Blood on the Nile

The military-backed Egyptian government, which overthrew elected president Mohamed Mursi, has blood on its hands. Hatred for General Abdel Fattah alSisi who led the action, which resulted in the overthrow of Mursi early last month, is a figure against whom more and more rage is being expressed everywhere in Egypt, but most notably, in the capital Cairo as members and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood party rise up in arms against the overthrow and against recent action to dislodge camps set up by Mursi supporters. In the violence, over 500 people have already been killed. In the bloodiest day of this growing confrontation, some 50 more were killed in Cairo alone on August 16 as security forces and protestors belonging to not only the Brotherhood but also other parties took to the streets. Thirty were killed outside the capital in similar incidents, as forces used bullets to quash the voice of the people. International news agencies have been reporting the sight of bodies splayed out on streets, and there is no evidence that the unrest is set to end anytime soon with the Brotherhood determined to make its feelings known to the world at large.

Condemnation for what is happening in Egypt and support for its people has poured in from around the world. It is, of course, terrible to see the brave revolution orchestrated by the ordinary people of that country taking this ugly course. But it also appears that there are elements who back the effort to make the vote people cast in elections in May last year irrelevant. Support for the action against the Brotherhood has come in from Saudi Arabia and it would seem that cries against what is happening are not loud enough to make an impact. This is unfortunate. The people of Egypt need help; the bloodbath there must be stopped and all of us, no matter where we live or what we do, have some responsibility to play a part in ensuring that this happens and the killings of people on the streets stop. We need more proactive efforts to end the extreme injustice and the wanton violence that is taking place in that unfortunate country.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2013.

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