By Adham Youssef
Despite the ongoing economic difficulties Egypt is facing, it continues to offer help to “brothers from Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea”, and there are five million refugees living in the country, said President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
He added that at least 500,000 Syrian refugees were received in Egypt, without “media shows”. Al-Sisi said that Egypt doesn’t abuse them or do favours for them, adding that many international organisations stopped receiving refugees, causing an increase in the numbers.
However, he emphasised the importance of defending the “Egyptian state”, adding that “we don’t want to be a “refugee state”.
The refugees are treated as if they were Egyptians, the president said during a speech in celebration of Egyptian Universities Youth Week at Suez Canal University.
Al-Sisi arrived in Ismailia amid heavy security forces securing the vicinity. The Egyptian Universities Youth Week will take place to 17 September.
Among the officials who attended the speech is the Higher Education Minister El-Sayed Abdel–Khalek, Youth Minster Khaled Abdel Aziz, and Suez Canal Authority Chairman Mohab Mamish.
Al-Sisi also announced a new programme to prepare youth for leadership, which aims to train young people to run leading positions in the country. He added that the Egyptian state is willing to emancipate young people, considering them “the future of new Egypt”.
