Egypt: Amid shortages, Egyptians grow to miss Mubarak
Long line of trucks sit on the road of the Nile's west bank in Luxor, Egypt. The trucks are lined up, waiting on the side of the road for hours, sometimes as long as 7 hours, to fill up their tanks with diesel fuel, often only to find the besieged gas station has run out of fuel before they reach the pumps. The diesel shortage is wreaking havoc on people’s daily lives, leaving some reminiscing over the days of former president Mubarak. Egypt’s foreign reserve has plummeted by nearly two-thirds since Mubarak’s ouster. Tourism, one of the country’s key economic sector is in a slump.The Egyptian pound has devalued by nearly ten percent, and violent crime is on the rise. “This is the worst crisis, because it has been going on for a year and a half and it is never ending,” said Ehab Shookry, the owner of a franchise gas station. “People are really very tired.” To read more about the situation read Betsy Hiel's reporting in
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.