CAIRO: Coptic officials in Egypt condemned the holding of an International Coptic conference in the United States on the situation of Copts in Egypt and the rest of the world stressing that "the issues of Copts should be solved within Egypt and not outside the country. "The Copts in Egypt face many problems in their country. However, these problems can only be solved from within the country, not from outside, Ikrami Lamie, head of media office at the Evangelical Church told Daily News Egypt. Some officials even went as far as accusing the organizers of "extremism arguing that they are "interfering in issues that are the exclusive concern of the Egyptian people. According to press reports, Bishop Anba Morkos has denied "any relationship between the Orthodox Church and the conference while Rafiq Greish of the Egyptian Catholic Church blamed the Egyptian authorities for giving "disloyal Coptic migrants a chance to distort the image of Egypt. Conference participants on the other hand reportedly accused the Egyptian regime of "nearsightedness, warning that the "continued lack of democracy in the country will push the Muslim Brotherhood into power. The conference itself titled "The Coptic Movement: A New Approach -Reality and Avenues, was organized by the Coptic Assembly of America and held in Chicago over the weekend. According to the organization's website, discussion topics included the current situation of Copts in Egypt and exploring the means to deal with the powers that affect it and highlighting the achievements, enormous contributions, and numerous positive effects of the Copts throughout Egypt's history. "I don't understand why they don't want to hold the event in Egypt. In order to improve the situation of Copts inside the country there needs to be a discussion with the government as well with the Muslim community. You can't do that in America, Lamie continued. At least two prominent Coptic officials from Egypt reportedly attended the conference, one of them an MP. Hani Labib, a Coptic writer, agreed with Lamie, reiterating that the Coptic issue in Egypt "should not be dealt with internationally. Coptic thinker Milad Hanna, however, told Daily News Egypt that he had "no objection to holding the conference in the US as long as the organizers are serious. "I am not particularly familiar with the Coptic Assembly of America. I mean, they might be crazy but I don't see a problem in them organizing a conference if they are a serious group, Hanna added. When asked whether the Egyptian government deals with the situation of Copts appropriately, Lamie said that "while the government cares and has made some progress on the issue, it's a slow process. However, he emphasized that the Egyptian authorities would most likely allow large-scale Coptic conferences to take place in Egypt. "I think the Egyptian government would allow us to hold a conference such as the one organized by the Coptic Assembly of America in Egypt. We held a Coptic seminar here last year, Lamie said.
