Minya Governor Essam al-Bedeiwi issued a statement on the evening of Sunday, 30 October, commenting on the statement by Anba Macarius, Bishop of Minya and Abu-Qurqas, which was issued that same morning, and which painfully commented on the closure of three churches in villages in Minya, some 250km south of Cairo, and the possible closure of a fourth. Anba Macarius’s statement was titled: “Following the opening of two closed churches in Minya upon intervention by President Sisi, three other churches closed”.
Governor Bedeiwi said in his statement that the apparatuses, officials, and Governor of Minya, firmly believed in the right of every Egyptian to practice his or her religious rites in freedom and with ease. “Since I was shouldered with the responsibility of governor in 2016, I have put the issue of places of worship, especially those that concerned Christians, on my priority list. This was owing to my belief that there can be no serious development in Minya or in Egypt as a whole as long as our problems remain unresolved, especially problems commonly termed ‘sectarian’.”
He went on to say that development cannot be achieved as long as our domestic problems are spotlighted in a manner that arouses the reservations of all who care about the religion they belong to, giving the impression that State institutions are biased in favour of one party in dispute against the other.
The Governor’s statement declared that the Copts were attacked during the last few days in two villages only. One was Ezbet Zakariya, and 15 have been arrested by the police on account of the violence; the other was al-Qesheiri where 11 have been defined as the perpetrators of violence and will be caught as soon as a permit is issued by the prosecution.
As to the villages of Sheikh Alaa’ and al-Karm, no violence was waged against the Copts there, therefore no one was caught.
Governor Bedeiwi stressed that the governorate was keen to respond positively to any demands by the bishopric, confirming thus that it does not discriminate against any Egyptian. He said that during the period from September 2016 to September 2017, the governorate approved 32 applications by the bishopric.
The statement ended by Governor Bedeiwi stressing that he had confidence in the wisdom and rationality of Anba Macarius, also of his great love for Egypt; and that all problems could and should be resolved through sincere cooperation between the Church and State, which he said, were partners not adversaries.
Anba Macarius, for his part, refused to comment on Governor Bedeiwi’s statement. The Bishop said that he had agreed with the Governor, whom he described as someone he dearly loved, that he would make no comment, since the two men were already in talks about the problems in question. “This despite certain reservations we have to specific clauses in the Governor’s statement,” Anba Macarius said. “Demanding our rights is no hardline behavior,” he said, “and there are no two disputing parties, but one is offender and the other victim.
“We have placed our grievances before Governor Bedeiwi, and are confident he is sufficiently wise and courageous to resolve the problem and lift the injustice inflicted upon the Copts,” Anba Macarius said.