To Egypt's government Marassi is a symbol of regeneration in a beautiful region. To many locals it represents marginalisation and betrayal.

The steaming sands of El-Alamein, where German and Allied tanks fought fiercely during World War II, are being readied for a boom in tourism, but only once the landmines are cleared. The potentially lucrative tourism industry on Egypt's north coast is being cautiously developed on one of the most heavily mined bits of real estate in the world.

Under a roaring flypast by Italian jets, former enemy soldiers gathered on Sunday to remember comrades who fell at El Alamein 60 years ago, a battle in the Egyptian desert that turned the tide for allied forces fighting Nazi Germany.