CAIRO: The 6th of April student movement filed a complaint last week to the country's Attorney General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud against President Hosni Mubarak, accusing Cairo of being responsible for the recent outbreak of Typhoid in the country. The lawsuit puts particular blame for the outbreak reported in Qalubiyah governorate. According to Youm el-Saba’a newspaper, 23 Egyptians fell ill with Typhoid Fever in Al Barada’ village in Qalubiya, in the northern Nile Delta region. In its complaint, the student movement – which has garnered increasing support for grassroots action in the country following the April 6 uprising in Mahalla in 2008 – has said the government is “responsible for the protection of its people, maintaining justice, correcting corruption, implementing the Constitution, law enforcement and the punishment of the offenders and those who act against the legitimacy in this country.” The complaint went on to argue that as president of the nation, Mubarak is responsible for the officials below him. They demanded that an investigation occur swiftly in order to understand the severity of the outbreak and to protect Egyptians from the deadly virus. “This is also accompanied by carelessness and negligence from government that led to the disaster and we don’t exclude the responsibility of officials and staff, everyone is in the position of being charged and everyone is in charge of this chaos,” the movement added. The movement also accused Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif of failing in the performance of his functions regarding the monitoring other ministers and a lack of control over the implementation of sanitation projects, which could be responsible for the Typhoid outbreaks. In addition to Mubarak and Nazif, Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali, Oil Minister Sameh Fahmy and Qalubiya Governor Adli Hussein, of failing to fulfill their “duties” or “paying close enough” attention to the health and safety of its citizens. “The movement will adopt all problems that citizens in the affected area face,” said Ahmed Maher, head of the movement, stressing that the movement will begin “to organize protests and demonstrations in conjunction with the people of the governorate.” According to the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Typhoid Fever is caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi and lives only in humans. While the infected person may carry the bacteria in their blood and intestinal tract, otheers may recover from the disease and continue to carry the bacteria in their guts. Outbreaks are feared in the governorates of Sharqia, Beni Sueif and Asyut. The exact number of those infected is unknown at this point. BM
