Sewage floods an Upper Egypt village; two activists in jail. Fatemah Farag investigates the situation in Sohag It is estimated that over 50 per cent of Upper Egypt's housing, both rural and urban, lack one of the most basic facilities, i.e. a sewage collection system. It was with high expectations, therefore, that the residents of the district of Akhmim in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag awaited the opening of a new sewage plant. Their joy lasted only until last week, however, when one of eight new tanks burst and literally swept the village of Al-Kowla off the map. Only days after coming into operation, one of the newly built sewage tanks simply fell to pieces and agricultural land surrounding the village was flooded with effluent, forcing 100 families from their homes and drowning close to 100 farm animals. According to a technical committee set up by the governorate of Sohag, 23 houses were destroyed and 64 severely damaged. Independent estimates, however, say the number is higher, with 70 houses destroyed completely, 200 sustaining serious damage and 900 feddans of agricultural land (1 feddan = approx. 4,000 square metres) ruined. In response to the crisis, Sohag's governor Mamdouh Kedwani announced on 23 December that the Ministry for Social Affairs would compensate 100 families with a total of LE200,000 -- an average of LE2,000 per family -- in addition to awarding LE50 to each of 55 families to cover emergency expenses and LE500 to 13 individuals who were wounded during the incident. There are concerns over a possible outbreak of meningitis and typhoid and a medical unit has been set up at the temporary housing camp in the area. The decision to award compensation came after victims of the incident went on hunger strike to draw attention to their plight. While the governor's statement has had a calming effect on the victims, local witnesses say the situation has the potential to flare up again as long as the housing issue remains unresolved. Also in response to the crisis, the Cairo-based Egyptian Centre for Housing Rights (ECHR) sent two of their activists to document the situation. Both Hani Shaker, head of the centre's documentation department, and Tamer Soliman, ECHR's staff researcher, were arrested soon after their arrival in Sohag. Despite the fact that confirmation of their legal status was sent to the highest governorate authority, the ECHR workers are still under arrest in Akhmim. They are accused of inciting civil unrest, as well as falsely claiming to be journalists and working without legal permits. "The situation in Akhmim is frightening," Gharib Soliman, one of seven lawyers representing seven non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in the case told Al-Ahram Weekly by phone from Sohag. As an eye witness to the current events he went on to describe the situation. "The temporary camp for the families of Al-Kowla is surrounded by heavy security. The head of security in Sohag himself is on duty at the site 24 hours a day. It is as if they are managing a big prison." According to ECHR's Khaled Abdel-Hamid, "no one is allowed near the temporary housing area and we have received information from local journalists that they were prohibited by security forces from interviewing people involved or taking photos of the disaster." This, he maintains, is because a real catastrophe is waiting to happen; the seven other tanks in operation were built by the same contractor and they could also burst. If this occurs, he said, "all of Akhmim would drown." According to Soliman the town is rife with rumors of corruption and the involvement of "big" officials in the incident. Official sources still remain unclear as to who bears responsibility for the incident, or rather, for the faulty tanks. The private sector company that built the tanks under the commission of the governorate say the local council of Akhmim is responsible because they brought the tanks into operation before they were finished. However, allegations have been made that the construction company used low-grade materials in order to cut costs and increase profit margins. The company, though, accuses the governorate of failing to provide the sum required for construction which was agreed upon at the outset. The fact that the government has come down hard on the independent investigation of the incident is seen as proof that something is amiss. "There are, in my opinion, two things which explain the extreme response of the state authorities. The first is that it seems there is corruption at a high level, and the second, but no less important reason, is the fact that many NGOs have come together in their opposition to the new NGO law," said Soliman. A recurring theme in all of the statements released by NGOs in reaction to the arrest of the ECHR activists is to warn against what they claim is the governments increasing intolerance of NGO activity. A statement released by the Human Rights Centre for the Assistance of Prisoners said that the incident "is yet another piece of evidence that illustrates the magnitude of the pressure that Egyptian human rights activists are subjected to." Moreover, the arrest of NGO activists has prompted further fears within civil society organisations with regard to the limitations placed on their work and safety. The ECHR claims that the arrest of their activists is a result of their publishing a report in cooperation with the World Organisation Against Torture documenting cases of forced eviction in Egypt. The report claims that "Forced eviction and house demolitions are the most dramatic violation of the human right to adequate housing in Egypt. These evictions and demolitions occur on a large sale and mostly affect the poor. As a consequence, they deepen the crises in living conditions faced by poor people and at the same time fail to provide or enable alternative solutions that could take into account the social dimensions of the housing problem and its causes." Whether or not this is true is unclear, but in the meantime the situation for both the detained activists and the people of Al-Kowla remain grave. "There has been no respect for the law here," claimed Soliman.
