- Clashes continue near Egypt's Interior Ministry building in Cairo
Protesters and police clashed again outside Cairo's security headquarters... - GCC to hold ministerial meeting on Syria
The foreign ministers of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries will ho... - Gilani in Qatar to talk Afghan peace
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani left Monday (February 6th) for... - Two Sahwa members killed in Baghdad
Two Sahwa members were killed when a sticky bomb attached to their car exp... - Anbar police kill one gunman, arrest three
One suspected al-Qaeda gunman was killed and three others were arrested in... - Iraqi army arrests six suspected al-Qaeda members in Mosul
Iraqi army forces arrested six suspected al-Qaeda members during a militar... - Iraq forms committee to facilitate return of refugees
A special committee has been formed to review the conditions of Iraqi citi... - Donors release funds to Yemen after one year suspension
Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries and other donors have released f... - UAE to give Gulf and domestic companies equal treatment
The UAE cabinet has agreed to allow Gulf companies to open branches in the...
Mubarak decries Algerian soccer aggression against Egyptians
 Flag-waving Egyptians pass riot police guarding the Algerian embassy in Cairo, Nov. 20. (Cris Bouroncle/AFP/Getty Images) |
CAIRO — In a speech to parliament on Nov. 21, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said that Egypt would not tolerate abuses of its citizens abroad, his first public reference to the country’s differences with Algeria over violence following two World Cup qualifying matches between the two countries.
Mubarak said Egypt “does not take insults to its citizens lightly. Egypt’s honour derives from the honour of its people. The safety of our citizens abroad is a state responsibility. We safeguard their rights and reject all breaches of conduct directed against them.”
He instructed that members of the national soccer team and technical squad be awarded large bonuses in recognition of their respectable performance in the World Cup qualifier matches, where they kept fighting to the very end.
The President’s eldest son, Alaa Mubarak, who was in Khartoum Nov. 18 for the final match in African qualifiers for the World Cup told the press that Egypt “must take a decisive stand” and respond to “this terrorism, this hostility and this maltreatment that Egyptian fans suffered at the hands of the Algerians.”
Mubarak said Algerians who travelled to Sudan “were not football fans by any stretch of the imagination; they were thugs. Egyptians encountered no problems with their brothers in the Gulf or with the Tunisians, Moroccans, or Libyans, but it would seem that there are strange forces at work in the social make-up of Algeria. There is resentment and malice against Egypt.”
The violence that erupted between fans after the two soccer matches were reported in some media as the worst crisis to arise between Egypt and another Arab country in quite a while. Egypt recalled its ambassador from Algeria in protest and published reports that 21 Egyptians had been injured in assaults following the match in Sudan on Nov. 18.
The following day saw a tense sequel to the events in Khartoum, when a band of Egyptian hooligans tried to reach the Algerian embassy in Cairo. They were stopped by an Egyptian police squad, but violence engulfed shops and cars on the normally calm streets near the embassy until repressed.
Sources:
Reader Comments
We should pay attention to the anti-Egyptian incidents and compare them to what is happening in Algeria every day. We are with Arabism and Islam. We also have rights over the Algerians, which must be assessed in a fair manner. We are for forgiveness and apologies.
Happy holidays.
Algerians are very violent by nature. They lost their identities and belong to neither the Arab world nor France.
President Hosni Mubarak can deal with 80 million citizens or more, but his son, Jamal, cannot handle anything. The evidence is clear; he was not able to protect the rights of Egyptian players or to protect the dignity of those who were with him during his time in Sudan. Instead, everyone ran away terrorised and afraid of the confrontation. God is with you, beloved Egypt. God is with you, people of Egypt. We say no to inheritance. Jamal Mubarak must not inherit the presidency from his father. God is the Greatest.
In the Spotlight
Al-Qaeda's funding sources drying up
Al-Qaeda's regular sources of funding seem to be disappearing after the death of Osama bin Laden an...
Join the discussion
RSS Feeds
#comment#