When Naguib Sawiris flew to Paris in April for a breakfast with Didier Lombard, he thought their meeting had laid the foundations to sort out a bitter dispute between their respective companies.

Mr Sawiris, chairman of Orascom Telecom, outlined to Mr Lombard, his opposite number at France Telecom, some ways to end their “silly war” over ECMS, Egypt’s largest mobile phone operator, which is listed on the Cairo stock exchange.