Egypt Settles Down
It has now become reasonably clear that the Cairo riots of three weeks ago so shocked the Egyptian people, as well as the rest of the world, that a period of relative calm was the only possible means of recovery. And at the moment there seems to be some hope that that period will be prolonged. At any rate the British authorities in the Canal Zone have considered it safe to relax the restrictions on movement within the zone; and even the strike of Egyptian dock workers at Port Said, which has been dragging on since October, it beginning to ease. In Cairo there seems to be no disposition to prolong in any form the guerrilla war against the British forces which led straight to the terrible blood-letting in Cairo. On the contrary, all attention is focussed on the task of finding the real culprits. So far, in addition to the several hundred arrested suspects. the police, the army and the former Minister of the Interior, Serag ed din Pasha have come under popular suspicion, and only the army has been partially successful in finding a way out. But it will be far safer for all concerned if speculation is sus- pended until the official inquiry is completed. The Wafd and the Government may be uncomfortable bedfellows, but it is best that they should keep in harmony until a stable calm in Egypt is assured. Any revival of political strife could all too easily lead to revived competition for the favours of the mob—and Egypt has had a sufficient lesson in the horrors of mob rule.
Previous page
