EGYPT - In the normally jammed Egypt streets, Mohamed Mabrouk, a civil servant, used to take nearly an hour to reach his work, about 20km from his home. However, the recent fuel shortage, in addition to the strike by the workers in Cairo's Public Transportation Authority, has turned his daily journey into a nightmare. "God punish those who are causing us such suffering, those who want to suck our blood," says Mabrouk, who wonders whom exactly to blame; for him the list of the guilty is getting longer. "With all these problems together, there's someone trying our patience, and I warn you that we may well run out of patience soon," adds Mabrouk, who, like many other Egyptians, thinks that the series of crises that have recently hit Egyptians are somehow connected. For nearly two weeks now, Egypt has been suffering shortages of all types of petrol ��" 80, 90, 92 and the more expensive 95. The recent fuel crisis is the second this year. Petrol supplies have dried up and long queues of automobiles snake down the streets outside the country's petrol stations, causing immense traffic problems. The transport problems are now affecting the prices of some commodities. The petrol shortage may also mean bakeries will have to stop baking, while many vehicles, even emergency vehicles like ambulances, might grind to a halt. The black market for fuel has also pushed the private sector ��" microbus drivers and taxi drivers ��" to put up their prices. Egyptian had already been suffering from a gas cylinder shortage when this latest crisis started. Other problems include shortages of some medicines, rising prices of food and other basic commodities, and the security vacuum. There is a common Arabic saying that states that a problem never comes alone. But Egyptians now have a lot of problems and many of them believe that this is no coincidence, but a deliberate attempt to push them over the edge. Perhaps it is a plot to make them dispense with their revolution or to distract them from other important issues, such as the writing of the new Constitution or the election of the next President. "We are starting to smell the tricks of the old regime again; Mubarak and his cronies used to invent problems to distract the public from more serious problems," says Fatma Zakaria, a housewife living in Cairo. Egyptians are also worried that the prices of commodities will keep on rising. Workers at gas stations complain of receiving less fuel than usual, while the Government insists that it has actually upped the quantities on offer. The Government blames the black market, the remnants of the old regime and public mistrust. Petroleum Minister Abdullah Ghorab dismisses talk of a shortage, claiming that fuel supplies exceed demand. “The crisis stems from mistrust between the Government and the citizens," he says, urging citizens not to hoard fuel, as this will only compound the problem. Another Petroleum Ministry official, Hani Dahi, claims that there is "a rise in the illegal use of fuel" and calls for tighter security to prevent black market dealers selling subsidised fuel at higher prices. "If the reason is the remnants, the black market or security, the Government must do something about this. It mustn't remain silent or things will get even worse," says Hani Hafez, a civil servant who also blames Parliament for not doing one of its tasks ��" monitoring the Government. While the Government is under fire from Parliament and the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, which say it's not dealing with the fuel crisis properly, some people believe the Freedom and Justice Party is one of the powers behind the crisis, hoping to embarrass the Ganzouri Government. In a recent report in a local newspaper, Ibrahim Zahran, a power resources expert, attributed the problem to remnants of the old regime who still control much of the market. He also blamed poor state of the Egyptian refineries and the Brotherhood, who want to get their revenge on the Ganzouri Government. At the same time, military council sources have told the local media that talks are underway with some Arab countries to supply Egypt with its needs. According to Dahi, Egypt needs LE250 million of fuel every day and the Arab countries don't want to offer any financial facilities. "They just want us to lament the days of Mubarak, but, whatever happens to us, we'll not do that,” says an old lady who's been waiting hours for a bus to take her home.
