Category: Egypt

Gunmen in Egypt target tourists

9/1/2016

Beach at Hurghada

Terrorists in Egypt have ramped up their attacks on tourists. On January 7th a tourist bus leaving to view the pyramids was attacked. ISIL has claimed responsibility for the violence. Gunmen on a motorcycle were reported to have attacked the tourists in Cairo with gunfire, birdshot and Molotov cocktails. An estimated 15 attackers threw flares at the security post during the melee. Only one person is in custody.

No tourists have reported injuries.

On January 8th a resort on the Red Sea was the target. The Bella Vista Resort in the town of Hurghada was attacked by two or three men who arrived by water. They were reported to be waving black flags. One attacker was killed immediately and the other is believed to have been fatally wounded as well. One of the attackers had a suicide bomb.

This latest attack saw two European tourists stabbed. Their wounds are not life threatening.

Egypt depends heavily on the tourist industry for an influx of foreign currency.

British FO Egypt travel advice January 9, 2016

But the increasing violence in the country has kept many tourists away. The Russian plane full of holiday makers that was brought down by a bomb has cast a pall over the area.

Extremists have made easy targets of tourists.

Tunisia has had its formerly lucrative tourist industry shattered by terrorists who killed 22 tourists at the national museum in Tunis and then, a further 38 were murdered at a beach resort a few months later. The resulting collapse has left those who depended on the tourist industry without means.

Libya is far too dangerous for tourism. It’s tourism industry collapsed as that country descended into civil war in 2011. It has been reported that many of the Roman ruins have been looted and damaged since chaos has come to that country.

If you decide to travel to Egypt, be sure to heed the advice of your government information services. The Canadian advice page, dated today, still lists Hurghada as a safer place to travel. Other than that it advises Canadians to avoid all non-essential travel to that country.

Sources:
Al Jazeera
Al Arabiya
Canada Travel Advice

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Cdn Mohamed Fahmy remains in Egyptian prison

18/9/2015

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Journalism is not a crime.

Journalist Mohamed Fahmy remains in an Egyptian prison on charges that he and his fellow Al Jazeera journalists threatened the military dictatorship that now rules in Egypt. One of the journalists has been deported. Peter Greste was permitted to leave Egypt after spending more than a year in prison. He is Australian.

The third Al Jazeera journalist Baher Mohamed is Egyptian. Fahmy carried dual Egyptian/Canadian citizenship but was advised to renounce his Egyptian citizenship with the hope he too, would be deported. This has not been the case and recently Mohamed and Fahmy have been sentenced to a further three years for “spreading false rumours”.

The military conducted a coup to unseat the elected government. The Muslim Brotherhood was declared a terrorist organization and a systematic programme of arrests and incarcerations quickly followed.

The case has galvanized journalists around the world. The charges against the trio in the first trial were absurd but nevertheless the appeal judge has sentenced the two remaining journalist to further jail time.

George Clooney is the latest in a long string of famous people calling on the release of the journalists.

He made the plea while attending the Toronto International Film Festival(TIFF). As it happens, Clooney’s wife, Amal Clooney, is one of Fahmy’s lawyers.

Many in Canada are wondering what the Canadian government has done over the past year and a half to free Fahmy, a Canadian citizen. There was some publicized diplomatic intervention early in the men’s ordeal, but little has been seen lately. The minister of foreign affairs who was handling the case, resigned before the upcoming federal election. Since the second trial and subsequent sentencing, the Canadian government has applied for Fahmy to be deported, but he still remains in prison.

The imprisonment of the three journalist employed by Qatar based Al Jazeera News may not be about the conduct real or imagined of the journalists, but an attempt to strike at the network itself. Egypt has accused the rulers of Qatar of being sympathetic to the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Sources:
CBC News
The Guardian
570 News

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Tourists targeted by Egyptian military 12 dead

14/9/2015

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White Desert, Egypt

Tourists travelling in Egypt’s Western Desert were targeted by the Egyptian military. A convoy of four 4x4s was hit resulting in the deaths of 12 people and injuring 10 more. Two of the dead have been identified as Mexican nationals. Some are reputed to be Spanish nationals.

Information trickling out about the incident reports that the group of tourists were parked near an oasis town for a mid-day barbecue. They were attacked from the air. When they were fleeing they were attacked from the ground.

Six Mexicans who survived the incident told Mexico's ambassador to Egypt they had been bombed by helicopters and an aircraft while they stopped for a break in the desert. Reuters

The official line coming from the military controlled government is that the military mistook the convoy for terrorists and that the area is off limits to tourists. This may be hard to credit, given the number of companies offering tours and camping in the Western Desert.

It would have been normal for a group of tourists travelling in that area to have been accompanied by police escorts.

Comments made on twitter regarding this incident to the BBC support the contention that the area of attack was a “safe zone”.

For instance Western Desert Tours has been operating in the area offering tours of the sand and oasis. It received an award of excellence in 2014 from the customer rating service Trip Advisor. Many other companies are offering safaris to the area.

Egypt borders on states in N. Africa that have become unstable in recent years. Libya and Sudan on the west have become conduits for terrorist and counterrevolutionary activities. On the east where most of the attention has been focussed recently, Egypt shares borders with the Palestinian Territories(Gaza Strip) and Israel. The military government has been demolishing homes in the Sinai Desert to prevent unauthorized border crossings. The military there has come under increasingly deadly attacks.

Egypt relies heavily on other countries for direct aid to finance itself but it also gains significant foreign currency from its tourist trade. Since the military coup in that country, the tourism industry has declined. At its high point over $12 billion USD was collected from travellers in one year.

Sources:
The Guardian
Reuters

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Egypt court postpones journalists release

5/8/2015

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Democracy in Egypt has failed to take root

August 4, 2015: Journalists Mohamed Fahmy, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste have to wait another month for the verdict in their appeal on terrorist charges is read. They were arrested on December 29, 2013 charged with telling lies and aiding a terrorist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, charges they have maintained that they are innocent of.

They were covering the turmoil in Egypt as the former head of the Egyptian military, Abdel Sisi, used the military to oust Mohamed Morsi, the elected president. Morsi was the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization since declared a terrorist group.

The trio of journalists were covering street demonstrations when they were arrested along with many others. At a trial that was stunning in its lack of credible evidence they were convicted of aiding the Muslim Brotherhood. In spite of the lack of evidence, each journalist was sentenced to ten years in an Egyptian prison. Fahmy was sentenced to an additional two years for having a bullet casing in his pocket, evidence that live ammunition was being used against demonstrators.

The news corporation Al Jazeera has kept up ongoing publicity about their employees but that has failed to budge the Egyptian power brokers. Australian Peter Greste was released and deported in February of this year. Greste still has the Egyptian court sentence hanging over him.

February saw Fahmy and Mohamed released on bail. Fahmy carried dual Egyptian/Canadian citizenship. He renounced his Egyptian citizenship under the advice that it would facilitate his deportation as well. It was to no avail.

The latest postponement will mark the tenth time that their liberty has been denied.

There is speculation as to why they are still being held without verdict. One reason may be the visit of US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Egypt. Talks were held concerning security in the Middle East region between Kerry and Sisi. Kerry is known to have lectured the foreign minister on the subject of human rights. In the end the fight against terrorists in the region trumped and pledges of friendship and military aid were made.

A second reason that has been floated is that no disruptive news is to be allowed to spoil the party attendant on the opening of the newly expanded Suez Canal.

Meanwhile two award winning journalist remain trapped in Egypt as the promise of a new and more democratic Egypt fades as repression grows.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Al Jazeera
The Washington Post

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