CAIRO: While President Hosni Mubarak's repeated public appearances attempted to counter rumors about a possible decline in his health, it also aimed to regain citizens' trust in the government, observers say. Last weekend witnessed what analysts described as the “intensive presence of Mubarak” in the holy month of Ramadan. On Saturday, Mubarak inaugurated the new Saft El-Laban highway, which connects Cairo and Giza governorates with the Ring Road. At a cost of LE 900 million, it took almost two years to complete the mega-project that aims to alleviate the traffic flow in Greater Cairo. Officials said that the 9.3-kilometer corridor will solve 30 percent of traffic congestion in Cairo. In the inauguration speech, Mubarak used the occasion to address issues of concern to all Egyptians, mainly water and bread. “Citizens seemed to have lost trust in the government strategy of running utilities after the recent power cuts, water shortages and wheat crisis as well as road accidents, which represents a crisis in the way the government manages utilities,” Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies researcher Nabil Abdel-Fattah told Daily News Egypt. Mubarak said that Nile water “will never go beyond Egypt's borders,” instructing the government to maximize water resources in the country. He further called on the government to expand sea water desalination projects and use modern technology to generate new crops that can be irrigated by sea water to meet the increasing need for food supplies. Mubarak's statements were seen as an attempt to reassure Egyptians that the recent regional dispute among Nile Basin countries over rights to Nile water will have no impact on their well-being. Over the past few months, Egypt and Sudan have been leading a diplomatic battle with Nile Basin countries that want a bigger share of over the river's water. Moreover, recent reports said that Israel negotiated with the Nile riparian countries to get a quota of the river's waters in exchange for funding some water and development projects in these countries, official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported Saturday. But both sides denied these reports. In the late 1970s, Israel officially asked Egypt's late president Anwar El-Sadat to provide them with Nile water, almost one year after the two countries signed a peace treaty. On Sunday daily independent Al-Masry El-Youm newspaper quoting former advisor to Minister of Irrigation Diyaa Eddin El-Qoussy as saying that Mubarak's statements affirmed that Egypt would not comply with the demands of the Nile Basin countries or any state that shares interests with Israel. Also during the inauguration, Mubarak quizzed PM Ahmed Nazif about the cultivation of wheat and achieving self-sufficiency. Nazif said that the government has been seeking means of raising the yield. Mubarak also tackled accidents caused by trailers on highways. In this respect, the president announced that the two-year grace period for trailer trucks that ends in August 2010 will not be renewed “to preserve the souls of citizens.” Also Saturday, Mubarak inaugurated the renovated Islamic Art Museum in downtown Cairo's Bab El-Khalq district. Rumors have recently spread about a possible deterioration of Mubarak's health. The rumors gained strength when the international press published reports about the alleged decline of the president's medical condition. In response, the state-owned media launched a counter campaign where officials decisively denied that the president was sick. Another potential reason for the president's boosted public appearances, according to Abdel-Fatah, is the recent campaigns for and against the nomination of his 47-year old son, Gamal, for president in 2011.
