During the First International Conference of Council for Arab and International Relations held in Kuwait, the Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris said that the Arab revolutionaries are not succeeding. He bases this statement on what he sees happening in Libya, which has turned into an armed state, Tunisia, which is plagued by assassinations, and now in Egypt, which risks facing a civil war. According to Sawiris, these developments are the result of people not having learned to accept the other and live together despite their differences.
According to the Qatari newspaper Opinion that published Sawiris’ statements, Arab countries are not in need of outside interference because Arab revolutionaries removed dictatorships and despotism and obtained freedom and justice. The question is however, where these principles are now, and who the revolutionaries are today. Sawiris has nicknamed the Arab Spring “Autumn Anger,” because it has angered all people, even those who contributed to the Revolution.
Sawiris continued: “If there is no type of consensus and if the government doesn’t relinquish its power, accepts the other and incorporates the other’s opinion, we will witness an economic collapse and starvation”. Sawiris explains that he is with President Mursī if he listens to the street, stops “Brotherhoodizing” the state and begins representing all Egyptians, not just the Muslim Brotherhood (Amīr Wajdī, al-Watan, Feb. 13, p. 4). Read original text in Arabic.
