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Article: Suez Canal running smoothly under Egypt
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- July 20, 1986
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright (null) Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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ISMAILIYA, Egypt (AP) Col. Mahmoud Younis, leader of 30 men who
had just changed the world's political map, spent the night of July
26, 1956, asleep in his underwear on the floor of his new office.
As he slept, politicians and generals abroad huddled to assess
what many of them deemed an outrage.
On the order of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Younis and his
team had carried out Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal,
wresting control from the British and French.
For the first time since it was built (1859-69) by the French
engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps, the 100-mile waterway was now wholly
in the hands of Egypt.
Britain became the largest shareholder in the canal in 1875, ...