The crash of state-controlled EgyptAir Flight 804 is the latest blow to a country becoming known for airline disasters, terrorism and economic and political troubles.
The land of the Great Pyramids, home of King Tut and some of the finest SCUBA dives in the world, is struggling to revive its tourism industry. Its military-led government is fighting an Islamist insurgency and cracking down on radical and liberal critics alike.
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ruler of the most populous country in the Arab world, expressed his condolences Friday to passengers’ families after search teams confirmed they’d found debris from the flight, which disappeared from radar Thursday over the Mediterranean Sea. Sixty-six passengers and crew were aboard the plane traveling from Paris to Cairo.
Cairo's stock exchanged, closed on Friday, has already had its say.
"The plane accident had a negative impact on the market after it had rebounded from earlier losses mid-week," said Wael Enaba, an analyst for Awa’el Securities in Cairo.
Stocks plunged Thursday as soon as the plane went missing. In the first quarter of 2016, 1.2 million tourists visited Egypt, down from 2.2 million in 2015. Travel and tourism account for around 12% of jobs in Egypt.
On Oct. 31, Russian airliner Metrojet Flight 9268 exploded over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing 224 people. The Sinai Province, an affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist movement, claimed responsibility.
That group accelerated attacks on Egyptian forces after the ouster in 2013 of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president, Mohammed Morsi, and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in 2014. Despite ongoing Egyptian military operations against Sinai Province fighters, including airstrikes, the group has killed hundreds of Egyptian troops.
Egypt has been in political tumult ever since the Tahrir Square uprising in downtown Cairo that deposed former leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The incident was followed by months of protests and demonstrations, fueled by popular frustration with corrupt politicians and a drive for power by Islamist factions. Then-Gen. Al-Sisi, who headed the country’s secular military, ousted Morsi and launched a bloody crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, killing or arresting thousands of the group’s leaders and supporters. Initially popular, Al-Sisi was elected president in an election that Democracy International said was marred by a repressive political environment.
Al-Sisi has come under attack for his crackdown on free speech and the transfer, announced last month, of two small but strategic islands in the Red Sea to Egypt’s main financial benefactor, Saudi Arabia.
At a meeting with al-Sisi on Wednesday in Cairo, Secretary of State John Kerry stressed the importance of Egypt's role in the Middle East, in the fight against terrorism, and pledged to help grow its economy and democratic institutions, according to the State Department.
Egypt's military rulers have chosen a difficult path and "I don’t think it’s working out very well,” said Michele Dunne, director of the Middle East program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
They're imposing security with an iron fist, economic growth through government and military-led projects, and a political scene limited to a small number of participants, Dunne said. They treat followers of the Muslim Brotherhood, secular activists and human rights organizations as enemies of the state, she said.
“We don’t know if this plane crash has anything to do with the general course Egypt is on, but whatever the cause of the crash is determined to be, it will be a further blow to the Egyptian tourism industry and Egypt’s economy,” Dunne said.
Contributing: Jacob Wirtschafter from Cairo
