMY (Foreign Office UK)
Basic economic facts
In trade, Egypt is heavily
import-dependent. Exports include
oil/petroleum, cotton and textiles.
Service industries, specifically tourism,
canal revenues and emigrant workers'
remittances, provide a significant
proportion of foreign currency
earnings.
Atef Obeid's government is considered
liberal and business-oriented.
However, economic policy is often
subordinate to social issues such as
poverty and inequality. The
government's tight monetary stance
makes its aim of 7% annual growth
unlikely.
GDP: $268 billion (est) (2002)
GDP per head: $3900 (est) (2002)
Inflation: 4.3% (2002)
Major Industries: Agriculture,
Manufacturing, Services
Major trading partners: EU, Middle
East, USA
Exchange rate: £1 = 9.75 Egyptian
pounds (September 2003), $1 = 6.22
Egyptian pounds (September 2003)
Source: CIA World Fact Book and
Trade Partners UK
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Egypt's relations with neighbours
President Mubarak is one of the
region's elder statesmen, along with
King Fahd and Prince Abdullah of Saudi
Arabia, and Muammar Qadhafi of Libya.
Egypt's relations with the latter are as
inconstant as Qadhafi's foreign policy
stances. Egyptian-Sudanese relations
reached a low when
Sudanese-supported gunmen
attempted to assassinate President
Mubarak in Addis Ababa in 1995. They
have improved since, and Egypt has
been following closely the peace talks
in Sudan between the Government
there and the Sudan People's Liberation
Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Egypt
also claims the 'Hala'ib Triangle', under
partial Sudanese administration that is
defined by an administrative boundary
which supersedes the treaty of 1899.
Despite making peace with Israel, and
the exchange of ambassadors, popular
sentiment largely opposes these ties.
Flags Of The World: The Arab Republic of Egypt
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