Tensions threatened to boil over after Cairo on 24 June announced that nationwide power cuts would increase from two to three hours daily. A day later, during a televised address Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly attempted to appease the growing unrest by assuring the public that blackouts would be halted during the summer months.
Though the PM said that the extension of power cuts would last only “until the end of the week,” there was no sign of them ending as MEES went to press. In his 25 June speech, Mr Madbouly blamed the extended blackouts on a shortfall in supplies of the key power fuel, natural gas, and that this was due to an outage at a gas field in a “neighboring country.” (CONTINUED - 1144 WORDS)
