In separate incidents Saturday, terrorists once again targeted areas frequented by tourist in Egypt`s capital…
In separate incidents Saturday, terrorists once again targeted areas frequented by tourist in Egypt`s capital, just weeks after three tourists were killed in a bazaar bombing. The latest attacks on tourists involved a bomber and two veiled-women attacked tourists, local paper Al Gomhuria reported.
In the first attack, an Egyptian man, believed to be the bomber, was killed and seven people injured near the Egyptian Museum in what Cairo`s security chief said was a suicide attack, while the other attack, a first in living memory by women in Egypt, the two veiled women opened fire on a tourist bus but missed in southern Cairo, according to Cairo`s Security Director Nabil el-Ezabi.
Those injured in the bombing were three Egyptians, an Israeli couple, one Italian woman and a Swedish man, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Interior. They are in a stable condition in hospital, said Health Minister Mohamed Awad Tag Eddin.
The bombing near the museum, one of Egypt`s most popular tourist destinations, was a suicide operation, Ezabi said. The Interior Ministry said the bomber was Ihab Youssri Yassin, a fugitive member of the group which planned an April 7 bombing which killed three tourists in a Cairo bazaar, Al Gomhuria reported.
The report indicates that he had jumped from the bridge into the square below, where he detonated the bomb. They found his papers, and the identity card of the perpetrator of the Azhar (bazaar) incident Hassan Ra`afat Bashandi, the ministry said in a statement.
Other security sources said someone had thrown a bomb from a bridge which passes behind the museum. The body of the dead man lay on its back in a pool of blood under the bridge. His head was blown apart but the rest of his body was apparently intact. He was wearing a light blue shirt and dark trousers, an eyewitness said. Police gathered together pieces of his head.
Shortly after the first incident, two veiled-women opened fire at a bus in Al-Sayeda Aisha district south of the city. One of the women is believed to be sister of the bomber, identified as Nagat Youssri Yassin, the Ministry of Interior added. The other woman is Nagat`s friend and may have been romantically-involved with the bomber. After missing their target, one of the women then shot and killed the other and she herself sustained wounds believed to have been self-inflicted, the official sources said.
Industry reaction
Amr Sedky, ASTA Egypt chapter president, said unfortunately this is a continuation of the April 7 Khan el Khalili blast, set off Saturday by the rest of Yassin`s family. We view this as personal vendetta carried out not by an organization as it was not well planned. Egypt has no match compared with other countries in terms of attacks; hence all this noise with one incident, according to him.
When we first heard about it, we were worried and thought this wave of violence comes from an organized ring. Sedky added, When the government assured us that the perpetrators last Saturday were the relatives of the previous incident, we felt at ease thinking here`s one isolated case. The acts were directed toward certain nationalities (Israelis), not all tourists. The terrorists were of Palestinian origin, not Egyptian. In this case, Sedky said, tourism flow will not be affected.
Dutchman Dr. Kees Hulsman, a Cairo-based correspondent for the Dutch Radio & TV Reformatorisch Dagblad, Holland said the version on discontent with the government is mere speculation. He said, There`s no big group behind this. Whether related to discontent or subversion, I would find that mere conjecture for now.
People have been calling them from abroad concerned about the state of Westerners living in or traveling to Egypt. The situation as they receive it from the media is very different from what we actually experience here. There`s no indication that violence by terrorist rings has come back.
Sedky received inquiries from US travel agents about situations outside Cairo, where security has been heightened. Anywhere in the world acts by individuals are extremely difficult to control. Even in the US, crimes like these are difficult to contain; it is hard to monitor acts and intentions by people operating on their own especially in a crowded place like Cairo. There are no indications that this is organized crime based on their M.O. and tools (crude detonators). Here is just one frustrated bunch of people.
Hulsman confirmed the fact remains these extremists used simple, non-sophisticated explosive device; the system, crude. He said that the incident in Cairo happened near the Ramses Square opposite the Ramses Hilton which rises above a welter of flyovers and a bus station, centrally located in the downtown.
Tourism minister Ahmed El Maghraby refused to give his comments to the media which Sedky said benefits the industry as a whole, as the ministry. His prime concern is to address the emergency care given to the injured and shield them from further harm. Maghraby currently assures their safety and have contacted their embassies and families abroad about their condition.
Egypt`s ministers of interior and tourism have put stricter measures in place at hotels; travel agents carrying out itineraries in, around and outside Cairo are now required to give the authorities a list of names of tourists travelling as individuals or groups for police to secure the areas they visit beforehand.
Few minutes earlier, Hulsman has just returned from the Coptic Cathedral in the Old Cairo district near Klot Bek in Cairo in al-Muski, about which he said the area appears to be peaceful. I have been out in the city. Things are back to normal in the middle of celebrations. Egypt celebrates the Coptic Easter of Sham el Nassim, a holiday or feast observed traditionally by members of other faiths, including the Muslims.
Sedky`s main concern is to relay the reality to the world. He spoke about his American travel agent clients living in Cairo who only knew about the incident from foreign media. The Al Jazeera, Euro News, BBC pumped the TV up with images of gory scenes on the streets making it all too negative for Egypt. People won`t understand the actual situation from media reports flashing horrific, graphic pictures. We want to relate the message in the most objective way not only for the sake of Egypt alone but for the sake of our clients, as well.
Sedky hopes to present the travel industry the crisis based on actual facts:
the government action, precautions to be taken by visitors, and security insurances given by the Egyptian tourism authorities, the federation of tourist chambers to tourists through international travel agents and operators.
He further appeals to ASTA members in the US and world over to seek a more realistic view of the news. That it is safe to travel to Egypt? I asked, to which he said, half an hour within the twin bombings happening, he checked up on his clients on tour around Cairo Saturday. There was no harm done to them; if anything that immediately took shape, it was the arrival of security forces and more soldiers fortifying the attractions and sites. Cars were no longer allowed to park near hotels. Public transport was prevented from coming near hotels and installations. There was a serious tight grip on all security restrictions, Sedky`s clients noted.
But Egyptian-born, New York-based columnist for the pan Arab daily Asharq al Awsat Mona elTahawy said two things have to be taken into consideration in Saturday`s attacks. One is general; the other, more personal. There is the growing discontent with the Mubarak regime with the lack of opportunities, of political and economic openness in the country which have been going on for years, traced to some US campaigns playing out in Egypt. Despite Mubarak`s seeming willingness to reform saying that Egypt will have multi-party candidates for the election later this year, there`s still much more to be done including lifting the emergency laws the state claims to use against terrorists.
In an official statement Sunday, according to the Associated Press, the opposition Al-Ghad Party said the violence was the result of the environment of oppression and depression, a reference to the emergency laws the country has lived under since 1981. Opposition groups have repeatedly called on President Hosni Mubarak to revoke the laws. Mohammed Mahdi Akef, leader of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, said the attacks were illogical and irresponsible and condemned by tradition and religion.
Amendment of the Egyptian constitution May 22, 1980 has created the emergency laws which gives the president special emergency powers to cope with situations threatening national security and unity. In emergency situations, he is empowered to pass decrees, employing the force of law when Parliament is not in session or dissolved. Deemed necessary, the laws were applied to the latest events.
According to elTahawy, Saturday`s twin-attacks and that of April 7 prove officials haven`t done anything to prevent terrorism. More political space is needed for new candidates to come forward to speak to the public. More openness in the media is needed for potential candidates to present their campaign the way that Mubarak has been giving interviews to Egyptian TV and laying down his vision for the country.
What elTahawy is saying is that the idea of Kifaya or enough, born in December against a possible additional term for Mubarak, calls for an end to Mubarak`s more than two decades of reign, in bold headlines. In short, Egyptians are fed up.
She said that according to sources, the brother of the man guilty of the Khan el Khalili blast died yesterday in police custody. Human rights groups perhaps claim that he was tortured to death. Hence, beside the growing discontentment, there is a small group of people who carried it out of personal vengeance. Question remains: is this part of a larger campaign which is part of the one we saw in the 1990s, or is this a smaller one carried out by disparate group of people not necessarily connected to the major militant ones like the al Gama al Islamiya or Gihad Islamiya?
Unfortunately, these militant campaigns are quick to harm the tourism industry – an agendum they have in common with their predecessors who have lost strength in the late 90s. Damage terrorists have done to the economy through attacking foreign tourists such as at Luxor in 1997 was enormous.
However, the repercussions have been felt nationwide lessening the support for fundamentalists groups among lower and middle class Egyptians gravely affected by the attacks. elTahawy warned we may be seeing attacks on tourists as a way of hurting the economy. As tourism is Egypt`s biggest hard currency earner, terrorists have always seen it as a target unfortunately.
More than 1 million Egyptians work in the tourism sector and related services. Some 5 million suffered from the Luxor attack. That is about five members out of every household with no work or no business to run. That is 90 percent of Egyptians, including the terrorists` households, having no subsistence, no livelihood, no hope for themselves and their innocent children. The message of the militants, although powerful and crippling to the overall economy, proved counter-productive to themselves, making their families suffer more in turn. Ceasefire was ordered by their commanders seeing their mistake backfiring.
Some question that while the government is claiming that these incidents are perpetrated by a small and disgruntled family, Egyptian police on Sunday has detained as many as 200 people from the home villages of the three attackers responsible for the bomb blast and tour bus shooting.
The Egyptian government begins to sound ambiguous – saying there are only 1 or 2 family members involved and arrests 200. It doesn`t make any sense. I think the government is panicking because they don`t want a replay of the event of 1997 when tourism took a bad hit. I think they are worried about the tourism industry, said elTahawy, reminding that in the 1990s Egyptian sociologists and think-tanks were asked about what the government should do; they replied Egypt should invest in poorer areas and give the young plenty of opportunities. It seems they have not done any of that. What we`re seeing, the same disenchantment expressing itself again pushed against a hard-line military crackdown simply does not work.
And no matter the discontent, she is certain Mubarak will still win the elections amid the onslaught of attacks in the past few weeks.
Italian ambassador: Terrorist attack won`t affect Egyptian tourism
In a first foreign reaction to Saturday`s Abdel Moneim Riyadh square attack in downtown Cairo, Italian Ambassador to Egypt Antonio Badini told MENA that such a terrorist attack would not affect tourist inflow into Egypt.
Badini said that to his knowledge the injuries of an Italian tourist sustained in today`s attack were minor.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
