Construction work to raise to 4m the height of the fencing wall surrounding the fourth century desert monastery of Abu-Fana in Mallawi, Minya, began last week directly following a permit by Minya governor. The monastery had been requesting this permit for some six months now, since the wall built last year was only permitted to rise 2m, a height which was not sufficient to secure the safety of the grounds and which, moreover, was swiftly buried under the moving sand dunes of the desert.
Last Wednesday, women and youngsters from the ‘Arabs’—the common name given to the tribal desert dwellers in the area—attacked the construction labourers with stones, rocks, and sticks. The labourers refused to answer back, in order to avoid any fight that may result in a halt in construction. The security service at the monastery called the police who moved to the site and put an end to the skirmishes.
“It is important to build the four-meter wall to protect the monastery from the continuous attacks, but we are waiting for the approval of Supreme Council of Antiquities to build the eastern wall,” Father Bola Anwar, spokesman of Malawi Bishopric, told Watani. The desert area surrounding the monastery is full of unexcavated antiquities and monuments.
Abu-Fana monastery had been the site of several barbaric attacks by the ‘Arabs’, yet it was not till last year that Minya governorate permitted the monastery to build a fencing wall around the monastery grounds.