Quantcast
Channel: Egyptian Chronicles
Viewing all 4288 articles
Browse latest View live

Fearing an Egyptian Waco

0
0
The time cover during then
In April 1993 , the World watched how a disaster was taking place in Waco, Taxes. After nearly 51 days siege the ATF agent and FB dispersed the sit in at compound in Mount Carmel held by Branch Davidians sect killing 76 people inside the compound including the infamous cult leader David Koresh and ..28 children in a big fire.
The ATF believed that federal firearms law had been preached and the sect members had already a stock of firearms in their compound. Still there were women and children killed in the siege.
Till this day this is a controversy about Waco siege and there has been a debate since then about how the ATF dispersed the siege despite everybody knew that David Koresh was crazy cult leader who deserved to be sent to some mental asylum.
Now in 2013 we got two sits in Cairo and Giza and I fear that they will have the same fate of Waco sit in especially knowing that our police is not trained to disperse sit-ins peacefully or even sits in that are that big in residence areas where children as well people who are ready to die for their cause.“Some of these people are also armed according to different news reports including a report from The famous Robert Fisk himself
I am not comparing the Davidians with the Muslim brotherhood supporters but I can not stop myself of drawing parallels between the sits in and the doomed end. Some Egyptians believe that we are going to have a Jonestown Massacre in Cairo and honestly I think that this is wrong comparison.
Yesterday the Egyptian cabinet ordered the ministry of interior to end the Pro-Morsi sit-ins in both Rabaa and Nahda square , of course in accordance with law and human rights.
Today the ministry of interior called the protesters in both sits in to leave quickly and to clear the sits in promising them a safe exist and full protection.
The ministry of interior in cooperation with the ministry of defense are inviting international media as well local media to see how the sits in will be dispersed. The ministry denied it later “Well of course , since when the MOI in Egypt is transparent”
The ministry of information also called the international media for a press conference tomorrow Friday.
Unfortunately considering the record of Egyptian security forces to disperse sit-ins and the fact that we got people ready for martyrdom in both sits in , I am not that optimistic. We are speaking a big sit in again with people ready to die including armed people and children with their mothers.
A sit in in the middle of a residence area. Neither our police nor our army is trained for this. The Tahrir sit-ins were not that complex. In fact in the past two areas, police and army used to disperse the Tahrir sit-ins when numbers were low. Already do you remember the massacre of Sudanese refugees' sit in
As I said before the Pro-Morsi sit-ins will end in disaster , real disaster if there not is some kind of divine
A child in Rabaa sit in "EPA"
intervention that saves the day. I fear that the blood that is going to be spelled will be used cheaply in negotiations where as there will be a huge crack in the Egyptian society that won’t mended easily. 
The perceived image for those two sit-ins in the mainstream media in Egypt is we are dealing with armed sits in where some protesters are being held against their own will as well fear to be arrested. Both sits in are facing accusations of killing and torturing locals and residents from the neighborhoods.
There are Egyptians “and they are not a minority” thanks to the media believe that tanks should cleanse both sit-ins.
Personally I prefer the government to leave the sit-ins like July 2011 sit in in Tahrir square or even the Hezbollah supporters’ sit-in “2006-2007” that continued for months in the heart of Beirut paralyzing it and forcing the closures of shops and restaurants.
 Already I feel that the MB leadership is praying for another massacre to have power in the negotiations.
Already I do not know if we are going to reach for a political resettlement that allows us for a true political reconciliation according to the law if we have blood in the streets once again or not.
If nothing happens today in Rabaa or Al Nahda sit in then tomorrow we will have a series of MB rallies. I think the security forces may do start its move tomorrow’s night or Saturday.
A trusted informed source once told a friend of mine that we should wait the 24th and 25th of Ramadan , today it is the 23th of Ramadan. According to citizens in Nasr City area, CSF vehicles are parked all over the sit in.
Some Egyptian journalists are reporting that the police is starting to build a siege around the sit in and that no new comers will be allowed to join the sit in. They also say that food or water will not be allowed in to the sit in.
All sources say that the current regime does not want the sit in to continue more than that. It has been 33 days since its start and if it continues more than that , it seems that it will be troubling.
Anyhow as a Muslim I believe the last 10 nights in Ramadan are blessed , I hope that believers pray to God to protect Egypt and what I fear for real does not happen and the sit-ins end peacefully without a single blood.

#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2013 : The Tale of Prince Amar El Din and King Zanzibar-22&23

0
0
We are back in sleepless nights where we are waiting for disasters to happen and there is nothing to clam us better than the old Radio Arabian nights. Now tonight’s episodes are extremely interesting.
First you should refresh your memory with last nights’ episodes. I am sorry there were technical problems with the files but I fixed them.
Second here are tonight’s episodes

Episode 22 :


Episode 23 :


Synposis

The dying dervish completes his sad story to prince Amar El Din and we found out that he is from the men who never laughed during the rest of his days.
Yes the dervish is the sad hero of the famous “The Man who Never Laughed During the Rest of His Days (588–591)”  from the original Arabian nights book. This story was being told to us as children as a lesson of how curiosity is bad. It turns out the tears road is named so after the sad men who all opened the forbidden doors that led to the all women island and its Mighty viper queen and her crown but because of their curiosity they opened the other forbidden door they returned again to where they came from. They would never return again to the Queen or the island , thus they would cry till they die.
Dervish Kashmir dies leaving his secret to Amar El Din who can not believe the fact that he knew how to get to the Mighty viper queen and her crown. He followed the same steps of all the crying men had followed before him. He opened the forbidden door to find an amazing garden and in the middle of it he stood to be picked up by huge bird. The huge bird threw him to the all women’s island where he was picked by the maids of the queen. He was groomed to be the Sultan and marry the Viper Queen , he would even wear her crown , the same crown he wanted to get.
Amar El Din was too close to his plan , he would get the crown and escaped but the viper queen knew who he was and she would not let him go.

The orphaned Friday of Ramadan 2013 , exceptional more than usual

0
0
Today is known in Egypt as "The Orphaned Friday" ,the last Friday in Ramadan which Muslims celebrate by praying to God for porosity , peace and happiness. It is the last Friday in the holy month before the Eid. Of course this year no one can argue that it is the least Ramadanian Ramadan "It is like the least cheerful traditional Ramadan".
Now we are all concerned on what will happen today. The Muslim brotherhood and its supporters are going to have mass rallies across the country. Allegedly not less than 33 rallies are planned for the day in different governorates.
On the other hand the ministry of interior got the orders to disperse the sits in according to the law. We fear that there will be bloodshed today.
Anyhow here is alive coverage for the day

#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2013 : The Tale of Prince Amar El Din and King Zanzibar-24

0
0

We continue the adventure of Prince Amar El Din and his quest that led him to marry the Viper Queen to get her crown.

First remember what happened last night and refresh your memory here.

Second here is tonight’s episode which was the 315th episode in the 1001 Egyptian Radio Arabian nights.

Synposis

The viper queen knows who Amar El Din was and why he came. She did not want to him to leave thus she confronted him. To make it impossible for him to escape and open the the other forbidden door , she ordered her lethal viper snake pet to guard the forbidden door.  Amar El Din had no other way except to kill both the queen and her snake pet.

Amar El Din has got two days only to return to Amar El Din with the crown.

Sharon is alive Dear Egyptians , He is alive and in coma

0
0
Yesterday a strong rumor took the Egyptian as well Arab social media by storm. The rumor claimed that Ariel Sharon passed away after 6 years in a coma.
Of course Sharon is infamously popular in the Arab world , he is so much hated that everybody was happy spreading this rumor and at the same time making fun of Sharon who he died in the last 10 days of Ramadan and he will be spared from hell. “It is wide belief in the holy month of Ramadan”
Now ironically no one care to deny this rumor or even to say it is a rumor in the media. Instead,this rumor produced other rumors that related currently with the domestic and regional conflict in Egypt and the Arab world over the Muslim brotherhood !!
Oh yes today I found the Anti-Muslim brotherhood websites , Facebook pages and twitter accounts claiming that the only Arab country that sent an official condolence telegram to Tel Aviv was Qatar.
On the other handI found the Pro-Muslim brotherhood websites, Facebook pages and twitter accounts claiming that the only Arab country that sent an official condolence telegram to Tel Aviv was United Arab Emirates.
OH yes !! It is ironic by all measures.
By the way that photo for Ariel Sharon in come is actually an sculpture for the war criminal that goes back to 2010 and caused controversy in Israel then.

#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2013 : The Tale of Prince Amar El Din and King Zanzibar-25

0
0

Here is the 25th episode of our tale , the tale of prince Amar El Din and King Zanizbar. First you should refresh you remember what happened last night.

Second here is the episode

Third here is the synopsis of tonight’s episode. 

Synopsis

The wicked minister wanted the king to announce the marriage of princess Amar El Din from his son Nagm El Din even before the end of the two days. The king insisted to wait till the sunset of the second day.

Just before the sunset of the second day prince Amar El Din showed up with the crown. The king was on the verge of announcing that Amar El Din may have the hand of the princess in marriage when Nagm El Din showed up with a big surprise. He told king Zanzibar that that was Amar El Din who had killed the guards before and was flirting with the princess. The king went mad and ordered this arrest. A fight happened and as expected Jinn Amar El Din escaped  after injuring Nagm El Din badly in his shoulder.

Amar El Din returned back to his beloved princess as a bird but nobody believed her.

It is hard to be a journalist in #Egypt nowadays

0
0
It is hard to be a journalist in Egypt those days. It is not about highly polarized atmosphere where truth is lost and fingers of accusations are always pointing to you. It is not about freedom of expression only not but it is about the basic safety demand. Egyptian journalists are now attacked by all parties involved.
The Muslim brotherhood supporters and members attack Egyptian journalists and photographers and Anti-Muslim brotherhood supporters also attack Egyptian journalists. The Egyptian security forces also do what they always do and attack Egyptian journalists.
The Muslim brotherhood say that the Egyptian media does not cover their protests and their sit ins , well the Egyptian media representatives from reporters and photographers have been attacked over and over in their sit ins. Here are some examples and testimonies , I managed to collect.
On last 3 July talented photographer and friend Mosa’ab El Shamy was in Raba’a sit in while El Sisi was saying his famous speech ousting Morsi. Mosa’ab was taking photos for their reactions when some of them got suspicious and asked what he was doing and why he was taking photos for men while crying. Sooner he was attacked and two of his lenses were broken. He was also taken to the stage. Later the MB officials knew who he was and apologized for what happened. 
Photographer Mohamed Shahab was also attacked and beaten at Rabaa  in the early of the days of the sit in. TV reporters also attacked and banned from coverage there.
Of course this is the tip of the ice berg because now journalists pay their lives for covering clashes like late Ahmed Assam who was shot in the Republican Guards Club. It is believed that Assam filmed his shooter in what it could be one of the strangest and saddest coincidences in life.
Photojournalist Mahmoud Badr  of Al Jazeera is still detained after being arrested in Ramses clashes while doing his job. He is currently accused of thuggery and possessing arms. People do not speak about him or care about him that much because he works in Al Jazeera.
Video journalist Menna Alaa was attacked by Morsi supporters while she was covering their mess protests on 19 July. It is worth to mention that Gehad El Haddad apologized to her after the news spread like fire.
On the same day Al Shorouk newspaper journalist Nada El Kholy was attacked by Anti-Morsi supporters in old Cairo.The young reporter was covering a Pro-Morsi rally in the popular area of El Zeitoun when she was attacked by thugs who thought that she was a MB supporters.
The thugs thought that she is a MB supporters because she was wearing a black Abaya !!!!

El Kholy who is also living in El Zeitoun was praying the Tarawih prayers and that's why she was wearing a black Abaya.As soon as the prayers finished , she heard in the street the sound of firearms near her house. She knew that there were clashes between the Pro-Morsi rally and the locals. She hurried up with her camera. What she saw actually was not clash between protesters and locals but rather protesters and thugs who attacked the Pro-Morsi rally chanting against El Sisi and so on. The thugs were holding swords and sticks.

As soon as she began filming , a thug held her arm violently saying "Who are you ? You look like MB , are you one of them ??" and attempting to take the camera from her hand. Resisting that thug she found herself surrounded by several thugs. One those thugs told her "give me this camera or I will cut you in pieces" giving her no other option and hitting her on her face with a screwdriver.
Her camera was stolen while her lens was smashed.Nada was saved by one of her relatives who had his share in this beating as well. The young journalist reported the incident in the police station and it turned out that they are known in the area as thugs.

Nada did not reveal to those thugs her identity as a journalist , they only attacked her because she was filming what they were doing while wearing a black Abaya !!
Video Journalist Haleem Shaarani was also attacked while covering the Unknown solider memorial massacre by the police and his photos were erased last 27 July. Shaarani knew that on the same night a foreign reporter was arrested by the police as well.

Al Shorouk photographer  Sabry Khaled physically assaulted in Rabaa sit in next day 28 Julyand MB official spokesperson for foreign media Gehad El Haddad witnessed the whole thing.

On the same day another Al Shorouk reporter was attacked in Al Nahda sit.
Ironically  currently Al Shorouk newspaper is accused of being a Pro-Morsi newspaper thanks to its editor in chief Wael Qandil who is known for his support to Morsi and was not shy for calling what happened as a coup.
Last 1 August Al Masry Al Youm photographer Tarek Wajeh was on an assignment to snap shots for the barricades the MB made at Rabaa when he was stopped by the sit in security and was accompanied to the media center set up by the brotherhood. The MB boys did not only delete all the photos but assaulted him and took his camera.
It is worth to mention that MB youth star Ahmed Mogheer took his camera and kicked him out of the center.
Late MB officials returned back the camera to Wajeh but without the memory card.
This is what happened to Egyptian journalists , of course the foreign journalists are more than welcomed in Rabaa. By the way the MB officials also rarely speak to Egyptian journalists and prefer to talk to the foreign media.
Of course foreign media got another problem , they are regarded as spies especially when they are freelancers. Last week I read about this freelance photographer who was handed over to the intelligence by a taxi driver because he wanted to go to Rabaa.
Speaking about what happening to reporters , I can not ignore what is happening to newspapers as well TV channels when it comes to freedom of expression and coverage too.
After the circus that took place at the army’s presser right after the Republican Guards where Al Jazeera crew found them unwelcomed and had to leave , later weeks both Al Jazeera and Turkish Andolu News agency found themselves unwelcomed to cover presidency activities. I heard also that bearded reporters are not welcomed anymore ,I am not sure though.
Presidential advisor for media Mohamed Muslimany got new nationalist rules for presidential media for sure !!!

Last July 29,2013 we found out that the op-eds of Wael Qandil and Al Jazeera TV host and MB figure Ahmed Mansour are not published in the printed edition of the newspaper last week. The justification the newspaper published on that day was interesting : We apologize for not publishing the op-eds after the recommendation of our legal team !!

Freedom and Justice portal published the banned Qandil's op-ed which was actually a poem attacking El Sisi indirectly. On Saturday we knew that the name of Qandil will not be included as editor in chief of the newspaper starting from Sunday’s issue. It seems that the owner of the newspaper Ibrahim El Mollam is going to sacrifice Qandil.
Amazingly we got names of MB critics like Bassem Youssef and Balel Fadl writing too in the privately owed Al Shorouk newspaper.

The religious TV channels are also closed despite Ahrar 25 of the MB is airing 24 hours from Rabaa. It is worth to mention that all officials in Egypt said that the channels will be closed temporarily.You know what is interesting is that most of those religious TV channels are Salafist that are close to the state security.
Another thing if it were about incitement , well I am afraid there are TV channels that are excelling in opposite incitement against Islamist, Palestinians and Syrians altogether spreading hate , rumors and ignorance as well. What is the big difference between them and the radical Islamist TV channels ??

Among the 25 January revolution's goals a thing called Freedom and Freedom includes Freedom of expression. If the 30 June is truly an extension to 25 January for real than Freedom of expression should be supported by the people before the government.

In the end the Muslim brotherhood fought freedom of expression as much as they could using law as well incitement , I do not think that we should not repeat their mistakes and try to shut all those who are opposing our views.

#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2013 : The Tale of Prince Amar El Din and King Zanzibar-26

0
0

Here is the 26th episode of our tale this Ramadan , the tale of Prince Amar El Din and King Zanzibar.

You can refresh your memory and know what happened last night here.

Synposis

Princess Amar El Din is sick and nobody believes what she said.She insisted that she saw Amar El Din as a bird. The King offered 100 pieces of gold for whoever could cheer up the prince.

An old lady came to the princess’ palace and met her. That old lady claimed that she saw a bird that turned in to a human at certain location she described to the princess. The princess awarded the old lady 1000 pieces of gold and at the same time decided to search for her beloved Amar El Din.

The king visited his sick daughter and told her that she could marry the man she wanted.

Meanwhile wicked minister Zangir is planning to get rid from the king using the poison.


#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2013 : The Tale of Prince Amar El Din and King Zanzibar-27

0
0

Ok guys we are getting closer to the end of tale this year , tale of Prince Amar El Din and king Zanzibar

Tonight is our 27th episode of our tale.

Episode 27

Synposis

The princess and her maid decided to go to that place where the old lady told them that she saw Amar El Din. In that magical place the princess found a pot with food in it. Both the princess and her maid fell asleep. At the same time Amar El Din found them. He decided to leave a message on the princess’ hand. The message was to follow come him to the Lovers Island.

And The witch hunt against #Elbaradei is on once again

0
0
This is what vice President Mohamed ElBaradei tweeted earlier today in Arabic

It seems that my work to make the nation avoid violence does not reach to the state owned newspapers .. except op-eds and reports about how dangerous I am on the people and the state. The way in front of us is long and hard.
The vice president was speaking about what Gamal El Ghitani , the famous writer wrote in a whole page in Tuesday issue of state owned Al Akhbar attacking him and describing him as a danger on Egypt.
Ironically the current editor in chief of Akhbar Hassan El Banna “Not related to the MB” did not let El Ghitani write in the paper during the MB days now , he lets him to write a full page slamming ElBaradei.
The contradictions of ElBaradei By El Ghitani
What Gamal El Ghitani wrote in Akhbar was the latest episode in the new season of “ElBaradei :The enemy” that has been running since the days of Mubarak !! For the past three weeks Mohamed ElBaradei has been under a furious attack in the media.
Of course a common factor between all those who attack ElBaradei that they are the same old Pro-Mubarak Pro-Military Anti-Revolution Faces like Ahmed Moussa , Tawfik Okasha , Magdy El Gald , Mostafa Bakry and Amr Adeeb. This is besides the marathons of the anti-ElBaradei op-eds in the newspapers from that camp.
Of course when someone too close to the military like Mostafa Bakry opens his mouth ranting against ElBaradei to know that there is trouble, huge trouble in Mount Olympus.
The Pro-Mubarak Pro-Military Conspiracy theorists online and offline  are back saying ElBaradei is a Zionist Muslim brotherhood secret member who is going not only destroy Egypt, but rather to destroy the Egyptian army !! Yes ElBaradei is now a secret international Muslim brotherhood agent “Along with Barack Obama and Tawakol Karman too !!”
Definitely things are not good in mount Olympus. 
It seems that ElBaradei and his team “at least from their statements” are not on good terms with the old deep state. At least this is what I understood from his interview Sherif Amar. I paid attention to what he said when he spoke about how his talks in the Homeland security council was leaked and how the meeting between EU Foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and ousted president Mohamed Morsi. There is something wrong withoutdoubt.
Last week there was a strong rumor that Mohamed ElBaradei threatened to resign if the Rabaa and Nahda sit ins are dispersed by the use of force against the law and international human rights standards. ElBaradei made it clear there is no other way for this except through a full national reconciliation based on the law with no exclusion or dehumanization of anyone.
He also made it to both the Mubarak loyalists and Morsi loyalists that we are not going backwards but rather forward in our way for a new democracy. He also said the words that made the Mubarak loyalists angry as usual “30 June is a wave to correct the 25 January revolution”.
The Mubarak loyalists are bold enough to describe now what happened on 25 January revolution as a setback as the 1967 defeat.
It is not a big secret that ElBaradei wants a peaceful political solution that ends the crisis with no use of excessive force. ElBaradei wants politics according to the international  standards while we got a deep state that wants the old police state.
He is also realistic to know if we want a true democratic Egypt and fulfill the true 25 January revolution we need an inclusive political plan and not to return back to the old practices of both regimes especially the Mubarak regime. He wants true democratic reforms, but others want thing to return to 24 January 2011.
Still unfortunately ElBaradei speaks to a specific group of Egyptians and not all Egyptians. We still suffer from the Messiah leading figure complex as well the populism curse.  
Some people are extremely angry that ElBaradei does not want to squash the Muslim brotherhood and erase them from earth.
Many people I meet today believe that either ElBaradei is going to resign soon, or he is going to be assassinated “heavens forbid”.
General Abdel Fatah El Sisi needs ElBaradei whether inside or outside because he is the only man that can make many people trust what happened in Egypt was for the sake of democracy and not for the sake of power. If there is no ElBaradei in the picture , it will be another third world country coup.
p.s : Today Al Akhbar’s Front page headline was “Chemical weapons in Rabaa sit in”
 
Chemical weapons in Rabaa and Al Nahda "Haitham El Tabi"

Happy Eid Fitr From Egyptian Chronicles

0
0
Happy Eid from Egyptian Chronicles to all the readers celebrating Eid El Fitr around the globe.
Of course this year the Eid comes in very intense time in Egypt.I do not know this post to be serious, but I can not keep politics out of it.

The MB pro-Morsi protesters are keeping their spirits high in Raba'a sit in , the housewives there even baked Eid cookies there at the sit in. The cookies they baked had a political message. 
From Raba'a : Cookies say "Morsi is my president", "Islamic"&"anti-coup"
Not so surprisingly the Pro-military supporters from housewives had to fire back too.
Counter MB Cookies : Egypt El Sisi aka Egypt CC Cookies

Happy Eid El Fitr 2013 

Jonathan Rashad Presents : Raba’a .. on the eve of Eid

0
0

01. Rabaa Sit-in

Talented photographer Jonathan Rashad was in Raba’a sit last Wednesday night capturing shots from the Eid’s eve in the sit in.

#Ramadan Arabian Nights #2013 : The Tale of Prince Amar El Din and King Zanzibar-28,29&30

0
0

I apologize for the delay in posting the rest of our tale’s episodes. I was facing technical problems in the past few days prevented me from posting the files online. Anyhow here we are in Eid and I have managed to upload the files and they are working fine.

First things first , you should refresh your memory and remember what happened last Arabian night.

Second here are the last episodes with the synopsis :

Episode 28

Princess Amar El Din ran away with her maid from the kingdom in order to find the Lovers island meanwhile evil vizier Zangir failed in poisoning her sad depressed father. Amar and her maid disguised as men , as merchants and rented a poor fisherman boat to get to that unknown island. After couple of days and bad storm , they found the island. A beautiful tropical island in the middle of unknown sea where lovers come to complain about departure.There they met an old sheikh called Emotions who told them that Prince Amar El Din was in the end crying day and night for his beloved Amar. He told them that they could find in the sad Lovers parade at sunset 

The fisherman was famous late comedian Mohamed Rada by the way.

Episode 29

The Lovers parade started forcing both the princess and her maid to cry. They met Prince Amar El Din and the two lovers met once again.Princess Amar El Din told him to return with her to the kingdom as her dad King Zanzibar had approved their marriage.

The lovers returned to find out that people were leaving the island as Zangir killed the king and became the king. Amar El Din vowed to avenge for the king but the princess asked him to take her to her dad’s grave.

Episode 30

Of course King Zanzibar was not dead , the poison was not a poison but rather a drug that would make him like a dead man. He woke up in the tomb by the high priest who calmed him down and told him the truth about the truth of the poison.

At the same time Prince Amar El Din and Princess Amar El Din went to confront Zangir ,they met king Zanizbar. Zangir was killed and his son was killed.. by the people. King Zanzibar announced to the public that he stepped down leaving the throne to Prince Amar El Din.

Amar El Din told princess Amar El Din about the truth that he was a Jinn. Of course he was shocked that he turned in to a human as a result of marrying a princess. Nevertheless they lived happily ever after.

That’s for this Ramadan Arabian Nights folks , insh Allah next season will be Ramadan Arabian nights in 2014.

You are not Getting #Morsi back by terrorizing Christians

0
0
 Last Friday Pro-Morsi supporters mainly from Islamists had marches all over the country especially in Cairo.  One important thing they allegedly left from trace was the offensive and provoking graffiti on the walls and doors of churches and Cathedrals they passed by.

Islamic in reference to Islamic State on the doors of Church in Heliopolis
This is the tip of the ice berg when it comes to harassments and attacks against Christians in Egypt since July 3, 2013.
The Muslim brotherhood members and their supporters from supporters are inciting hate in Egypt whether online and offline.
Now since July 3, 2013 Christians in Upper Egypt have been a subject of continuous attacks by Islamists in North Sinai, Assuit , Minya and Sohag where people were killed and houses were torched. There is no police protection what so ever for churches or even for Christian populated areas in Upper Egypt.


Boycott the Christians graffiti in Assuit

Islamic , Christian + Thug : 30 June -Another graffiti in Assuit
The human rights organizations like Egyptian Initiative for personal rights warned the authorities, but no one cared to listen on July 10,2013 but no one cared to listen. Instead,there has been a huge systematic attack against human rights organizations in Egypt accusing of them of defending the MB’s supporters and protesters.
EIPR and other human rights organizations issued late last month a joint statement telling the Muslim brotherhood to stop inciting sectarian violence.
What puzzles me is the absence of the police in Upper Egypt and how it does not protect the Christians An evil part of my mind says that like in the time of Mubarak the authorities are leaving the Islamists to harm the Christians in this way in order to use this image abroad. Another part of my mind says that this is the usual Egyptian police action , they do not give a real damn for citizens outside Cairo. “Or even inside Cairo, they only care for buildings”
Still what really annoys me is how the big clans in Upper Egypt completely are totally ignoring what is taking place. You see there is a different social system in Upper Egypt than in Nile Delta or Cairo , clans got the final word there. There is also coordination between the clans and the security forces when they want to. I just do not understand.
Many Egyptians are wondering why the international media does not cover the attacks against the Christians in Egypt in order to show the other face of the Islamists. Of course it is not about international media but rather the media in general. A Christian friend explained to me that as a journalist should found out that Christians in Upper Egypt fear to speak to the media about the attacks more openly because they are afraid of retaliation. In the end journalists in Cairo do not understand that we are speaking about rural areas where everybody knows everybody and unfortunately there is no police protection.
Many Islamists if not most of them believe that the Church played a direct role in ousting Morsi in coordination with the army. The appearance of Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria in the video of El Sisi’s speech on 3 July enforced this belief.

Tawadros the dog , a graffiti seen frequently in Cairo
The appearance of Pope Tawadros in the speech and his meeting with El Sisi along with Sheikh Al Azhar was indeed a clever political move, but it had a price in extreme polarized society that suffers from sectarian tensions from time to time.
Of course the Muslim brotherhood’s leaderships were using the same old sectarian rhetoric against the Christians accusing them of standing with the old Mubarak regime against Morsi in the past year in a disgusting way.
We have enough of sectarianism in Egypt to increase it like this and in this sick way. 
The attacks against Christians should be stopped immediately, and the ministry of interior should do its job for real.The Muslim brotherhood should order its leading figures and speakers to using a sectarian talk to mobilize their supporters in this way.
Mohamed Morsi will not return back by killing Christians or torching their houses.

#Sudan launches its #Nafeer But will anyone hear its call ?? "Updated"

0
0
Sudan is literality drowning. The floods and heavy rain hit East of Sudan drowning thousands of houses and cutting off villages from outside the world.
The damage reached to areas inside Khartoum like Ombada and Omdurman as well several areas in East Nile region. 
The official death toll announced by Sudanese are 36 dead , 60 villagesand not less 10,000 houses have been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of citizens are displaced. The Sudanese activists believe that the death toll can be more. I believe it is more already especially with the media blackout in the country thanks to El Bashir’s regime.
This is the worst wave of floods and heavy rains Sudan has witnessed from five years ago. There are more heavy rains expected this week too.
Here is a photo gallery with photos from Sudan showing the crisis they got. The aerial shots can show the size of the disaster they are facing now. 

Here is a video for a Sudanese lady from Ombada region in Khartoum recounting how she lost her two daughters in the floods.
Ombada : A lady lost two daughters in flood
Here is another short video earlier shot this month by mobile phone camera showing the floods in an area called El Marabee in Khartoum. 

 
The activists and social media users in Sudan launched online campaign to help the people there called “Nafeer” which means “Call” or “Mobilization” in Arabic. If it were not for this campaign , we would not know about what happen in Sudan.
Hereis the English Facebook Page of the Campaign as well its Arabic Facebook Page, they are asking for help and I hope the world helps them because their government does not really care.Nafeer has already attracted not less than 1400 volunteers to joined it.
Here is a photo gallery showing a glimpse of how things are in Sudan.
On the other hand,the Sudanese president and government as well officials care less for the disaster. They are congratulating each other on the occasion of Eid ignoring the agony of the citizens who are having a very bad Eid. Yesterday I read that the officials in the country blamed the people for having poor houses !!
Here is a video testimony from one of the locals living in the East Nile in Arabic unfortunately.
Testimony from East Nile area
There is a crisis indeed in Sudan yet Sudanese regime refuses to recognize it as a crisis in order to receive help.
Activist and blogger Usamah Mohamed asked the UN office in Khartoum on twitter why the UN does not help the Sudanese people and the answer came that the Sudanese government should ask the help of the UN officially.
I believe that Egypt should help Sudan and it is not about money but rather aid whether medical aid or relief efforts. This is the least we can do to amend our relations the Sudanese regardless of their government.

Updated :

Nafeer’s activists need helpand they are not asking for money as much as supplies from equipment, medical supplies , clothes. Here are the campaign’s numbers in several countries. Click to zoom in
Click to zoom in

For those interested in helping the Sudanese in Egypt , you can contact Ms. Shimaa on twitter. Ms. Shimaa is the coordinator of Nafeer in Egypt. 

Update #2 : 

 The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs issued a press statement today about floods in Sudan estimating the number of Sudanese affected by the floods by 150,000
Here is an initial estimation based on areas.
  •  Khartoum : 84,000 Citizens
  • River Nile : 16,000 Citizens 
  • West Kurdfan : 12,000 Citizens
  • El Gazira : 10,000 Citizens
  • North Darfur : 8,000 Citizens 
  • Blue Nile : 6,000 Citizens 
  • Red Sea : 4,000 Citizens 
  • South Darfur : 1,000 Citizen.
This is an initial report , I repeat it again just an intial report.



August #2013’s New Governors Reshuffle in #Egypt

0
0
Today 25 governors took the oath in front of Egypt’s interim president Adly Mansour in the presidential Palace.
Six of those governors who have continued in their positions since their appointment by Morsi. I will not comment on the names now. Below there is a list for the governors and short bios for those I managed to found now.
The governor of Monufia is still vacant as the man nominated for the position was exposed as a former Mubarak’s regime remnant, and he had to refuse it due to public rejection. His name was released before other names and people rejected it .

Here are the names of the new faces in the governors’ reshuffle :

  • Galal El Saeed : The new governor of Cairo. The former minister of transportation in former Kamel El Ganzoury’s cabinet in December 2011. The former governor of Fayoum till January 25 revolution was not only a member in the National Democratic Party, but he was also a member in the policies committee. He is said to be close to Gamal Mubarak as well.
  • Army Major Gen.Tarek El Mahdy : The new governor of Alexandria. The most famous name when it comes to military in this reshuffle. The former SCAF member was appointed first as the head of TV in the early days of revolution and he was so popular among the employees, but had to resign later. Then he was appointed as the governor of New Valley from August 2011 to June 2013. During then He was then appointed as the governor of Red Sea. It was worth to mention in Morsi’s last reshuffle , till the last moment he was tipped to be the governor of Alexandria but in the end we found him as the governor of Red Sea. During then people understood that the Muslim brotherhood could not give up Alex to the army especially that the deputy governor there Hassan El Bernes was the true governor.
  • Army Major Gen. El Arabi Sorror : The new governor of Suez. The commander of the Popular defense troops. As far as I know the Popular defense troops’ main mission now is to spread military awareness in the society. In the Past this department used to train high school and university students on combat and so on in order to help in protecting cities. Suez as a Canal City always had a governor from a military background. Current reports from the city speak about huge spread of arms there. It is also a stronghold for Salafists.
  • Army Major Gen. Mustafa Hadhod : The new governor of  Beheira.Originally he was the deputy head of military intelligence. He is the new governor of the Coastal governorate.
  • Army Major Gen. Ahmed Bahaa El Din : The new governor of Ismailia , a canal city was the former chief of staff’s aide and the head of the signals corps branch in armed forces.
  • Army Major Gen. Tarek Saad El Din : The new governor of Luxor. He was the former chief of engineering staff in the armed forces. He was also the executive head of Tourism development authority. 
  • Army Major Gen. Mohamed Abdel Latif : The new governor of Damietta. He was the former head of military survey authority.
  • Army Major Gen. Omar El Shadofy : The new governor of Dakahlia. He was also the former head of military survey authority.
  • Army Major Gen. Mustafa Yosri El Siyad : The new governor of Aswan. He was the head of the air defense institute.
  • Army Major General Abdel Hamid El Hagan : The new governor of Qena. He was working in the Administrative Control Authority “ACA”.He used to work in the military intelligence. During his work in the ACA , he used to be among the staff of current head of General Intelligence General Mahmoud El Tahomy. El Tahomy was already accused to destroy evidence incriminating Mubarak’s regime in 2011.
  • Police general Ibrahim Hamed : The new governor of Assuit. A former general in State security.
  • Police general Salah El Din Hassan : The new governor of Minya.
  • Police general Mahmoud Othman : The new governor of Sohag. Interestingly this man was the deputy governor of Alexandria in 2011, and he is famous for his video where he pulled his gun on a group of teachers that stormed his office while protesting. Knowing the Upper Egypt’s fascination with guns, I believe he is welcomed in Sohag because of that gun’s moment !!
From 2011 : Pulling the gun in office
These are the old governors who continued in their positions from Morsi’s presidency :
  • Army Major Gen. Khaled Fouada : The governor of South Sinai.
  • Army Major Gen. Sameh Qandil :  The governor of Port Said.Originally the head of reconnaissance. He was appointed already in that position during Morsi’s presidency. He is popular in Port Said as he is the first governor from the locals there.
  • Army Major Gen. Abdel Fatah Harhor : The governor of North Sinai.There is a lot of action happening in his governorate and I am surprised that he is still in his position.    
  • Army Major Gen. Mahmoud Khalifa : The governor of New Valley.
  • Army Major Gen. Badr Tantawy : The governor of  Matrouh. Matrouh is not only a Salafist hot zone, but it could be the only governorate that supported Morsi. Some say that the challenge won’t come from Sinai but rather from Matrouh especially with the arms pouring from Libya and the spread of Salafist Jihadist teachings there.
  • Ali Abdel Rahman : The governor of Giza 
Not only the governors took the oath but also their deputy and there are two interesting names from deputies we should stop at. “Thanks to the MB we are paying attention to the deputies”
The NDP poster of Nadia Abdou
  • Police General Sami Sedhom : The deputy governor of Sharkia. The notorious police general in Cairo has a black record during the days of Mubarak. This man already should be held accountable for the shooting of the protesters in 2011 especially in Mohamed Mahmoud street. Sharkia got one of the biggest voting blocs in Nile Delta by the way.
  • Nadia Abdou : The deputy governor of Beheira. Unfortunately,the first woman to be appointed in that position turned to be an infamous leading member of the NDP in Alexandria. She won in the 2010 parliamentary elections in shady ways according to activists.
Activist Ahmed Alish did an amazing a break down for the governors and their affiliations since August 2011 “The first reshuffle after 25 January revolution and ousting Mubarak”
  • In August 2011 “SCAF rule” : We had 14 army officers “One from intelligence” as governors , 2 Police officers “One from state security” and 11 civilians “3 judges , 3 academics , 3 civil servants , One ambassador and One Nasserite”
  • In September 2012 “Morsi’s rule , his first reshuffle” : We had 10 army officers , One police officer “From state security” and 16 civilians “5 judges , 5 academics , 1 ambassador , 2 civil servants and 4 Muslim brotherhood”
  • In June 2013 “ Morsi’s rule , it was his second and reshuffle” : We had 7 army officers “One military intelligence” and 20 civilians “3 judges, 6 Independent figures , 1 from Al Gama’a Al Islamiyaa , 1 from Ghad El Thawra and 10 Muslim brotherhood”
  • In August 2013 “During interim president Adly Mansour’s rule , his first reshuffle” : We have 14 army officers “two from military intelligence” , 4 police officers “ One from state security” and 8 civilians “5 academics , 2 judges and one civil servants”
Did you read the names and their short bios ?? You know in time of the MB , it was a mix between MB and military as well old regime figures. Now it is military and old regime figures.
With my all due respect we do not know how these names are picked for those particular governorates.
We are being told that those 14 army generals are chosen because there are threats of terrorism and so on. “Some self claimed army officer is saying so on twitter and people like retweeting him crazily without thinking”
First many of those army generals are not counter terrorism specialists and according to the famous fact Field Marshal Tantawy did not change the army’s doctrine to include counter terrorism to it despite the American pressures for years. Also,some of these generals actually were not specialized in countering terrorism for God sake and some of them left the military service from years and worked in the civilian sector.
Needless to say,this is the oldest trick book , create an enemy and use a vague word like terrorism to justify what you want.
This reshuffle does not give me the impression that the current regime actually wants to pave the way for a true interim period followed by a true democratic rule. This is a reshuffle does not represent the 25 January 2011 but rather the old 23 July 1952 governors’ reshuffle !! 
It is not a big secret that there is a belief in the army as well the public that border governorates should be governed by military man despite the fact that we are a centralized country where the governor takes his orders from Cairo.
I do not have high hopes in a true revolutionary constitution that speaks about the governors’ elections and ends the deadly centralization in Egypt after that reshuffle seriously. There are indications for reforms and I do see any indication for any democratic reform what so ever especially with this all that nationalist war on terrorism hype.
If you speak against the current , you are no longer accused of being MB member but rather a traitor.
Ironically when one goes back to Mohamed ElBaradei’s twitter old archive , he would find interesting tweets that went back to August 2011 with the first governors reshuffle after 25 January revolution.

Amazingly there are no women or Christians as governors and like in August 2011 “Same month” we have the same number of army officers as governors. There are not Islamists or revolutionaries either.
Of course it is worth to mention that Al Nour Islamist party “the only Islamist party ready to speak to the army and presidency” refused to have any governor in this reshuffle.
It is worth to mention that from a couple of weeks ago ElBaradei presented his vision to the interim president regarding the governor’s position. He wanted the governors to be elected.
BY the way,the Pro-Mubarak/Military started to campaign online that electing governors is a bad idea and the Pro-January 28 revolutionaries from youth should not open their bloody mouth because they are not united in one single strong political body.
The Muslim brotherhood members and supporters started to tease the people forgetting how the Morsi’s governors reshuffles made people angry.
As the revolutionaries are angry and blaming both ElBaradei and Tamaroud and Tamaroud activists  are firing back claiming that it is not their responsibility.
Mahmoud Badr , its spokesperson and representative when it comes to the talks with the army as well its representative in the Constitution amendments committee said on his twitter account that it was better to focus on the constitution.
Well I hope he does focus on the constitution and manages to get something better than this reshuffle.

Dispersing the Sits in of #Nahda and #Rabaa

0
0

Earlier today the security forces have dispersed the Pro Morsi sits in of Nahda and Rabaa. 

I have just woke up by phones from relatives about the dispersal. Amazingly some lady married to some army officer claimed that both sits in would be dispersed earlier today. The thing that was claimed over and over yesterday.

Mosa'ab El Shamy presents : Rabaa's second massacre in photos "Graphic"

0
0
Brave Mosa'ab El Shamy took over hundred photos from Rabaa sit in while it was dispersed on the bloody Wednesday . They are graphic and sad.

You must know that Mosa'ab El Shamy was detained and beaten by some vigilant checkpoint outside Rabaa. They stole his camera, but he was smart enough to hide his SD card in his sock. It was the smartest thing to do because if he did not do this , all those photos would be lost.

You must know also that another Photographer called Mosa'ab El Shamy was killed in Rabaa sit in dispersal. 

#August16 : A day of going the streets against Each other in #Egypt

0
0
Today the Muslim brotherhood are organizing a day of Rage with protests all over the country especially in Cairo and Giza.
At the same time Tamaroud "Rebellion Campaign" called the Egyptian people to join the Popular Checkpoints to stand against terrorism as well against foreign intervention.
It is kind of intense and many people are praying that there will be more blood spelled today.
Again a live blogging to make our life easier.

#Egypt After August 16 , After the battle that Nobody won

0
0
By Mosa’ab El Shamy 
No comment.
Viewing all 4288 articles
Browse latest View live




Latest Images