A statement made by al-Qa’ida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri (Ayman al-Zawāhirī), is believed to be one of the major catalysts for ongoing sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians and attacks by militants on the Sinai Peninsula and in other areas of Upper Egypt, south of Cairo.  His fiery speech accused Egyptian Christians of seeking a Coptic state in southern Egypt and alleges that they along with “crusaders, secularists, the Americanised military, remnants of Mubarak’s regime and some affiliates of Islamic groups” are responsible for former president Muhammad Morsi’s (Mursī) overthrow and were supported by Gulf money (link).

Violence in Beni Suef, Suhag, Fayum, and other areas of Egypt have led to the deaths of Christians and some Muslims.  Churches have also been attacked and vandalized in many of these areas under a variety of circumstances. In Suhag it is believed that an al-Qa’ida flag was raised on Saint George Church.  Also, one of the Armenian churches in Egypt was tagged with the words “Egypt is Islamist”.  Some attacks have been based on rumors of Christian attacks on Muslims, for example, while in other instances violence has been in protest of Morsi’s removal.  

Egypt’s army said on Wednesday that they have the captured or killed 227 individuals on the Sinai from 5 July to 4 August —103 of who were arrested and 124 of who were either killed or injured (link).  Attacks continue in the northern region of the Sinai Peninsula, most frequently in al-Arish, where several checkpoints have come under fire from militants. Other attacks in the region have included the murder of a Coptic priest in al-Arish and the beheading of a Coptic citizen in Shaykh Zuwwaīd early in July (link).

On August 7, the Prosecutor General ordered the arrest of 11 persons on charges of “murder, attempted murder, arson and possession of unlicensed weapons” following violence on Saturday, August 3, in Minya, a governorate located roughly 250km south of Cairo. The clashes are the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in Upper Egypt, which left one dead and over a dozen injured (link). Last month an attack on a Coptic church in Minya left the premises in a shambles and Father Ayoub Youssef believes that he barely escaped with his life from the attackers (link).

Several representatives from foreign governments traveled to Egypt last week in an attempt to facilitate dialogue between opposition groups after protests outside of Rābaʽah al-‘Adawīyyah mosque entered their fifth week.  The last to depart was EU Envoy, Bernardino León, who, like his preceding fellow diplomats, could not facilitate any progress in negotiations, but maintains hope for the possibility of future reconciliation (link).

Despite promises of dispersal and a series of reconciliation talks, supporters of Egypt’s ousted president have called for renewed protests today.  Pro-Morsi protests have entered their sixth week in defiance of the ultimatum issued by Egypt’s interim government to break up the protests at Rābaʽah al-‘Adawīyyahin Nasr City and Nahdat Misr Square in Giza at the conclusion of the Eid al-Fitr celebration.  The group organizing the protests, known as the “Anti-Coup Alliance,” will organize 10 separate marches in defense of Morsi’s legitimacy as president of Egypt and for the restoration of the constitution (link).

A 50-member committee will be chosen in the coming days to make amendments to the 2012 Constitution beginning next month.  Candidates will be selected largely from various state and union bodies under the condition that they are not dominated by Islamist figures.  The Azhar and the Orthodox Church will each select three committee members, while most other groups, such as the police and armed forces will only have one each.  The Islamist and liberal parties will each select two candidates.  The complete break-down of the committee selection criteria can be found here (link).

18 of the 19 U.S. embassies that were closed last week following threats of attack from al-Qa’ida’s Yemen-based faction have reopened today. The embassy in Sana’a, Yemen remains closed today and the U.S. began evacuating its personnel last Tuesday (link). The British embassy in Yemen “temporarily with[drew]” its employees to the UK (link).

For the coming weeks we will rely solely on iContact newsletters for communication. Adding new content on the temporary Arab-West Report website as it is now has supplanted some of the previously published work from our server so we must cease to publish there until past work is restored.  Daily news overviews and other content will be sent through iContact in addition to our regular newsletters, so our readers will notice a temporary upsurge in iContact correspondence.  

Jenna Ferrecchia

Arab-West Report

August 11, 2013