Salafi Islamic Terrorism in Imbaba, Giza Egypt

9th May 2011

Dear friends,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Thank you very much for your messages and prayers for us as we go through this difficult time.

With great sadness, I would like to tell you about the tragic situation in Imbaba, Giza. Imbaba is a densely populated area, a few kilometres south of Cairo. Over the past two days, there have been clashes in this area between Christians and Muslims. The outcome ofthe clashes was the death of 12 people, and more than 232 injured. Moreover, several houses and shops were burnt, cars were destroyed, and the church of st. Mary, in the same area, was completely burnt.

The clashes started because of a rumour that a Christian woman who converted to Islam was being hidden by Mar Mina Coptic Orthodox Church. As a result of this rumour, a group of Muslim fundamentalists that belong to the Salafi sect gathered around the church, and wanted to go inside to search for this woman. Young people from the church prevented them from entering, because they were afraid that they may burn the church as it happened a few weeks ago in Sole, Giza.

As a result, more Muslim people came and after praying in the street, they started to shout "Islamic, Islamic." The Christians shouted back "with our spirit and blood, we are ready to defend the cross." There were attempts from moderate Muslims and the church priests to calm down the demonstrators on both sides, but these attempts failed.

Soon after this, some of the demonstrators started shooting and throwing Molotov cocktails. The army arrived and things became quieter. However, early the next morning, some extremist Muslims came and burned several blocks of flats and shops owned by Christians.

Yesterday, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar called for an emergency meeting of Beth EI-Eila (the House of the Family), a newly formed group which includes the heads of Christian denominations and several Muslim leaders and the Grand Imam.

We all agreed that this incident should be taken very seriously by the authorities, and that those who caused these destructive clashes must be brought to justice. It is worth mentioning that previous clashes between Christians and Muslims have always been solved through community reconciliation. The meeting also appointed a committee to go and visit Imbaba, and report back. I was one of this committee, and we spent eight hours today visiting and listening, and then writing a report to the wider committee.

The damage we saw was indescribable. The area looked as if it was a battlefield, because of the many tanks and soldiers. I was moved by the story of one of the guards of St. Mary's Church, who refused to denounce Jesus Christ and as a result, his throat was slit. This is at least the fifth tragic incident since the first day of the year, when a church was bombed in Alexandria. There is no doubt that inter-religious tension is growing in Egypt, and this needs a real strategic plan to combat it. This is what we are trying to do through Beth El-Eila.

I very much appreciate your prayers so that the Lord may transform this difficult situation.

We all hope that Egypt will be a safe place for all Egyptians.

May the Lord bless you!

Yours in Christ,

Author intentionally left blank

4 Killed by Islamist Group in el-Arish, Egypt

About 100 armed men rode through the town of el-Arish on Friday in cars and on motorcycles, waving flags with Islamic slogans and firing in the air, Sinai security sources said.

They attacked a police station and engaged in a shootout with policemen and soldiers, the sources said. An army officer and three civilian bystanders were shot dead. A policeman and a Palestinian suspect were reported to have died later from injuries suffered in the battle.

Witnesses said the attackers, many of whom wore masks, did not seem to be from the area as they lost their way several times before reaching the police station.

There was no word on the identity of the armed group, but MENA quoted the head of security in north Sinai as saying Egyptians and Palestinians were among 12 suspects arrested and under investigation.

The Gaza Strip, ruled by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, borders Sinai to the north.

A statement from the health ministry identified the three civilian dead as an 18-year-old man, a boy of 13 and a 70-year-old man.

Four army officers, nine security guards, two policemen and six civilians were wounded in the attack, MENA and a security source said.

(Reporting by Yusri Mohamed, Marwa Awad and Shaimaa Fayed; Writing by Marwa Awad and Shaimaa

The Rest @ Rueters

Who is Omar Suleiman, Egypt's New VP?

Cairo - Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was sworn in as vice-president on Saturday, the state news agency reported, the first such post to be held in Hosni Mubarak's 30-year presidency."

Omar Suleiman has been sworn in as deputy to President Hosni Mubarak," news agency MENA said. Shortly afterwards, state television showed images of Suleiman, an army lieutenant general, saluting his close friend Mubarak after taking the oath of office.

Mubarak, who is facing a fifth day of violent demonstrations calling for him to go, has steadfastly refused to name a vice-president since he came to power in 1981.

• Enigmatic figureSuleiman has been labelled the most powerful spy chief in the Middle East, and the sharply dressed and well-groomed general was for years a highly enigmatic figure for the world at large.
• He is a trusted talks partner for both the United States and Israel, and has orchestrated a series of albeit short-live truces between Israel and the Palestinians over the last 10 years.
• In 1995, Suleiman advised Mubarak to ride in an armoured car during a visit to Addis Ababa that shielded him from the fire of Islamist gunmen which killed the car's driver.
• During the 1990s and following the botched Ethiopian assassination attempt, Suleiman joined the efforts of the CIA and other foreign intelligence agencies to crack down on Islamists, at home and abroad.
• He also proceeded to target home-grown radical Islamist groups Gamaa Islamiya and Jihad after they carried out a string of attacks on foreigners that hit Egypt's vital tourism industry hard.

The Rest @ AFP

Omar Suleiman (Arabic: عمر سليمان‎; born July 2, 1936) is an Egyptian politician and military figure who has been Vice President of Egypt since January 2011.

• Previously, he was Minister without Portfolio and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID), the national intelligence agency, from 1993 to 2011. In his role as Director of EGID, the British Daily Telegraph dubbed him as "one of the world's most powerful spy chiefs". Foreign Policy magazine ranked him the Middle East's most powerful intelligence chief, ahead of Mossad chief Meir Dagan.

Early life and education

Suleiman was born in Qena in Southern Egypt. He left Qena for Cairo in 1954, at the age of nineteen, to enroll in Egypt's prestigious Military Academy. He received additional military training in the former Soviet Union at Moscow's Frunze Military Academy. Furthermore, he holds bachelors and master degrees in Political Science from Ain Shams and Cairo Universities in the mid-1980s. Suleiman was transferred to military intelligence, where he began what was to be a long relationship between Egypt and the United States.

Egyptian intelligence career

Suleiman became the director of military intelligence in 1991. Suleiman became the chief of Egyptian Intelligence in 1993.

His name has become known only in the last years, breaking the tradition of keeping the name of the Egyptian head of Intelligence a secret known only to top government officials.

It was released in the media around 2000. Suleiman has acquired a more public profile while trying to broker a deal between the different armed Palestinian groups vying for power in Gaza as the top presidential envoy from President Hosni Mubarak as well as brokering deals or truces between the Palestinians and Israel.

His perceived role in negotiations between Palestinian groups gave him the image of an effective behind-the-scenes figure in the Egyptian government as well as identifying him as potentially useful to foreign governments such those of the Arab countries, Israel, the Palestinians and the United States.

Political role and accession to the Vice Presidency

Due to his role in the regional political scene and the lack of an alternative candidate acceptable to Hosni Mubarak, some have speculated that Suleiman will succeed Mubarak as President, or at least become a Vice-President.

On January 29, 2011, he was named vice-president during the civil unrest,[3] ending a vacancy in the position that lasted almost 30 years

The Rest @ Wikipedia
- AFP

Al Qaeda Tries to Leverage North Africa Unrest

DUBAI, Jan 28, 2011 (AFP) - Al-Qaeda has hailed Tunisia's uprising but also warned about an attempt to replace ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali with another "agent" of the West, the US-monitoring group SITE said on Friday.

"Your revolution was no ordinary uprising, rather it was a devastating earthquake that struck the throne of the tyrant Ben Ali... The criminal ran away in a very humiliating scene," Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said.

The United States "and France, with the infidel West, will not accept any real change that does not serve their interests in Tunisia. They are now busy planning to find an alternative agent who is acceptable to them," added the statement issued on jihadist forums on Thursday.

"France was the one that supported the tyrant Ben Ali until the last moment and supported him to the furthest extent, such that it even offered him its expertise in the field of oppression," AQIM charged.

The United States and France will "play the same dirty role in Tunisia in the future, unless the strikes of the mujahedeen... stop them," said the statement.

French officials frequently justified their support for Ben Ali because of what they deemed his effectiveness in fighting political Islam.

Paris had warm ties with Ben Ali's regime during his 23 years in power but made a U-turn after the authoritarian ruler bowed to popular protests and fled the country this month.

It was not until after Ben Ali was ousted that French President Nicolas Sarkozy backed the protest movement and the fugitive was denied refuge in France.

AQIM also criticised Saudi Arabia for hosting Ben Ali, SITE reported.
"He was given sanctuary... by the one who claims to be the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques," AQIM said of Saudi King Abdullah.

"If he had in his heart an ounce of passion for (Islam)... he would not have accepted to host on this pure land a criminal who was refused from all the nations."
Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it wanted to contribute to ending "bloodshed" in Tunisia by granting asylum to Ben Ali.

Riyadh has kept a blackout on Ben Ali's activities since his arrival on January 15 with six family members, after his ouster in a wave of protest in which dozens of people were killed.

by AFP

The Rest @ Zawya

Hamas Escapees May be Heading to Gaza From Egypt

Egypt riots escalate: The riots raging on in Egypt have spread into several prisons in the country Saturday, as at last eight detainees were reportedly killed in a jail holding political prisoners.

Prison guards reportedly fired live ammunition and tear gas in the northern Egypt prison as detainees attempted to stage a mutiny at the site, which also holds Muslim Brotherhood prisoners. Security forces were reinforcing their presence at jails throughout the country as result of the violence there.

Hamas sources have reported that a few Palestinian detainees have escaped Egyptian prisons during the unrest, and are making their way to the Gaza Strip.

• Meanwhile, medical sources in Egypt confirmed that the overall number of fatalities in the riots raging in Egypt since Tuesday has reached at least 82 people.
• Some 2,000 others were hurt in protests against President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.
• Full-fledged chaos had been reported at several regions of Egypt, as the masses crowd public squares, and banks, government buildings, and businesses are being looted.
• In Cairo, some 1,000 protestors attempted to break into the Interior Ministry headquarters.
• Al-Jazeera reported that police forces were attempting to disperse the demonstrators using live fire. At least three people were shot and killed in the clashes, the network said.

Looting an lynching

• Overall, tens of thousands of Egyptians are demonstrating in the streets of Cairo and Alexandria, and according to some reports there is no security forces' presence on the streets.
• Elsewhere, reports are coming in about the torching of government buildings, police stations, and security headquarters nationwide.
• Some people have exploited the ongoing riots to settle the score with Egyptian business figures.

The al-Arabiya network reported a mass looting of businesses in the Suez area belonging to a prominent businessman, including a lynching at one of the sites.

Just like in Tunisia, reports are coming in of "popular committees" set up to prevent attacks on businesses and homes. Overnight, attempts were made to loot the Egypt National Museum.

Authorities in Egypt have declared that a curfew will be imposed in the country from 4 pm today to 8 am Sunday morning, yet enforcing it in the current atmosphere of total chaos seems a largely impossible task.

Egypt's business sector is attempting to minimize the damage, with trading in Cairo's stock exchange suspended following the massive 10.5% drop Thursday.

Local banks will not be operating Sunday for fear of looting, yet the country's Central Bank says that bank accounts are safe and that liquidity is not an issue.

According to a report by the Arab-language BBC Saturday afternoon, Egyptian army units were attempting to prevent protestors from breaking into the Central Bank in Cairo and looting it.

The Rest @ Y NetNews

Tunisia's Ben Ali Overthrown -What it means

Tunisia is in a state of flux following the ousting of its long-standing president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

After 23 years in office Ben Ali fled the country amid a mass uprising giving way to leadership changes that came at a dizzying speed.

In the last 48 hours, Tunisia has had three presidents. The first is the fugitive Ben Ali who fled on Friday; the second Ben Ali's longtime ally, prime minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, who stepped in briefly with a vague assumption of power that left open the possibility that Ben Ali could return and finally Fouad Mebazaa, leader of the house of parliament, who was given 60 days to organise new elections by the head of the Constitutional Council.

The council declared Ben Ali's departure was permanent and Mebazaa was sworn in on Saturday under Article 57 which stipulates that when the post of the president falls vacant due to his demise, resignation or total incapacitation ... the speaker of the parliament ... shall immediately undertake the presidential duties on temporary basis for not less than 45 days; and not more than 60 days.

The piece of legislation states that it is not permissible during the transitional presidential period to amend the constitution or impeach the government. And during this period, a new president shall be elected for the term of five years. The newly elected president may dissolve the parliament, and call for premature parliamentary election (in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph Second of Chapter 63).

The country's constitution provides the only framework for the interim government and the opposition to negotiate but it is more suited to leaders personally chosen by the absconded president.

Skepticism

Mebazaa promised to create a unity government that could include the long-ignored opposition, but it is not clear how far the 77-year-old Mebazaa, who has been part of Tunisia's ruling class for decades, would truly go to work with the opposition.

It was also unclear who would emerge as the country's top political leaders, since Ben Ali utterly dominated politics, placing allies in power and sending opponents into jail or exile.
Everything looked to have been choreographed to make sure of strict compliance with the constitution.

Observing the legal niceties is important as it sends an important signal to Tunisians that the rules are expected.

But back in 1987 Ben Ali, the then prime minister, became president in much the same way that Ghannouchi did on Friday. But instead of stepping aside he held on to power. Tunisians this time do not want to get fooled once more, but they remain divided on how things should be done.
While some opposition leaders call for the revision of the whole constitution, which they say was tailored to suit Ben Ali and his predecessor Lahbib Bourguiba, others accepted to talk to Ben Ali’s guards on forming a transitional government with the aim of getting the country out of this situation and to have "real reforms".

"We discussed the idea of a coalition government and the prime minister accepted our request to have a coalition government," Mustafa Ben Jaafar, leader of the Union of Freedom and Labour party, told Reuters news agency.

"There will be another meeting with the aim of getting the country out of this situation and to have real reforms. The results of these discussions will be announced tomorrow."
However, that seems optimistic.

Stumbling block

When talks get down to the details of who gets which post, and how many members of the old guard will sit at the cabinet table, things could become less congenial.

Another stumbling block is the opposition of some Tunisians to the two-month deadline for having a presidential election, which they consider as too short. That's not surprising. They have been harassed and marginalised for years and they want time to register on the consciousness of ordinary Tunisians.

And Ghannouchi himself, who is tasked to hammer out a compromise, is persona non grata in many Tunisians' eyes for being too closely aligned with the ousted president.

"We will be back on the streets, in Martyrs Square, to continue this civil disobedience until ... the regime is gone. The street has spoken," Fadhel Bel Taher, whose brother was one of dozens of people killed in the protests, said.

Ben Ali's departure is just the beginning for tension across the country to be defused. Tunisia is at the crossroad and the hard work is still ahead for Tunisians to close the chapter of the past and move into a prosperous future.

The Rest @ Al Jazeera

Analysis....
People across the region have watched enthralled as street unrest forced Ben Ali to flee the North African country he has ruled for 23 years -- an unprecedented spectacle in the Arab world, where authoritarian leaders can usually only be dislodged by army coup, assassination or their own mortality.

U.S. President Barack Obama urged free and fair elections in Tunisia, a call echoed by other Western leaders -- many of whom had turned a blind eye to Ben Ali's repressive style.
But Arab capitals have largely kept quiet, apparently stunned by the seismic explosion of protest in Tunisia.

"What will worry many governments in the region is that the crisis was spontaneous and not organized," said Henry Wilkinson of the Janusian Security Consultancy.

"Events in Tunisia have shown the risk of a pressure cooker effect: if you have a system of intense suppression without addressing the causes of discontent, a crack in that system can lead to an explosion."

A cautious statement from the Cairo-based Arab League called for Tunisia's "political forces, representatives of Tunisian society and officials to stand together" and keep the peace.
Saudi Arabia, a monarchy that gave Ben Ali refuge, expressed support for Tunisians as they overcome this "difficult stage."

In Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak has ruled for almost 30 years, the foreign ministry said it respected the choices of the Tunisian people and trusted their wisdom "in fixing the situation and avoiding the collapse of Tunisia into chaos."

Sudan said it welcomed the political change in Tunisia, using similar language about respecting the will of Tunisians.

The military overthrow of Sudan's president Jaafar Nimeiri in 1985 after a wave of popular protests is perhaps the closest parallel in modern Arab history to Ben Ali's ouster. Sudan's current president, Omar al-Bashir, took power in a 1989 coup.

In Iraq, where a coup backed by violent unrest toppled the Hashemite monarchy in 1958, the government spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, sidestepped comment on the upheaval in Tunisia.
"This is an internal issue for Tunisian people. We do not interfere in the affairs of other countries and respect the choice of the people in the region," he said.

Iraq can boast a government that was formed, albeit with huge difficulty, after a genuine election, unlike those in most Arab countries, which offer more form than substance.

PEOPLE POWER

The reticence of Arab leaders over Tunisia may reflect their fears that, as North Africa analyst Camille Tawil argues, "what happened in Tunis proved that the people can topple a government in the Arab world by taking to the streets and demonstrating." But it does not necessarily mean they will stand by if their own people are inspired to replicate Tunisia's revolt.

"Other autocrats will not have the squeamishness about suppression with violence that the Tunisians showed," said Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Libya and Iran.

He said some, such as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, "will conclude that they are still right to never give an inch, whether to Islamists or just reformers" and that regime survival is best served by resisting any Western pressure for change.

Arab rulers often justify repression by suggesting the alternative is to see radical Islamists seize power, but Tunisia offers little obvious support for this argument.

"Ben Ali's regime overplayed the Islamist card, trying to scare people about al Qaeda. People saw through it," said Saad Djebbar, an Algerian lawyer and political analyst.

"And as it turned out there were few beards in the street in the protests, even though, to be fair, many Tunisian Islamists prudently don't wear beards."

Arab leaders with more wealth at their disposal also have options to deal with dissent that the Tunisian leader lacked.

"Tunisia simply had fewer cards to play. The country doesn't have the recourse to hydrocarbon rent to make all problems go away," said North Africa analyst Geoff Porter, citing moves by Libya and Algeria to reduce food prices by forgoing tax revenue.

Even resource-poor countries such as Jordan have tried to forestall unrest by taking similar measures they can ill afford.

For Beirut-based commentator Rami Khouri, the message of the Tunisian insurrection was clear.
"It marks the end of acquiescence and docility among masses of ordinary Arab citizens who had remained remarkably complacent for decades in the face of the mounting power of Western-backed Arab security states and police- and army-based ruling regimes."

He said the grievances of Tunisian protesters were shared across the Arab world, except perhaps in small rich Gulf states.

The Rest @ Reuters

Egyptian Christians Killed by Suicide Bomber

(Reuters) - A bomb killed at least 21 people outside a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria early on New Year's Day and the Interior Ministry said a foreign-backed suicide bomber may have been responsible.

Dozens of people were wounded by the blast, which scattered body parts, destroyed cars and smashed windows. The attack prompted Christians to protest on the streets, and some Christians and Muslims hurled stones at each other.

Egypt has stepped up security around churches, banning cars from parking outside them, since an al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq issued a threat against the Church in Egypt in November.
Egypt's leaders were quick to call for unity, wary of any upsurge in sectarian strife or other tension as the country approaches a presidential election due in September amid some uncertainty about whether President Hosni Mubarak, 82, will run.

Mubarak promised in a televised address that terrorists would not destabilize Egypt or divide Christians and Muslims. He said the attack "carries evidence of the involvement of foreign fingers" and vowed to pursue the perpetrators.

A statement on an Islamist website posted about two weeks before the blast called for attacks on Egypt's churches, listing among them the one hit. No group was named in the statement.
President Barack Obama described the bombing as a "barbaric and heinous act" and said the United States, a major ally, was ready to help Cairo in responding to it.

The Muslim Brotherhood, seen as Egypt's biggest opposition group and which decades ago renounced violence as means to power in Egypt, condemned the attack.

"There are people who want this country to be unstable, and all fingers point to outside hands being behind this incident," senior group member Mohamed el-Katatni said.

The circumstances of the attack, compared with other incidents abroad, "clearly indicates that foreign elements undertook planning and execution," the Interior Ministry said.

"It is likely that the device which exploded was carried by a suicide bomber who died among others," it said in a statement. State media had earlier blamed a car bomb.

The embassy of the United States, a close ally of Egypt, expressed condolences to victims of the "terrible event." Other Western and regional states also condemned the bombing.

An Iraqi deputy interior minister, Hussein Kamal, urged Arab states to cooperate in the fight against terrorism and to help stop Arab militants training in Iraq and then returning home.

COMMUNAL FRUSTRATIONS

Health Ministry spokesman Abdel Rahman Shahin said 21 people had been confirmed killed so far and 97 were wounded, the official Middle East News Agency reported.

The church said 20 people were confirmed killed and remains had been found indicating 4-5 others died in the blast, which struck as worshippers marking the New Year left the church.

"We condemn this unfortunate incident that threatens our nation, its security and safety of its citizens. What happened is a dangerous escalation of sectarian events that target the Copts," said a statement from the Alexandria Council of Priests.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Muslim-majority Egypt's 79 million people. Tensions often flare between the two communities over issues such as building churches or close relationships between members of the two faiths.

Analysts said this attack was on a much bigger scale and appeared far more organized than the kind of violence that usually erupts when communal frustrations boil over.

After protests overnight, more than 100 Christians protested again on Saturday near the Coptic Orthodox church that was hit. "We sacrifice our souls and blood for the cross," they chanted.

Police used teargas to disperse protesters.

ISLAMIST THREAT

Egypt's Christians have been threatened by the al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq, which attacked a church in Baghdad two months ago in what it called a response to the mistreatment of Muslim converts by Egyptian Copts.

A statement posted on an Islamist website called on Muslims to "bomb churches during the Christmas holiday when churches are crowded." It was not clear who was behind the statement
that listed churches in Egypt and elsewhere, including Alexandria's Church of the Two Saints that was targeted.

The Orthodox Coptic Christmas is on January 7.

Pope Benedict, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, denounced violence against Christians in his New Year address.

Analysts said they did not expect a return to the kind of Islamic militant insurgency crushed by Egypt's government in the 1990s. Nevertheless, the attack could add to sectarian tension and points to influence of foreign Islamist groups.

"The first and most likely possibility is that a sleeper cell of al Qaeda group carried out this operation and this would mean that al Qaeda has penetrated the Islamic political movement in Egypt," said analyst Nabil Abdel-Fattah.

Alexandria governor Adel Labib "accused al Qaeda of planning the bombing," state television reported.

Officials are swift to play down sectarian differences and have been keen to emphasize national harmony before the September presidential poll.

Mubarak, 82 and in power since 1981, is expected to run if he is able to. Gallbladder surgery in March revived questions about his health, but he has returned to a full schedule.

Sectarian tension is fueled in part by Christian grievances such as laws making it easier to build mosques than churches.

In November, hundreds of Christians clashed with police, and with some Muslims who joined in, in Cairo in a protest against a decision to halt construction of a church. Officials said the Christians had no license to build. Two Christians died, dozens were hurt and more than 150 detained.

Last January, a drive-by shooting of six Christians and a Muslim policeman at a church in southern Egypt sparked protests.

The Rest @ Reuters

Arabs Weigh in on Sudan

There was an interesting meeting this last weekend, alegedly called by and occuring in Tripolli, Libya. It was a sort of public "intervention" With Sudan on Darfur. Egypt Commited troops to the Peace keeping force. All good, But at first glance it looks more like Arab cover for Sudan. First pass at the Rehortic shows that the Libya and other Arab sates are setting themselves up as mediators between Sudan and the rest of the world as the world gets ready to bring Real Sanctions.

...I think it will get Sudan more time to accomplish its goals..Were there any more clandesined arms shipments into Northern Africa during this conference?

Algeded Attendees were Representatives from:

• Libya
• Sudan
• Chad
• Egypt
• Eritria
• the five permanent members of the UN Security Council
• the European Union
• the League of Arab States

Intersting but not surprising to note that neither Ethiopia nor Uganda was there. This was an Arab party, the EU and UN were guests.

Muammar Gaddafi Opened the session and

• Accused Darfur rebels of seeking to internationalize the conflict.
• Cautioned the international community against too much intervention in the Darfur issue.

The 2 Day meeting ended and they released a communique, the Tripoli Consensis

Gaddafi again sets himself up as the Arab Link to Africa, and puts himself in position to intervene diplomatically in the future if the UN troops get too close to the Janjueed.

A good article from China net

Egypt's Coalition of Bullies

Having watched Egyptian bloggers for a while now, they seem to consider most traditional news media as not just biased, but arms of either the International Muslim Brotherhood or the government-dominated rubber-stamping Justice system. The Military has its own influence as well. The assumption of bias holds in most countries, but bloggers in Egypt seem to be looking at the news institutions themselves a perpetrators of deliberate ruse.

Yet, together the three, Government, Brotherhood and Military, with their own news sources seem to form a fairly stable influence infrastructure by Middle Eastern and African Standards. When one gets too powerful, the other two form short term alliances. A similar dynamic occurred in the Soviet Union between the Military, the KGB, and the Kremlin.

The three groups are too focused on each other to spend too much time on other things, except the occasional heated persecution of Coptic Christians. When these groups have nothing else in common, and they become self-destructive, they turn their leaders turn their destructive behavior on Christians. What occurs is a kind of coalition of bullies dynamic since this is the one thing upon which they agree.

In this way, the government demonstrates it has an Islamic heart, and the Brotherhood can show that it has influence in society. This happened in 2005 when the Copts were attacked and murdered for several months at a time when there were some Brotherhood leaders in prison that the government refused to release. After the attacks, tensions eased between the two.

This will only change with prayer, and when the Copts are guaranteed rights. These must include:

• The right to report incidents, and the right to appeal them.
• The right to appeal without being accused of embarrasing the government.
• Non-Egypt based bloggers can pick up the Egyptian Coptic posts and put them on servers elsewhere, moving to insure they protect the identities of those who sent the blogs.

It is not only Coptic loggers who post. They and others are already serving as a way to expose the government, Even though a blogger was recently sentenced to 4 years in prison for insulting Islam and the government. A Brotherhood Blogger has also been put in prison. Those of us in the Blog community have a responsibility to get the word out.

-Shimron Issachar