Word: wafd
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Half a hundred bigwigs of Egypt's Wafd Party sat around the highceilinged, marble-floored reception room in the ornate mansion of their boss, Mustafa el Nahas, sipped Turkish coffee and waited. Inside the library, old Nahas and the party's other top bosses were trying to decide whether to bow down to Egypt's Strongman Mohammed Naguib or to defy him. Their decision might affect the fate of Naguib's well-intentioned, energetic reform movement, and the future of Egypt...
...Zeezee" & "Safsaf." The Wafd was once the greatest political force in Egypt with a wide following among the people, to whom it promised independence from Britain and a better life. But over the years it grew deeply corrupt. Nahas himself was once a respected leader. The son of fellaheen, he came from Egypt's soil. He was a devoted servant of the people, and he lived simply even after he became Premier. Then in 1936 he took as his wife the lovely, ambitious daughter of a landowner. Her name was Zeinab, but Nahas called her "Zeezee." She called...
Zeezee did not like the simple life. She bought an elaborate beige villa in Cairo's exclusive Garden City. She bought land, jewels, fancy clothes. Wafd ministers who refused her demands for illegal import licenses were fired; others quit. She and her great & good friend, fat Fuad Serag el Din, the Wafd's secretary general, were frequently seen together in public, made profitable deals in private...
Last month Naguib's government issued a law asking all political parties to clean house, file a detailed statement of their finances. Naguib himself swore that it would be upheld. Last week his government issued a direct ultimatum to the Wafd: Nahas must quit, or the Wafd will be outlawed...
...shook. The feeble old man, his face streaming tears, was led by aides to the top of a sweeping marble staircase. Then, in a near-hysterical shriek, he gave his answer and threw down the gauntlet to Egypt's strongman: he was determined to stay on as the Wafd's leader. "God and the confidence of the Egyptian people in me," he cried, "are the source of my strength...