President Hosni Mubarak met on Wednesday with Pope Shenouda III, Egypt's Coptic leader, for the first time following 24 November clashes between security and hundreds of Copts. The violence--which stemmed from a decision to halt construction on an Omraneya church--left two demonstrators dead and dozens injured and inflamed sectarian tensions in Egypt. A number of ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) leaders accused the Coptic community of planning the clashes. The Coptic Church has claimed the NDP didn't fully support Christian parliamentary candidates during the elections that took place in November. Six Christians and a Muslim were murdered on Coptic Christmas Eve in 2009 in Naga Hammadi, Upper Egypt, in an incident which observers blamed partly on a lack of security provided to Copts at the time of their most important annual religious celebrations. Mubarak also met with Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Minister of Civil Defense Hussein Tantawy, informed sources said.
