Having succeeded in securing at least temporary quarters for Bourguiba, Eltaher eventually managed to obtain some money from friends and acquaintances and gave it to him. He then took him, to his utter amazement to the “Continental Savoy Hotel” in Opera Square across from the Royal Opera House. In those days the Continental was among the three or four most fashionable hotels in Cairo.
Eltaher had arranged with the hotel manager that Bourguiba could use a room on the roof, which had probably lodged some hotel staff. Eltaher then explained to Bourguiba that, as a hotel ‘guest’, he could receive people in one of the salons, and that those who would visit him or communicate with him would do so in the salon, but would not go to his room. He further indicated that staying at a hotel of that standing would enable him to get in touch with those who counted among the Egyptian nomenklatura. And that is precisely what happened!
After Eltaher had published a number of articles in the Egyptian media about Bourguiba’s presence in Cairo and his activities, and introduced him to his daily guests at “Dar Ashoura”, scores of journalists, nationalists, politicians, pashas, ministers, ambassadors, writers and other Arab leaders who, just like him, had sought asylum in Egypt went to meet with him at his hotel. Bourguiba was a good-looking man with a strong personality radiating determination through a pair of deep blue eyes set in a tanned face. He was well-versed in Arabic and French in addition to his intimate knowledge of issues related to the Arab world and to the West, because of his previous academic training in France as a lawyer. Besides, he was married then to a French woman (Mathilde Lorrain). In no time Bourguiba became a political and social star in the salons of Cairo and the rest of the Levant.
|
Bourguiba with Prince Faysal Bin Abdelaziz Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia
and his advisor Sheikh Hafez Wahba at the United Nations in
New York in 1946 |
