Upper Egypt: Calm before the Storm?
January 29, 2011 2:53 P.M.
By Nina Shea
Upper Egypt, the southern part of the country where many rural Christian Copts live, has been tensely quiet, I’m hearing from knowledgeable sources. This is an area of farmers and peasants, who have limited internet access and relatively low literacy. The area has also had a long-term and strong security presence due to sectarian tensions and to its serving as a traditional base for Islamic extremists (Gamaa’at Islamiyah, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, Sadat’s assassins, the Luxor tourists attackers). For now, most people in the south are bracing for the worst, stocking food supplies, and huddling around their televisions and radios following developments to the north.
Re Upper Egypt; the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) has some background on the new members of the Egyptian government.
The new vice-president Omar Suleiman was born in Kena, Upper Egypt. Despite his humble origins he made it into the top echelon of Cairo society. Suleiman fought in the wars 1967 and 1973. 1993 he was made the head of «Mukhabarat», the secret police. He has served as Mubarak’s trouble shooter, and taken part in several negotiations between Israel and Palestinian groups, and between Hamas and the PA. According to the NZZ Suleiman is also appreciated in DC.