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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 January 2000 Issue No. 463
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Millennium Features Profile Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters 'Poisonous soil'
By Nadia Abou El-MagdThe carnage in the Upper Egyptian village of Al-Kosheh started as a petty quarrel started when a Muslim customer, Fayez Awad Hussein -- allegedly angered at being denied credit and insulted during a previous visit -- returned to Rashed Fahim Mansour, a Christian shopkeeper, demanding an apology which apparently was not forthcoming. They quarreled and Hussein's two brothers arrived to help him. They ransacked Mansour's shop and other Christian-owned stores. Then they opened fire, wounding three Christian passers-by. Later, rumours and unrest spread to nearby villages of Dar Al-Salam and Awlad Toq West. In four days of riots, 18 Copts, one Muslim and an unidentified person were killed and more than 40 were injured. Thirty are still in hospital. Health Minister Ismail Sallam visited the wounded in Dar Al-Salam Hospital.
On Tuesday, Coptic Bishop Wissa, whose diocese includes several of the villages hit by the New Year's Eve clashes, led the prayers for the victims and later headed a funeral procession.
Sohag Governor Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Bakr and Bishop Youaness, a deputy of Pope Shenouda III, teamed up with top Christian and Muslim officials from Al-Azhar attending the service and the funeral under tight security measures.
In a statement, the Ministry of the Interior attributed the high casualty figure to people taking their wounded relatives to their homes instead of hospitals. Other victims working in the fields were easy targets, the ministry said.
"Come to Al-Kosheh, come to see the dead, the wounded and the robbed," Bishop Antonios told Al-Ahram Weekly over the phone. "We are in very bad shape." Antonios deputises for Bishop Wissa who was not available for comment.
The Interior Ministry blamed "criminal elements" and "riot instigators" for the escalation of the incident which continued until Monday when police forces quelled the riots, imposed a curfew and sealed off Al-Kosheh.
After a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Information Minister Safwat El- Sherif said the cabinet had decided to take decisive measures against elements of extremism and instigators from both sides. "The state will strike with an iron fist against any attempt to undermine stability, break the law or incite strife among citizens of the nation," El-Sherif said. The Interior Ministry will reveal "the complete facts, and the Egyptian media will broadcast them to uncover the plans of extremist elements, which are rejected by all Egyptians," he added.
Hisham Saraya, state security prosecutor, assisted by five aides, has opened an investigation. More than 80 people have been taken into custody for 15 days.
This is not the first time that Al-Kosheh, home to 23,000 people, three-quarters of whom are Coptic Christians, has hit the headlines and gained international attention. An investigation into the murder of two Copts in August 1998 became a hot item in the international media after unsubstantiated reports said the investigation included the arrest of about 1,000 Copts and the torture of dozens.
Police officers charged in the incident went unpunished and were re-assigned to other posts. Hafez Abu Se'eda, secretary-general of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), was arrested for allegedly receiving a cheque from the British Embassy to finance the publication of a report about the incident. The report condemned police brutality in general, not only against Copts. Bishop Wissa was also arrested.
Se'eda, as well as Bishop Wissa, were later released on bail but their case is still pending. Se'eda recently turned down an award by the American Freedom House for his role in defending minorities in Egypt.
The EOHR has yet to issue any statements about the latest incidents in Al-Kosheh, waiting the return of its investigative team from the village.
Since August 1999, the Criminal Court of Sohag has been trying the man accused of the 1998 murder. Hearings have been postponed until February.
"The latest incidents are not related to the previous one, but this village is ripe for such big and ugly incidents," sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim told the Weekly. "I don't rule out that some instigators took advantage of such a small incident to spread the fire of hatred. What is worrisome and is really alarming to me is how easily people responded to instigation and provocation."
According to Ibrahim, Al-Kosheh is a manifestation and an example of the "poisonous atmosphere and soil" that has been mushrooming for over 20 years. He described the latest episode in Al-Kosheh as the worst because of the high death toll, worse, he added, than the heydays of Islamist militants in the 1980s and 1990s.
"They [the police] eliminated the armed militants, but the culture of prejudice and fanaticism which they produced is still very much with us," Ibrahim said. "It's time the government takes this seriously and deals with the root cause, and steers clear from the mentality of denial and conspiracy theories." Ibrahim is head of the Ibn Khaldun Centre for Civil Society and author of The Concerns of Minorities in the Arab World.
According to writer Milad Hanna, it is a cultural, societal and political problem to which prescription was diagnosed almost 30 years ago when a church was burnt to the ground in November 1972, making it the first such incident in Egypt. Gamal El-Otaifi, then deputy speaker of the People's Assembly, headed a fact-finding committee and issued what Hanna said was "an excellent report of recommendations that were never implemented."
Hanna, author of several books on the relationship between Copts and Muslims, including The Seven Pillars of the Egyptian Personality, Egypt is for all Egyptians and most recently, The Culture of Accepting the Other, believes that security measures are not adequate enough and, therefore, have failed to resolve this ongoing problem. "After this incident, Egypt is at the crossroads, Hanna told the Weekly. "It will either continue curbing such incidents using provisional security measures, with leaders from both religions giving assurances that national unity is fine and insisting that anything else is an aberration. The alternative is to start applying immediately Gamal El-Otaifi's recommendations," Hanna told the Weekly.
The recommendations include the freedom of Copts to build and repair churches without permission from the president of the republic. Copts should also be allowed to hold more public offices.
Education and media, he said, should also change the existing atmosphere and create a mutually tolerant one. "Muslims should know more about the Coptic cultural identity because as the saying goes: 'man is an enemy to what he doesn't know,'" said Hanna. "Otherwise, the frustration and anger will continue unabated."
