After more than a year of relative tranquillity, recent clashes between Muslims and Christians have again raised the spectre of sectarian discord in Egypt, Reem Leila reports Three violent incidents this past week have shattered hopes that sectarian conflict between Muslims and Coptic Christians was a thing of the past in Egypt, a nation long boasting a tradition of pluralism and unity between their two major religious communities. In scenes evocative of the Alexandria riots in 2006 on the Mediterranean coast that left one man dead and dozens injured after a controversial film was sold at a Coptic church, three governorates in Egypt were the recent host to street battles which involved Muslims and Copts. Four Coptic jewellery shop workers were reportedly killed on 28 May and one was injured after being shot by two masked men in a rare act of bloodshed in one of Cairo's oldest and most crowded districts. The shooting happened at around 12pm in the mixed Christian-Muslim district of Zeitoun in east Cairo. The attackers fled without stealing anything from the shop. According to initial governmental reports, only one person was killed and three were wounded in what police said was without doubt a robbery. But in the days that followed, officials were forced to change their account after eyewitness area residents as well as police said all four employees had been murdered and that nothing had been stolen. Security authorities now confirm that they are investigating a murder, "not an incident of sectarian violence. "Preliminary investigations suggest that the motive behind the attack could have been revenge," said Ismail El-Shaer, assistant to the minister of interior, adding that the owner had frequent disputes with local residents. Police, who swiftly cordoned off the area, "found 15 shell casings at the scene," El-Shaer said. It is a worrisome situation for the residents who fear that sectarian violence is spreading. "I saw the shop after the gunmen were there and it was evident that they knew what they were doing," stated MP Georgette Quilleni. "I do not see how it cannot be related to religion. It was known that the shop was run by Copts and the assailants did not take anything. All Copts are worried by what has happened," added Quilleni. Two days later, a man disguised as a veiled woman stole LE150,000 from a Coptic-owned jewellery shop in Al-Labban in Alexandria. Two accomplices helped in hiding the money, LE30,000 of which had already been spent before police arrested the perpetrators over the weekend. Police confirmed that the incident was not linked to the armed attack in Zeitoun. Then on 31 May a dispute over land in the city of Minya quickly turned into street battles that left one Muslim dead and three Copts injured, and led to the kidnapping of three Coptic monks. Local Muslims in the Abu Fana village, some 150 miles south of Cairo, claimed that an expansion project at a Coptic monastery was being done on illegal property. Clashes erupted at 5pm near the Abu Fana Monastery due to a wall being built around the expansion works, which neighbours claimed would harm their crops. Copts took offence and began protesting in a nearby town, chanting, "With our blood and soul, we will defend the cross". The demonstrators called on Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak to intercede in order to end the conflict. According to Coptic accounts, Muslims attacked the demonstrators, wielding rifles and shooting at the Copts, wounding two of them. Then, in a surprise move, three monks were kidnapped and taken to the nearby mountains before being released late Saturday. The Abu Fana Monastery had received official approval for the wall it began building around neighbouring property but Muslim residents protested against its erection in the surrounding agricultural land arguing it would damage the crops. They also claimed to own the land surrounding the monastery. "The monks have been released, but fighting is still ongoing," Minya Governor Ahmed Diaaeddin told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding, "this incident is separate from the tension existing in other parts of the country... Groups of Muslims and Copts live in the mountains and are like warlords in themselves. "More police have been called down to help end the fighting that is happening here and Saturday's incident shows how needed our presence is. "This was a fight between two neighbours, nothing more, nothing less," Diaaeddin added. Talking to several TV satellite channels, Father Dumadius said at least 60 men with weapons stormed the Abu Fana Monastery. "They split into several groups. One group proceeded to destroy the newly erected wall. Others entered a chapel used by the monks and destroyed and burned property," he said. The three kidnapped monks are being treated at a local hospital. One of the monks was reported to have suffered a broken leg, while unsubstantiated reports of torture have been made. The Abu Fana Monastery houses 30 monks and 10 novices. It came under attack in January during which one monk was injured. Last year, a land dispute in another monastery in Minya left 15 people injured and led to the arrest of 35 in sectarian clashes. For months, Egyptian police have been attempting to end the sectarianism that has grown rampant in the central areas of the country. Copts blame the government for neglecting their community, saying that officials will likely blame a mentally deranged person for the attack in an effort to lessen tension. Although the government, supported by the prosecutor on the case, has said that they have uncovered no sectarian motives for the killing, fears are rising across the country that the sectarianism that is plaguing other Middle Eastern nations is coming. "There will be no punishment for the criminals. We are ill-treated in our own country. All these killings are being conducted amid the total negligence of police and security authorities," George Samaan, a Christian shop owner, said. Still, not everyone is convinced that Egypt has reached the proverbial tip of the iceberg. Political analyst Sameh Fawzi who is also head of the Citizens for Development Foundation, said that often violence gets caught up "in the day-to-day struggles of life in the country." Fawzi believes that while much of the recent violence is most certainly related to religion, "it is not religion that drives the violence. "In the three incidents I do not believe that sectarianism is the reason. They were individual crimes the causes and motives of which will soon be revealed by security authorities." Fawzi said the government should work on solving the cause of these problems and not just react and panic by the idea of sectarian clashes and sectarianism. "Why hasn't the government up until now passed the unified law for building houses of worship?" asked Fawzi. The law will spare the authorities the headache of these clashes which erupt every now and then, he added. Others believe that some religious institutions are trying to take advantage of the situation in order to pressure the government into pushing certain agendas that should, some say, not be broached at least for the time being. MP Mohamed El-Omda hints to the monastery's wish to build an extension on disputed territory. El-Omda pointed out that if the church would have negotiated with residents in the area, a solution could have been worked out. "People living near the church felt the monks want to take their land by force, so they defended themselves and the land as a normal reaction," explained El-Omda. Coptic intellectual Milad Hanna warns against the "great danger" taking place in Egypt now, which is sectarian conflict. Hanna believes that despite a long history of peaceful co-existence, recent months have witnessed several cases of sectarian violence. "Hostilities are flaring up, the government must not stand still or indifferent towards the problem because these incidents prove that the status of peaceful co-existence has come to an end," Hanna said. He added that what is happening on the domestic scene mirrors the Western concept of Islam. He says Islam and Muslims are suppressed by the Western world and accordingly the government must conduct cultural conferences and seminars to change people's concept about Christians and Christianity, as well as to increase their awareness about the importance of peaceful co-existence to the country's welfare. While Hanna pointed out that Pope Shenouda III was concerned about the three incidents and about the relationship between Muslims and Copts, Fawzi believed the pope is concerned about the welfare of all his people in general, all the time. "Pope Shenouda's concern does not reflect any specific worry," Fawzi said. Fawzi confirmed that the timing of the three incidents does not have any religious connotation, was coincidental, and they were all different from one another and took place for different reasons. "The media has played a role in giving the issue a sectarian dimension, which is not the case at all," argued Fawzi. Interfaith relations have traditionally been peaceful in Egypt for the past 14 centuries, which means since the beginning of Islam.
