CAIRO,
November 17, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Egypt's Coptic Church and
Christian leaders rebuked Thursday, November 17, the Washington-based
second International Coptic Conference, saying the country's internal
affairs and woes should be discussed at home not abroad.
"The
Coptic Church rejects holding such conferences in foreign
countries," Bishop Musa of the Coptic Church told IslamOnline.net.
Entitled
the International Coptic Conference on Democracy in Egypt for Muslims
and Christians, the event held on November 16-19 is co-organized by
Christian Solidarity International, Coalition for the Defense of Human
Rights Jubilee Campaign, US Copts Association and the Cairo-based Ibn
Khaldon Center.
"We
believe organizers of such conferences are not representative of the
Egyptian Copts and only propagate groundless claims."
Bishop
Saleeb Matta, member of Al-Majlis Al-Milli, a council that officially
represents the Coptic community and is chaired by Pope Shenouda, agreed.
"Any
conference discussing issues of concern of the Egyptian Copts should be
held within Egypt," he stressed.
"If
the expatriate Copts have something to complain about, they should raise
these complaints in meetings held at home not abroad."
The
four-day conference is attended by more than 500 Christian and Muslim
figures from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and a number of Arab countries as
well as American figures.
Chief
among attendees are Egyptian activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, the chairman
of the Ibn Khaldon Center, Nina Shea, the director of the Center for
Religious Freedom of Freedom House as well as former Congressman Walter
Fauntroy.
Many
Christian clerics and prominent figures in Egypt turned down invitations
to show up despite visa facilities by the US embassy in Cairo.
Unrealistic
 |
|
"Whoever
wants to improve conditions of the Egyptian Copts should discuss
such issues inside Egypt not abroad," Ishac said.
|
Similar
concerns were echoed by George Ishac, coordinator of the Kefaya (Enough)
movement, which championed widespread protests against Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak's running for a fifth term in office.
"The
Washington-based Coptic Conference will only discuss unrealistic
problems in Egyptian society," he told IOL.
"Whoever
wants to improve conditions of the Egyptian Copts should put their heads
together here not elsewhere."
Isahc,
who turned down a conference invitation, ruled out the meeting will
succeed or result in any concrete steps.
He
vowed that his movement would hold a conference to stand against any
possible repercussions of the Washington meeting.
On
Wednesday, November 16, a Congressional Human Rights Caucus informal
hearing was held on the sidelines of the conference at the US Capitol
with co-chairs: Congressmen Frank Wolf and Tom Lantos.
Representatives
from the State Department, the International Commission on Religious
Freedom, as well as Coptic leaders Nadia Ghali and Michael Meunier
addressed the meeting
.
Last
week, a number of expatriate Egyptian Copts held joint press conference
with US Senators on what they called the "grave violations against
the Egyptian Copts."
"We're
here to focus on the ongoing persecution of the Coptic community,"
said Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kans.).
"The
situation in Egypt has not gotten better. It's gotten worse
."
Democracy
But
Nabil Jibrael, the head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, who
takes part in the conference, denied that the conference will be
exclusively focused on Coptic problems in Egypt.
"The
conference will discuss the issue of democracy for both the Egyptian
Copts and Muslims," he told IOL.
The
conference chairman, Kamal Abadair, also denied the meeting was mainly
held to probe ethnic issues.
"A
large majority of leading speakers in the meeting are Muslims," he
said.
"In
addition, the conference will discuss a working paper by Muslim activist
Saad Eddin Ibrahim on the rights of minorities in Egypt."
News
reports said that the conference's communiqué is expected to call for
education reform and cancellation of any materials referring to Copts
and Jews.
The
statement is also expected to press for allocating at least 10-15% of
ministerial posts and parliamentary seats for Egyptian Copts.
