埃及軍方7月接管過渡政府後，血腥鎮壓反對勢力，造成至少850人死亡；
不少人擔心埃及落入另一場分裂危機，媒體卻加劇這些憂慮。
而埃及軍方在恐失美國軍援之際，卻也得到中東多國表態支持。
在開羅市中心，時間才剛過中午，但法蒂已經開始思索如何在宵禁之前趕到家。
他經營的男裝店平常都會營業到深夜，因為這城市的人們偏愛在入夜後購物、交際。不過今天得在5點結束營業，他才有時間應付交通，並在傍晚時返家。
■ 開羅市中心的拉姆西斯廣場遭軍方暴力鎮壓後冒出陣陣濃煙，圖攝於2013年8月16日。（圖／路透）
宵禁困擾 人民好累
對法蒂及其他和他一樣的人來說，革命熱潮已褪成對革命的倦怠感。過去兩年來，埃及發生無數起義與反叛，也充斥著持續數週的抗議與流血衝突。如今，從黃昏到清晨的宵禁，讓那些為了維持生計而做生意的人們更加精疲力竭。
「人民非常驚恐。90％的老百姓其實只想得到溫飽。」46歲的法蒂說。
軍隊於7月罷黜伊斯蘭主義總統穆希後，埃及就陷入分裂；一方是支持軍隊接管政權的民眾，另一方則是穆斯林兄弟會的支持者，要求讓埃及首位民選總統復職。
然而，這之間還有第三種聲音，即立場中立的埃及人；他們所企盼的，僅是一個能夠恢復穩定局勢並重建經濟的領導者。
經濟政治 一片混亂
穆希任內的表現讓他們大失所望，一年來不管在經濟或政治都陷入混亂。然而，在曾擔任將領的穆巴拉克執政30年，並在2011年的起義中倒台後，他們也不願屈就於軍隊掌權的情況。
但他們最擔心的，是兩方無法找到彼此間的共同之處、進而冷靜下來。「穆斯林兄弟會是一個政治派系，他們為數眾多，所以更應與他們多會談。雙方都需要妥協。如果一方決定堅持立場，另一方也不退讓，我們哪裡都去不成。」法蒂說。
「兩派都有很多的支持者，他們各自都得有所放棄。唉，但我看到的，卻是更多衝突而非妥協，更多性命平白犧牲。」
約有850人，其中包括70名警察和軍人，在將近一週的暴力事件中喪命；軍方支持的政府以暴力手段鎮壓穆斯林兄弟會、試圖在埃及將兄弟會連根拔起。
軍隊在3場大型的反穆希示威後，於7月3日推翻穆希，當時埃及正瀕臨破產邊緣。
安全部隊於8月14日攻擊兩個穆西支持者的營區。而在死亡人數攀升之時，政府也下達了持續到9月的宵禁令。
動盪中，銀行和股市關閉、只在週日營業，許多國際公司（例如電器製造商伊萊克斯）都暫停營業。各國發布旅遊安全警告後，外國遊客也不再進入埃及。
許多生計已大受影響的人擔憂，埃及將注定從一個危機走入下一個危機。
「我不支持任何一個政治派系。我想說的只是，人們喪失性命、尊嚴被踐踏。」一位自稱名叫穆罕默德的男子說。這名男子在開羅市中心經營一家手機行。
「人們因為反對某個議題而上街抗議、要求改變政策是一回事，但並不是每場抗議都叫作革命。」他說。他眉頭深鎖，神情與他那間小店內手機廣告中的微笑臉龐大相徑庭。
生存不易 選擇離開
「人們開始離開埃及。我的一個朋友數天後就前往阿拉伯聯合大公國。這裡沒有就業機會、工廠停滯，假若我有10個員工，我現在就得讓他們回家了。一個不穩定的國家無法創造就業機會。現在也沒有任何遊客前來。」
埃及總理貝柏拉威提議要終結穆斯林兄弟會。兄弟會目前正號召民眾天天抗議，要求釋放被拘留的穆希並重掌政權。
緊張的局勢讓不少埃及民眾將之與敘利亞相比較。敘利亞2011年爆發反對總統阿塞德的動亂，如今已陷入全面內戰。
「希望人們能夠冷靜下來，而我們不會走上敘利亞的後路。其實大部份埃及人只想保障自己的生計。在神的幫助下，人們的日子過一天算一天。」在儀器店裡販售設備給測量員的穆斯塔法說：「而不管是軍隊、穆斯林兄弟會或現在這場僵局，都不能填飽人民的肚子。」（路透）
It is early afternoon in downtown Cairo, but Khaled Fathi is already wondering how he will get home before curfew （1）.
His men's clothing store normally stays open late into the night in a city where people prefer to shop and socialise after dark. Today, he will close at five o'clock, giving him time to negotiate the traffic and make it home by nightfall.
For Fathi and many like him, revolution fever has given way to revolution fatigue. Over the past two years, Egypt has seen revolt and counter-revolt, weeks of protests and bouts of bloody clashes. Now the dusk-to-dawn curfew has added to the exhausting business of trying to make a living.
"People are scared. Ninety percent of people just want to eat and drink," said Fathi, 46.
The army's ousting last month of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi has opened a divide between those who support the military takeover and Muslim Brotherhood supporters who demand the reinstatement （2） of Egypt's first freely-elected leader.
But there is a third group of Egyptians who occupy the middle ground; all they dare to hope for is someone who can restore stability and get the economy going again.
They were dismayed （3） by Mursi's performance in office, a year marked by economic and political chaos. However, they are also reluctant to settle for military rule after 30 years under Hosni Mubarak, an ex-general who fell in the 2011 uprising.
But above all, they are worried by the two sides' failure to find common ground and create some sort of calm. "The Muslim Brotherhood are a political faction （4）; they are large in number so there should have been more talks. Both sides need to compromise. If one side is determined to stand its ground and the other stands its ground, we'll get nowhere," said Fathi.
"Both have a lot of support and they each need to give a little. But alas, I see more confrontation not compromise, and more lives will be lost for nothing."
About 850 people, including 70 police and soldiers, have died in nearly a week of violence as the army-backed government curbs the Brotherhood and tries to stamp its authority on Egypt.
The army toppled Mursi on July 3 after mass protests against his rule, during which Egypt teetered near bankruptcy.
Security forces broke up two pro-Mursi protest camps on Wednesday. As the death toll rose, the government ordered the curfew set to last for the next month.
Banks and the stock market closed during the unrest, only reopening on Sunday, and international firms such as Electrolux temporarily closed their doors. Foreign tourists have stopped coming after their governments issued safety warnings.
Fears that Egypt is doomed to lurch from one crisis to the next have unnerved the many whose livelihoods have suffered.
"I am not with one political faction or another. I am just talking about people's lives that are being lost and people's dignity that is being taken," said a man giving his name only as Mohammed, who runs a mobile phone shop in central Cairo.
"If people are against specific issues and they protest to get policies changed that is one thing, but not every protest can be a revolution," he said, his frown at odds with the smiling faces on the mobile phone ads plastering his tiny shop.
"People are beginning to leave. My friend is going to the United Arab Emirates in a few days. There are no jobs here. The factories are at a standstill. If I had 10 employees I would have sent them home by now. Any country that lacks stability cannot create jobs. And there are no tourists now either."
Interim Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi has proposed dissolving the Muslim Brotherhood, which has called for daily protests to press for the release of Mursi from detention and his return to office.
The tension has prompted some Egyptians to make comparisons with Syria, where a 2011 revolt against President Bashar al-Assad has descended into all-out civil war.
"Hopefully, people will calm down and we won't become like Syria. Most Egyptians just want to secure their food and drink. Some people live day to day and God help them," said Walid Mustafa, who works in a shop that sells equipment to surveyors. "Neither the army nor the Muslim Brotherhood, nor this standoff （5） will put food in those people's mouths."（Reuters）
關鍵字詞
1.curfew（n.）宵禁
2.reinstatement（n.）復職
3.dismay（v.）使失望
4.faction（n.）派系
5.standoff（n.）僵局