At the end of a palm-lined drive in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, guarded by dozens of armed security officers and sniffer dogs, a defeated ex-president was this weekend contemplating his past, his present and his future.
After steering the destiny of 80-million Egyptians for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak could now gaze out over the blue waters of the Red Sea and consider how and where to spend his remaining days.
The Mubarak villa is not the grandest in the neighbourhood, nor as flamboyant as the nearby home of Bakr bin Laden, Osama’s half-brother and scion of the Saudi construction clan.
The entrance to the former leader’s compound, next to the lush golf resort of Jolie Ville, has no nameplate but was easily identified by the security detail.
A checkpoint leading to the resort was manned by surly plainclothes officers, inspecting passports and asking questions before allowing cars to pass.
At the entrance to the Mubarak compound, a thick-set officer wearing jeans and sweatshirt, a pistol holstered at his waist, confirmed the 82-year-old was at home. Then, perhaps fearing he had said too much, reduced his responses to one or two words.
Would Mr Mubarak like to speak to the press? “No.” Was his family with him? “No comment.” Was he receiving visitors? “No comment.” Could I take a photograph? “No.” Could I hang around for a bit? “No.”
A pick-up truck with a box of bottled water was waved past the first barrier. A few yards on, an official ran a mirror underneath the chassis and a large Alsatian dog sniffed around its wheels.
Then it was the Guardian‘s turn to answer questions. Name, nationality, media organisation, hotel. Two security officers simultaneously relayed the information down their phones. Time to leave: Egypt may be liberated from tyranny but there was a chance the message hadn’t got through to Sharm el-Sheikh.
As Mubarak considers his options, there were growing calls for a full investigation of his family’s wealth. The true value of the Mubaraks’ fortune remains unknown. US officials dismissed a rumour that the family is worth up to $70-billion as a wild exaggeration, telling the New York Times that the true figure was between $2-billion to $3-billion.
Britain’s business minister, Vince Cable, called for international action to track down the Mubarak family’s assets around the world. “I was not aware that he had enormous assets here, but there clearly needs to be a concerted international action on this,” Cable said.
“There is no point one government acting in isolation, but certainly we need to look at it. It depends also whether his funds are illegally or improperly obtained.”
The Swiss government has frozen the ousted president’s assets, but there was speculation over the weekend that much of the money may already have been moved. A spokesperson for Britain’s Serious Fraud Office said it was tracking down assets linked to Mubarak in Britain in case there was a request for them to be seized, which could come from Egypt, the United Nations or the European Union. “We are identifying where such assets might be in the event that we are asked to take action,” the spokesman said.
Sharm el Sheikh — normally thronged with tourists seeking winter sunshine and superlative diving — was near-deserted this weekend. Hotel foyers echoed, roads were almost devoid of traffic, many shop doors were closed and locked. Resort hotels offered heavily discounted prices.
The Cooke family, from Abbotsbury, Dorset, on their fifth holiday in Sharm, were relaxed about the protests hundreds of kilometres to the north. “If there were student riots in London, you wouldn’t worry if you were in Cornwall, would you?” Maureen Cooke (53) said. “They don’t want any trouble here — they depend on tourism.
“In the Queen Vic pub, draped with Union flags, in Soho Square, Sharon and Paul Stone from Exeter were the only customers. The Egyptian protesters, Sharon said, had “got what they wanted, and good on ’em”. The couple was delighted with their first holiday to Egypt and were planning to return with their children and grandchild within a couple of months.
“It’s lovely, totally relaxed,” said Paul, sipping a beer in the afternoon sun. “There are no Germans and no Russians. We’ve noticed a lot of police and guards on hotels, but we don’t feel at all uneasy.”
The opulence of Sharm’s multi-star hotels is in stark contrast to the poverty and deprivation in most of the country. But hotel workers’ wages are low, and few tourists venture beyond resort restaurants and bars to pump money into the local economy.
Unlike the euphoria of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the atmosphere in Sharm, where no protests took place in the 18 days before Mubarak’s resignation, was subdued. “We are very sad to see him go,” said Nasser, a concierge in a smart, beach-front hotel. “He was a good man. And now those of us who are sad have to keep quiet.”
guardian.co.uk