Word: nasser
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...response to recent riots and dem onstrations in Cairo, President Gamal Abdel Nasser promised to reform and improve his government. Last week he began the process. In the most thor ough Cabinet shakeout since he rose to power 16 years ago, Nasser sacked twelve of his 29 ministers, including two men who symbolized the pro-West and pro-Communist factions within his regime. He was apparently willing to part with such trusted associates in or der to give his Cabinet a fresh and more nonpolitical appearance...
...dismissed pro-Westerner was Deputy Premier Zakaria Mohieddin, 49, a member of the original group of army officers that overthrew King Farouk; Mohieddin was named by Nasser as his successor when Nasser briefly re signed from office shortly after last June's Six-Day War. Also fired was Ali Sabry, 47, a former Vice President and far-leftist, who remains the boss of Nasser's Arab Socialist Union, the country's only legal political "party...
...replacements, Nasser chose men mainly from the academic and professional groups, which in the past have played almost no role in his governments. The new Treasury Minister is a college dean, the Minister of Education a university rector. A Cairo bank director was named Minister of Supplies and an administrator at the Aswan High Dam put in charge of the Ministry of Irrigation. Most of the new appointees were educated in Western universities, but none were known for any particular political leaning...
Serious Trouble. At Helwan, hard by the Nile, Nasser now tried to turn the riots to his advantage. "I followed these demonstrations like a father," he told his audience, "for I consider each of these students my own child." There was no hiding the seriousness of his troubles. His people, long ridden by inflation and shortages, no longer convinced of inevitable victory in the jihad (holy war) against Israel and disillusioned by evidence of corruption in the government, have begun to question him and even turn against him. The left wing of his party is trying to turn the demonstrations...
More important, there is growing discontent among the officers of Nasser's army, who understandably resent their role as scapegoats for Israel's victory in June. As long as Nasser could count on the unquestioned admiration of his worshipful populace, no military leader dared lift a finger against him. But the admiration is now in question, the populace is no longer entirely worshipful, and the possibility of a military coup can no longer be dismissed. The fact that there is no visible movement of anti-Nasser officers means little, as Nasser himself well knows. Who, after...