Fearful signs

Pope Shenouda III

Reem Leila reports on a raft of incidents that many fear signals worsening relations between Egypt's Coptic Christian community and their Muslim fellow citizens

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The recent violence at Abu Fana Monastery in the governorate of Minya and robberies at a jewellery shop in Cairo's Zeitoun district, in which four Coptic shop workers were killed, and in the Al-Labban district in Alexandria -- the perpetrators of the second robbery were arrested two days later -- have led to fears of growing sectarian clashes.

The Ministry of Interior issued a report earlier this week. Presented to the People's Assembly's Defence and National Security Committee, it stressed that the incidents were not sectarian and are being treated as a robbery and murder enquiry. According to the report, during the past 16 months there have been 57 cases of jewellery shops being robbed, 23 of them belonging to Copts. In 41 cases the culprits were arrested. Indeed, MP Hamdi Hassan praised the police for their swift capture of those behind the Alexandria robbery.

MP Georgette Qullini stresses that there is no discrimination under the law, though "current circumstances in the country have led some people to portray the incidents as if they were sectarian".

Coptic Orthodox Pope Shenouda III faced heavy criticism for initially refusing to discuss the attacks on the two jewellery shops and the monastery. A few days later he changed tack and expressed anger over the incidents, especially that at the monastery.

On 7 June, during a televised phone in, he called for a heavy security presence around the Abu Fana Monastery and accused bedouins living in the area of the monastery of stealing LE1 million worth of objects from the monks. "It was a criminal act perpetrated by criminals," he said, and not, as was reported, the result of a land dispute. "The attacks began 150 metres away from the monastery, and they got closer and closer until they were next to the monastery where three monks were kidnapped and tortured. They were pressured to renounce their religion and spit on the cross. When they refused they were whipped. The monks were tied to trees and blindfolded during the whipping and one monk had his leg broken."

The monastery was attacked, according to Pope Shenouda, by at least 60 armed men who opened fire.

Abu Fana Monastery is located at the eastern border of the Western Desert, 30km north of the town of Mallawi in Minya, Upper Egypt. It is one of the oldest in the world, dating back to the earliest days of monasticism. The monastery was established in the fourth century and flourished until the 15th but was then abandoned as sand dunes began to encroach, and left in the care of priests who lived west of Mallawi. Eventually sand covered the entire monastery and it was only towards the end of the 19th century that the buildings were excavated. In 2004 the Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church officially recognised the conglomerate of churches and cells as a monastery. Currently, it is home to 15 monks and hermits.

The monks at Abu Fana received official approval to build a retaining wall around the complex four years ago, leading to tensions with neighbours who claim some of the enclosed land belongs to them and that the wall would adversely affect their crops.

"Basically these are people who have become accustomed to using violence to get their own way. They want to force the monks to pay protection money and won't allow them to build a fence around the monastery. I am not talking about Muslim-Christian strife, I am talking about the safety of these monks who have reclaimed this land. The government owns the land, but the tribes around the monastery are against the idea of the monks reclaiming land and expanding," said Shenouda. "Such clashes are not new but began years ago."

In 2006, Pope Shenouda continued, a similar attack took place. A formal reconciliation was reached between the monks and their neighbours who agreed that the land belonged to the Abu Fana Monastery and promised to help build a fence around it. "Yet despite these promises clashes continue to happen with the most recent ones involving live ammunition."

Ahmed Diaaeddin, the governor of Minya, told Al-Ahram Weekly that a committee has been assigned to determine the causes of the incident. "We aim to solve the problem at its root," Diaaeddin said, adding that all the suspects have been arrested and no criminal act would go unpunished. Eighteen people involved in the clashes are currently under investigation, seven of them Christians and 11 Muslims.

Diaaeddin rejects the holding of informal reconciliation talks. "They are quick fixes that ultimately lead nowhere and don't help in reaching long-term solutions," he said.

The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) issued a press release on 5 June saying that immediately following the incident a fact-finding mission was dispatched to Minya to investigate the attacks.

Ahmed Kamal Abul-Magd, secretary-general of the NCHR, says the council has already launched several initiatives intended to strengthen the principle of citizenship and non discrimination and increase public awareness of their rights and duties under the law and constitution.

"The council dispatched a second fact-finding mission recently to clarify the course of events," says Abul- Magd, who stresses that the underlying cause of the incident was not sectarian but involved a land dispute. "They are neighbours who had a fight. Sadly, it escalated this way," he argued.

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