Parliamentary rage

MPs urge the government to take retaliatory measures against Algeria, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

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MPs from the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) this week expressed outrage at what they termed the criminal acts of Algerian football fans following the Egypt-Algeria play-off match in the 2010 World Cup qualifications held in Khartoum on 18 November, with many demanding diplomatic relations with Algeria be severed.

Muslim Brotherhood and opposition MPs responded by expressing their own outrage and condemnation but asking for restraint. "Israelis and Zionists would be happy to see when two Arab and Muslim nations sever relations and boycott one another," warned one.

On Sunday parliamentary speaker Fathi Sorour informed MPs that he had exchanged letters with Abdel-Aziz Ziari, the speaker of the Algerian parliament, and they had both agreed to work towards containing the media fallout from the match.

Sorour said he was not in favour of a plenary parliamentary meeting convening so soon after the "criminal" attacks of Algerian football supporters. "I have rather ordered that a joint committee first hold a series of hearing sessions and then prepare an objective report about the 18 November events in Sudan," he said. The committee has already held three meetings.

MPs seem to be divided in two camps over the incident: there are those who want Egypt to take retaliatory action against Algeria, including cutting diplomatic ties, and others who ask for restraint for the sake of Arab nationalism.

Mustafa Bakri, an independent MP who was in Sudan at the time of the match, accused Algeria of "coming to Sudan on 18 November with 5,000 criminals and 3,000 special military forces with the express purpose of attacking Egyptians after the match".

"Though our government," Bakri continued, "was well aware of these aggressive Algerian intentions beforehand, it did nothing and left Egyptian citizens who went to Sudan to support their team a prey to Algerian criminals."

NDP MP El-Husseini Abu Qamar claimed Algeria had spent $24 million buying tents and knives in Sudan and paying bribes to Sudanese officials in order to secure extra tickets for the match and impose their control on the area around the Om Durman Stadium and the road to Khartoum airport.

"After the match Algerian fans moved to attack 24 buses carrying Egyptians to the airport, hurling stones and assaulting the passengers with daggers, knives and swords," Abu Qamar said.

Mustafa El-Feki, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly that "in spite of the tragic events and the fact that the dignity of the Egyptians was badly mauled we should keep in mind that Egypt is bigger, and above all such behaviour and bad manners."

He warned that "we must realise that some foreign and Arab forces are trying their best to drive a wedge between Egypt and other Arab nations" while at the same time "we should admit that we made mistakes because we knew of the aggressive intentions of the Algerians beforehand yet still sent the elite of our society, distinguished media people, celebrities, artists and intellectuals to face Algeria's armed gangs."

El-Feki believes Egypt is in possession of many cards that could pressure Algeria. "Egypt's strong diplomatic presence throughout the world could do a lot of harm to the interests of Algeria in Arab, regional and African circles," he said, adding that "Egypt should boycott all forms of cooperation with Algeria and recruit international lawyers in order to force the Algerian government to pay compensation for attacks against Egyptian businesses in Algeria".

A 13-page report presented to the People's Assembly accused the Algerian government of "sending armed militias of mercenaries and hooligans to assault Egyptians, motivated only by hate and grudge".

The Algerian government, it claimed, used military airplanes to send mercenaries to Sudan three days ahead of the match. It also accused Algerian officials and newspapers of leading a campaign of defamation against Egypt. "The Algerian ambassador in Cairo took part in this campaign, preferring to remain silent rather than responding to the lies that were being spread," said the report.

On the day of the match, the report continued, "Algerian mercenaries began shouting insults at Egyptians, including officials, parliamentarians, media people, celebrities and artists, threatening that they would slaughter them after the end of the match. After the match was over, the Algerians then moved to attack Egyptian fans. "As many as 21 Egyptians were injured as a result of the post-match assaults," the report concluded, adding that "Egyptian fans and celebrities who were accompanying their national team called for help by phoning satellite television channels."

The report heaped praise on the two sons of President Hosni Mubarak, Alaa and Gamal, saying that "they insisted on staying in Sudan until they received assurances from Sudanese officials that they would intervene to prevent Egyptians from being killed by Algerian mercenaries". It did, however, criticise Egypt's embassy in Sudan, lamenting that "its performance in protecting Egyptian fans was poor."

Commenting on the report, Moufid Shehab, minister of state for legal and parliamentary affairs, said a complete dossier detailing "all the criminal acts of Algerian fans" would be sent to FIFA. Shehab added that the government had taken a series of tough measures, recalling Egypt's ambassador to Algeria, severing all economic, cultural and sporting relations and summoning Algeria's ambassador to Cairo, Abdel-Qader Hadjar, to "inform him of our extreme displeasure with assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Sudan to support their football team."