Ismailia (Egypt) (AFP)

Inaugurated with pomp on November 17, 1869 in the presence of the Empress of the French Eugenie, the Suez Canal celebrates its 150 years in the discretion of Egypt, a celebration at a minimum that contrasts with its long and chaotic history in the heart of the turbulence of the Middle -East.

Designed on the initiative of Ferdinand de Lesseps, a French entrepreneur and diplomat, the colossal project to connect the Red Sea and the Mediterranean took ten years of work (1859-1869), in which one million Egyptians participated, according to the authorities. 'today.

Tens of thousands of them died during this titanic project, say the experts.

164 km long, the Suez Canal is "not the prerogative of a nation: it owes its birth and it belongs to an aspiration of humanity", launched in 1864 Ferdinand de Lesseps, some 4,000 years after the first Pharaoh Canal projects.

As a link between Europe and Asia, this route has made it possible to avoid having to go around another continent - Africa - via the formidable Cape of Good Hope. But she has also experienced several wars and years of inactivity.

This story was particularly marked by the pivotal year 1956: on July 26, Gamal Abdel Nasser, just elected president, then nationalizes the Suez Canal.

His announcement is the prelude to an international crisis that sees three months later Israel and France and Britain (two countries that own nearly half of the society that manages the channel) to attack Egypt.

- "Delicate subject" -

Frontline during the Israeli-Arab wars of 1967 and 1973, the Suez Canal was damaged and closed several times, then cleared and rehabilitated.

Today, the seaway, continually transformed and enlarged to accommodate ever larger vessels, is a major economic asset - several billion dollars in revenue each year - through which about 10% of international maritime trade passes.

Located on the edge of Sinai, it is ultra secure, under the control of the Egyptian army, which has been fighting since 2013 a jihadist insurrection in the north of this peninsula.

If current President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi has inaugurated the "new Suez Canal" with great pomp in 2015 - a doubling of part of the waterway - no big celebration is planned for the 150 years.

The sumptuous feasts, banquets, and other fantasias (equestrian parades) given at the inauguration in 1869 belong to the history books: the events marking the anniversary are limited.

A stamp with the effigy of Ferdinand de Lesseps was published in Egypt and France. A symposium on the canal as a "place of memory" is scheduled for November 13 at the library of Alexandria (north).

A canal museum is also scheduled to open in Ismailia in the historic premises of the Suez Canal Company, but work is still ongoing.

"Everyone writes history in his own way," explains the French ambassador to Egypt, Stéphane Romatet, for whom the channel is a "Franco-Egyptian adventure".

But "the history of the channel for the Egyptians begins rather in 1956" and for the French "rather in 1869," he told AFP.

Arnaud Ramière de Fortanier, the Association of Remembrance of Ferdinand de Lesseps and the Suez Canal, believes that the subject remains "a little tricky".

"The case of 1956 went wrong" for the French, said this representative of the association depository of the memory of the old company of the nationalized channel.

- Record tonnage -

Rather than talking about birthday, the Egyptian authorities today prefer to emphasize the performance of the channel.

In an economy struggling to recover from the crisis created by years of political instability after the 2011 uprising, its income is welcome.

In August, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced that it had reached $ 5.9 billion for fiscal year 2018-2019, an increase of 5.4% year-on-year. The goal is to reach $ 13.2 billion in 2023.

Responding to a policy of major works, the new section dug in 2014 and 2015 has facilitated the crossing of convoys and decreased the transit time of ships.

The authorities regularly announce new tonnage records. In August, 6.1 million tonnes passed through the canal in one day.

"The tonnage has jumped," confirms Jean-Marie Miossec, professor at the University Paul-Valery Montpellier-III and specialist in maritime transport. According to him, the increase in tonnage is also linked to "the increase in container traffic between Asia and Europe, Europe and the Indian subcontinent".

"By expanding the canal, the Egyptian authorities offer increased potential, especially for the size of vessels and the speed of transit," he says.

But the SCA increased its rates after the expansion, which made the channel "less competitive on the Far East-East Coast lines of North America," he says.

© 2019 AFP