Three weeks after the fracas, tensions persist in an impoverished part of the country that is no stranger to sectarian strife, writes Gamal Nkrumah Propaganda, public curiosity and a clear conflict of interests fuelled the land dispute surrounding the historic in which four Coptic Christians, including two monks, were injured. An estimated 1,000 monks staged a sit-in in the . Initially the dispute was dismissed as a minor argument Coptic monks and Bedouin Arab tribesmen coralled into settlements that place them physically and psychologically at the edge of mainstream society. Minya might not be among the country's poorest governorates, but it is certainly not among the wealthiest, and the gulf between many of the area's residents and the socio-economic development of the rest of Egyptian society is growing. It also has specific social characteristics. Minya governorate, like neighbouring Assiut, has a large concentration of Coptic Christians. Why bad blood continues to poison Coptic-Muslim relations remains an issue of national concern. The fracas at the monastery on 31 May has opened a Pandora's box, events in this remote backwater of the country presenting a microcosm of the problems facing Copts throughout Egypt. Some Copts have voiced fears that the incident is in itself enough to raise the spectre of progroms, which goes some way to explaining the sit in, involving mainly the clergy, announced at when word was spread that a Cabinet report had identified the disputed land surrounding the monastery as government property. "We want to live in peace with our compatriots. For Copts this is holy ground. We want our legitimate rights, nothing more, nothing less," Anba Moussa, bishop of the youth told Al-Ahram Weekly. General Ahmed Diaaeddin, the governor of Minya, stressed that he is working diligently to overcome the problems associated with property rights concerning the . He played down talk of an escalation in tensions and said that he was consulting with all concerned parties, including the Coptic Church. "The sensationalist media is partly to blame for the continuation of the general state of unease, and this is especially true of the opposition and independent press and satellite television channels," Nabil Abdel-Fattah, author of the State of Religion in Egypt Report and a research fellow with Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told the Weekly. But we cannot, says Abdel-Fattah, put the entire blame on yellow journalism. Other factors come into play. Disrespect of the law and the judiciary and mistrust of the legal process are equally important factors. They are, Abdel-Fattah argues, intertwined with the decline of welfarism, the trend towards adopting neo-liberal policies which often entail the delegation of government authority in provinces to well-established families with political connections and the attendant rise of the security state under emergency laws. Corruption and ill-defined property laws complicate a picture that Abdel-Fattah believes is already muddy given the presence of so many players in the Abu Fana dispute including government and provincial officials, Islamist groups active in the area, the Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic émigré communities in the United States and Bedouin Arab tribes. "It even involves Al-Azhar and other religious institutions, both Christian and Muslim, and human rights organisations and civil society groups," Abdel-Fattah notes. The Bedouin Arab tribes have faced enormous pressure aimed at stamping out traditional nomadism. With a high level of illiteracy they are not particularly fluent in bureaucratic jargon. The Copts, likewise, have not been adept at circumventing the machinations of decision-makers. "There are the Bedouin Arab tribesmen. We hear about their complaints and their grievances. Everyone says they are a party to the land dispute over , and they may well be. But what precise role do they play? Perhaps certain parties use them as pawns. And who speaks on their behalf? The media, mostly. The Bedouins are not heard, we only hear people speaking for them. We do not hear what they have to say on the subject directly," Abdel-Fattah explains. He believes the media has misrepresented the case as a straightforward land dispute between the Coptic Church and the Bedouin Arab tribesmen. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Certain politicians and landowners have a vested interest in inciting violent disputes of this nature. Dirty games are being played." Abdel-Fattah warns that people are forced to take matters into their own hands because of the slow process of the law. Even when sentences are passed, he points out, they are often ignored and not implemented. The underprivileged, both Muslim and Christian, vacillate between positions of submission and rebellion. High-ranking officers, provincial officials, wealthy land-owning families and notables encourage recourse to the so-called customary councils which are also favoured by village elders and tribal Arab chieftans. In such cases, land disputes are settled out of court and invariably entail some sort of financial compensation. "In the case Copts believe they are subjected to extortion and bullying," says Abdel-Fattah. The danger, he adds, is that such resentment might spread to other areas of the country where similar socio-economic conditions exist. "The governor of Minya is a legal expert. He obtained a doctorate in law. He was, after all assistant minister of interior for legal affairs." That Diaaeddin is simultaneously a military man, a politician and a legal expert is, Abdel-Fattah argues, propitious, and he is far from alone in viewing the governor as a figure capable of containing the explosive situation in Minya. The troubled governorate has long suffered from marginalisation. Its inhabitants lack effective political participation in the decision-making process and under emergency rules any defiant act is regarded as potentially seditious. "In light of this we cannot really be surprised that sectarian strife has emerged as a vehicle for people to vent their frustration," says Abdel-Fattah. Poverty, without hope of alleviation, creates combustible situations in which sectarianism thrives. The light at the end of the tunnel is that the publicity generated by the Abu Fana atrocities might force the authorities to act. According to Abdel-Fattah sectarianism thrives on existing social, economic and cultural networks. The indifference of the state and the actions of civil society organisations have, he says, compounded the problems of rural Minya as seminars and conferences are organised, ostensibly to lend the disadvantaged a hand but in reality to cream off donor funds to pay the inflated salaries of those who purport to help.
