DATE=1/3/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=EGYPT / RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257720
BYLINE=RICHARD ENGEL
DATELINE=CAIRO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
///EDS: watch CN wire for any updates on number of
dead or for further developments///
INTRO: At least ten people are dead after three days
of clashes between Muslims and Christians in Southern
Egypt. Richard Engel reports from Cairo that police
have cut off the area in an effort to clam the
situation.
TEXT: Violence broke out Wednesday after a dispute
between a Christian and Muslim businessman that led to
a gun battle involving members of their families.
A Coptic Christian man and his daughter were killed
during the shoot out in the village of al-Kosheh,
about 400 kilometers south of Cairo.
Analysts say this is often how violent incidents begin
in Southern Egypt where family honor is paramount and
guns are widespread.
The tension quickly spread to other nearby towns in
Southern Egypt where mistrust between local Copts and
Muslims can run high.
On Friday, scuffles and shootings broke out again,
this time in the town of Dar es-Salam only a few
kilometers from al-Kosheh.
Security forces there arrested five Coptic Christians
in efforts to contain the situation. But the
detentions angered Coptic villagers who rioted and
damaged some 50 stores owned by Muslims in the farming
village.
The Coptic Bishop in the region, Bishop Wissa, said 3
thousand Muslims responded Sunday by attacking
Christians after they had attended Church services.
Witnesses in al-Kosheh said scores of Christian-owned
shops and offices were destroyed by the Muslim
villagers.
They said security forces had opened fire in an effort
to disperse the protesters, some of whom fired back.
These towns in Southern Egypt have been centers of
violence and tension between Muslims and Christians in
the past.
In 1998, human rights groups accused police in al
Kosheh of rounding up and mistreating hundreds of
Copts during a murder investigation.
The Coptic community was further angered at the time
when police arrested Bishop Wissa, accusing him with
stirring sectarian violence.
Egypt strongly denies charges that it discriminates
against the six million Coptic Christians who live
among the nation's sixty million Muslims.
However, Egyptian Coptic groups complain that some
Egyptian laws are biased in favor of the nation's
Muslim majority.
And they point to violence in Southern Egypt as
evidence that tensions between the two communities do
exist and need to be addressed by the government in
Cairo, which has long preferred to deny that there is
any problem. (SIGNED)
NEB/RHE/GE
03-Jan-2000 06:53 AM EDT (03-Jan-2000 1153 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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