CAIRO: Al-Qaeda's second in command Egyptian Ayman Al-Zawahri said the Duweiqa rockslide was indicative of the corruption of governments of Muslim countries, in an audio message released Friday. Stating that these governments were backed by "Crusading and Zionist powers, Al-Zawahri urged Muslims to renew their faith in Ramadan and begin working towards removing these governments. "This [corruption] won't stop unless we work toward changing it. The corruption and the stealing and the foreign presence won't stop unless we face it, he said, "I ask God to hasten our victory and rid us of our corrupt governments. The aftermath of the Sept. 6 rockslide has led to huge criticism of the government across the board for a myriad of reasons, whether the inefficiency of the rescue effort or the inability to avert the disaster in the first place. Additionally, a lack of accountability and a game of pass the buck between different government bodies over who should shoulder the blame coupled with scant remuneration for the victims has only increased the sense of anger. Al-Zawahri, who was the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad group responsible for a spate of terrorist attacks in the country in the early 90s before heading to Afghanistan, sent his condolences to the victims of the rockslide, currently numbered at 103. The audio message titled "Condolences to Our People in Duweiqa was released with two superimposed pictures, one of Al-Zawahri and the other of a section of Duweiqa. Expert in Islamic movements at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Diaa Rashwan, whose life was recently threatened by extremist groups, told Daily News Egypt that Al-Zawahri's constant messages to Egypt display a lack of options for the man considered Al-Qaeda's ideological leader. "Egypt is always in his plans, it's a personal thing, Rashwan said, "he has a double failure in Egypt, once when leader of Islamic Jihad he couldn't achieve anything and then he had to leave in 1993. Secondly when he joined Al-Qaeda; although the group had a global reach he still could not penetrate Egypt. He added, "The fact that he always incites Egyptians to rise up and take action themselves, as he did in the past with the people of Sinai, shows that he has no reach here. He never says that to Iraqis or Saudis because Al-Qaeda has a presence there.
