, speaking to Reem Leila, calls for a culture of human rights to address what others see as sectarian tremors spreading across Egypt A meeting chaired by , head of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), discussed last week the final report of a fact-finding commission sent mid-June to Minya governorate to investigate an incident that took place at the historic Abu Fana Monastery located in Mallawi. On 31 May, a dispute erupted between Coptic monks and Bedouin Arab tribesmen, apparently over land surrounding the monastery, and 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 claimed that an expansion project at Abu Fana was being done on property not owned by the monastery. The NCHR delegation, which was formed of Wafd Party Secretary- General Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour, former Press Syndicate chairman Galal Aref and counsellor Samia El-Motayam, all members of the NCHR, were in contact with all concerned parties. The commission issued a report that outlined the dispute between Abu Fana's monks and Arab tribes residing close to the monastery, revealing also that extremist groups on both sides of the confessional divide (Muslims and Christians) are exploiting the incident and subsequent tensions. The hand of religion in daily life in the largely poor area is strong. The council's report called for the punishment of instigators and perpetrators, regardless of other considerations and in accordance to law. The report stressed that both state and society must take action to confront emerging sectarian tensions and related problems that cannot easily be solved through reconciliatory meetings or security solutions that have proven failures in the past. The pre-eminence of law and the means of enforcing it are paramount, underlined the report. Boutros-Ghali told Al-Ahram Weekly, "We need a global approach, and it is important to find the right personality who can tackle the problem as a whole without getting into details, because it is related not only to a land dispute but also similar problems that happen all the time in different parts of the country. Only a global approach will help us in solving this problem." While shocking and demanding of action, the Abu Fana-like clashes are not unique to Egypt. According to Boutros- Ghali, such incidents "happen constantly all over the world, due to the animosity resulting between different groups in one country." For Boutros-Ghali, a human rights culture needs to be spread in Egypt, as well as elsewhere, and this is what the NCHR is promoting. "Only by globally spreading these values, we can handle our inner problems," he said. According to the NCHR report, a political and legal vision that should be committed to the principles of citizenship and equality among all Egyptians regardless of their political, religious or racial affiliation is imperative. The report recommended that the government work on addressing the root cause of such incidents instead of only reacting to and panicking about the spectre of sectarianism. The government must speed up the issuance of a unified law covering the building of houses of worship in the hope of avoiding a repeat of such clashes as those at Abu Fana, the report said. There were six other disputes between the Abu Fana monks and nearby Arab residents prior to the recent incident. The bishop of Shubra Al-Kheima, Anba Morcos, the Coptic Church media spokesman, repudiated the report, blaming the government for neglecting the Coptic community. Morcos refutes the NCHR report finding that the Abu Fana clash was centred on a dispute over land, saying, "if it was an ordinary dispute, then why didn't the Arabs resort to the courts? Why did they kidnap the monks? Why did they torture the monks to force them to renounce their religion? Of course, it is related to religion." Morcos added: "Perpetrators must be arrested and punished," pointing out that all Copts are waiting to see how the government will act against the "criminals" concerned and how it will do justice to the "victims". "Most Copts and monks are overreacting," stressed Abdel-Nour. Given that the country is passing through a period of general hardship, according to Abdel-Nour, the monks' tone is unacceptably frenetic. Fanaticism has long found a fertile atmosphere to flourish within amid difficult economic and social conditions, including poverty, unemployment and illiteracy. The report called for a comprehensive review of current economic policies, the adoption of decisive measures to address unemployment, and the creation of new job opportunities -- especially in Upper Egypt -- and means to tackle discontent spreading among Egypt's desperate youths. Abdel-Nour advocates that the country's educational system along with the religious and media atmosphere be revised in order to excise all elements that could ignite sectarianism. Hostilities are flaring up and the government must not stand inert or indifferent towards the problem. "We had the Abu Fana clash, the dispute that took place in Fayoum governorate a few weeks ago because a Christian converted to Islam and married a Muslim man, and disagreements currently taking place in Assiut because the governor refused to sell monks land. Disputes between Muslims and Christians are taking place all over the country. This is too much to happen in only a few months," Abdel-Nour warned. Others believe that some religious institutions are trying to take advantage of the situation in order to pressure the government on certain secondary agendas. Mohamed Abdel-Aal, a member of the NCHR, refuted claims that sectarian disputes are the cause behind the Abu Fana events. Abdel-Aal also condemned demonstrations staged by Copts abroad requesting US interference, stating that, "domestic issues are to be handled from within the country, not from abroad. Disputing parties must resort to courts in order to solve their problems."
