It’s Sharm, for the familiar.
The Egyptian city of Sharm elSheikh, which will host the global climate change meeting COP27 from Sunday (6th), is one of the most popular travel destinations for Egyptians and foreigners in the country. So much so that they usually address it by its first name, which means “bay” or “gulf” in Arabic. It is pronounced exactly as it is written.
Despite so much affection, the city also has its downsides including its isolation from the rest of the country, which helps the authoritarian regime control access and surveil the populace.
It takes more than six hours by bus from Cairo. It’s a different world. The buildings and viaducts of the capital remain behind. Also left behind are the majestic but polluted Nile and the slums built in cemeteries. The crystal clear water, the palm tree and the parasol appear.
Unlike other tourist destinations in Egypt, Sharm is a relatively young city. It doesn’t have the historical baggage of places like Luxor or Aswan with their pharaonic past. Sharm was almost uninhabitable due to the heat and drought. It only gained prominence in the 20th century, as it lay at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba, allowing or preventing passage of ships.
With the founding of Israel in 1948, Egypt fortified Sharm to block the transit of ships to Eilat, Israel’s only port in the Gulf. Israel took the city in 1956 during the Suez Canal dispute. After the crisis was resolved, the United Nations kept emergency troops on the ground until 1967. But with the outbreak of the Six Day War in 1967, Israel recaptured the city.
Partly under Israeli occupation, Sharm developed into a tourist destination. The country built hotels and developed hotel infrastructure. The city returned to Egyptian control in 1982 as part of the peace accords between the countries and further consolidated itself as a holiday destination.
One of its biggest attractions is the crystal clear water and reefs. Because Sharm is also a relatively cheap option, given the exchange rate that favors those spending in dollars or euros, the city ultimately attracts divers and student divers interested in certification. The problem is the sharks that appear there sometimes.
Parallel to tourism development, the Egyptian government also tried to promote Sharm as a diplomatic outpost hence the nickname “City of Peace”, which never really caught on. The rationale is the number of conferences organized there. For example, there were summit meetings in 1999, 2000, 2005 and 2007.
Interestingly, there is also a rumor that former dictator Hosni Mubarak fled to Sharm in 2011 amid popular protests that forced his resignation.
The Sharm that visitors will discover has recently undergone a and intense renovation process. Like cosmetic surgery. The government widened roads, renewed the bus fleet, built shopping malls and put up billboards. Given the climate message the country wants to convey, solar panels have also been installed and are expected to be operational until the start of the summit.
Despite all the sunshine, Sharm also has stormy days. In 2005, terrorist attacks in the coastal city claimed 88 lives. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Egyptian history. In 2015, a plane taking off from Sharm airport exploded in midair, leaving 224 dead; The attack was later claimed by the terrorist organization Islamic State.
This recent history partly explains the restrictions visitors face during the COP27 climate summit including checks in taxis and also at hotel entrances.
However, the state of alarm is also an expression of a dictatorial regime that restricts the freedom of its citizens. After all, Sharm’s propaganda as a paradise bay serves to obscure the reality of the country. Egypt overthrew its dictatorship in the socalled Arab Spring in 2011, only to have an authoritarian government under President Abdel Fattah alSisi again in 2013.
To cover up its repressive nature, the regime has set up a special area where demonstrators can gather to protest. It’s far from the city, next to a highway. A scam, say human rights activists, who are normally forbidden to speak publicly in Egypt.
The Egyptian regime also installed surveillance cameras. Amnesty International’s Hussein Baoumi described COP27 as the most watched edition in the history of the climate event to the British newspaper Guardian. The idea of registering to take part in a protest in a remote location guarded by a regime that arrests and tortures dissidents may not appeal to many in the country.
The fact that Egypt hosted COP27 in Sharm, so far from the capital, is no coincidence. The government knows that in the resort it will be much easier to control the population than in the metropolis. Not to mention the difficulties activists will have to get through security checks.
After all, for all its glamour, Sharm is a destination built to escape and also to exclude.
The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.