A Coptic governor’s resignation in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Qena is prominently featured in Wednesday’s papers. Commenting on Qena strikes in protest of the governor’s original appointment, independent daily Al-Shorouk’s Emad Eddin Hussein warns about the danger of sectarianism.
Upper Egypt is often marginalized by the central authorities, and only given attention when elections roll around. According to Hussein, the way the central authority deals with Upper Egypt needs to change dramatically, especially since area residents have developed effective strategies, such as blocking roads, to express their dissent.
“Those people discovered from 25 January’s revolution that peaceful revolts can do miracles. Not only have they managed to oust a president and a regime, but to put them all in prison,” he says. Hussein calls for better development strategies in Upper Egypt and warns, “If Upper Egyptians have stopped trains and cut roads, do we wait until they cut the Nile Water and demand secession?”
Editor-in-Chief of the independent daily Al-Wafd, Osama Heikal, dedicates his column Wednesday morning to persisting frustration with how the government appoints governors, insisting that state officers should not be rewarded with such appointments as they approach retirement age. He also says that it is strange that governors come from among the ranks of university professors, judges and police officers, since being a governor is not simply a hierarchical promotion, but a demanding job that requires administrative and planning skills. Finally, the choice of appointing a Coptic governor in Qena in particular, a governorate that has undergone sectarian strife, is a poor attempt at inclusion at the sacrifice of a merit-based selection process. Choosing a Coptic governor for the mere purpose of achieving inclusion is an act pour la forme and does not bear in mind the essential requirements of the job. “Change is needed,” he writes. “But the change we want is that of the system and the way things are done.”
In his seminal Nos-Kilma (half a word), the state-run Al-Akhbar’s Ahmad Ragab asks, “Why can’t we have all government positions based on elections, since strikes have become the trend?” Ragab’s satirical proposition is to have the people of a governorate elect their governor, university students elect their deans and employees elect their CEOs, hence guaranteeing no more strikes.
The fact-finding commission’s report about the killing of protesters during the 25 January revolution is at the center of Wednesday’s papers. The Al-Akhbar leads with a dramatic headline that reads, “The Sinners.” Al-Dostour leads with “Fact-finding mission reveals the killers.” All papers focus on how former Minister of Interior Habib al-Adly ordered snipers, using the rooftops of the Ministry of Interior and the American University in Cairo as their base, to kill protesters after al-Adly informed Mubarak. The snipers work in the Terrorism Unit, which was part of the now defunct State Security Investigative Service. The reporting also focuses on “high orders” for the security forces to retreat in order to create panic in the streets.
Besides the Qena showdown and the fact-finding commission report, papers continue to relay gossip from the Cairene Tora Prison, dubbed Tora Land, where former regime figures are held. Al-Ahram reports on a fight between Gamal Mubarak, the former president’s son who had his eyes on his father’s office, and Ahmad Ezz, former leading figure in the dissolved National Democratic Party. Gamal Mubarak asked Ezz about all the youth he had been grooming to become the party’s enlightened base. The former added, “A bunch of kids on Facebook beat them and us.”
Egypt's papers:
Al-Ahram: Daily, state-run, largest distribution in Egypt
Al-Akhbar: Daily, state-run, second to Al-Ahram in institutional size
Al-Gomhorriya: Daily, state-run
Rose al-Youssef: Daily, state-run
Al-Dostour: Daily, privately owned
Al-Shorouk: Daily, privately owned
Al-Wafd: Daily, published by the liberal Wafd Party
Al-Arabi: Weekly, published by the Arab Nasserist party
Youm7: Weekly, privately owned
Sawt al-Umma: Weekly, privately owned
