A number of Coptic and Church figures declined invitations to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her recent visit to Egypt. Their refusal was due to their opposition to what they called US interference in Egyptian internal affairs and the support the US is giving the Muslim Brotherhood (MB)
A number of Coptic and Church figures declined invitations to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her recent visit to Egypt. Their refusal was due to their opposition to what they called US interference in Egyptian internal affairs and the support the US is giving the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). They alleged the US is in alliance with the MB and that US foreign policy is shifting towards the creation and backing of Islamist regimes in the Middle East.
Invitations to meet Clinton had been sent to former MP Emad Gad, political activist and head of al-Hayat party Michael Meunier, head of the Egyptian Union of Human Right Organization (EUHRO) Naguib Gabrail, member of the Alexandria Coptic Orthodox Melli (Community) Council Kameel Seddiq, and the lawyer Ramsis al-Naggar who represents the Coptic Church. All of them turned their backs on the invitation.
The Coptic Orthodox Church confirmed that no representative was sent on its behalf to meet Ms Clinton.
Deal against Egypt
Dr Gad sent a letter of apology declining the invitation to meet Clinton. In his letter, he stated that he is an Egyptian politician who is willing to discuss his country##s problems of citizenship and human rights on national grounds. He rejected that such a discussion should take place on religious basis, and declared he strongly disapproves “the deal” which the US had concluded with the MB to establish religious rule in Egypt, which he saw as a dangerous threat to Egyptian unity.
“I reject your policy towards my country and reject your efforts to establish an Islamist regime that would fragment my homeland,” Gad said in his letter. “I am willing to engage in dialogue as an Egyptian politician representing the interests of my country. I therefore ask you to accept my apology for not attending your roundtable discussion.”
Mr Gabrail and Dr Seddiq, secretary of the Melli Council in Alexandria, held a similar position towards the invitation. Gabrail justified their action saying that they cannot meet a representative of a country that interferes with Egypt##s internal affairs. He finds the claim of the US administration of defending the rights of the Copts very hard to believe while they keep up their support of the MB and while, he reminds, they did nothing to defend Iraq##s Christians. The US only looks after its interests, Gabrail said, and this does not automatically imply it stands for freedoms or rights.
Statement
“In solidarity with the people of Egypt the Copts who protested against Ms Clinton##s visit in front of the US embassy,” Mr Meunier also declined the invitation. He expressed his opposition to the categorisation of meetings on a religious basis into Muslim, Copt, MB and Salafi and to foreign interference in Egyptian internal affairs. Several Coptic figures issued a statement against the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemning her support of the Islamist current in Egypt and the effort to divide Egypt on a sectarian basis. In addition to the Coptic activists mentioned above, the statement was signed by the Coptic tycoon Naguib Sawiris, political activist and the former MP Georgette Qellini. It stated that, since the Revolution in January 2011, Ms Clinton and a number of American politicians came to Egypt to meet with figures of political Islam to the exclusion of the other civil currents. The meetings, especially the ones held before the parliamentary and presidential elections, were tantamount to external pressure aiming to empower the religious current. They even announced their backing of a specific presidential candidate. The signatories of the statement considered the desire of Ms Clinton to meet Coptic politicians after having met the MBs and the Salafis an expression of sectarian segregation rejected by Egyptians in general and Copts in particular. Declining the invitation to meet Ms Clinton mirrored the personal inclinations of the signatories as well as their solidarity with the Egyptian street.
Protests
The Coptic Maspero Youth Union (MYU) had organised a demonstration last Saturday in front of the US embassy in Cairo to protest against the Clinton visit to Egypt the same day. The demonstration took place under the slogan: “No to the US – Muslim Brotherhood (MB) alliance to impose their will upon Egypt.” A similar demonstration was also held Saturday morning in front of the presidential palace, and another in Alexandria on Sunday morning, where Clinton was scheduled to speak at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The MYU created a page on facebook entitled “Hillary, You are NOT welcome in Egypt”. Joining the MYU protest were other Coptic movements; among them the Shubra Copts Movement.
Only economic support
A group of nine Copts, however, were finally persuaded to meet Ms Clinton on her final evening in Cairo. These were the Coptic Catholic Church spokesman Fr Rafiq Greiche, the head of the Evangelical Church Rev. Safwat al-Bayadi, the Bishop of the Greek Orthodox Church Nicolas Antonios, the head of the Episcopal Church Mounir Anis, the pastor of Qasr al-Dubara Evangelical Church Sameh Maurice, editor-in-chief of Watani Youssef Sidhom, writer Laila Takla, businessman Rami Lakah, and activist Ihab Aziz. Mr Sidhom says they explained the Coptic grievances towards the US stance in Egypt, and that Ms Clinton insisted the US was not partial to any political force in Egypt, but was only offering the country economic support.
Bishop Nicolas Antonios issued a statement explaining that, even though the voices which called for a boycott of Ms Clinton command respect, he deemed the meeting to be important and more productive than the boycott. He said that the Christian figures who met the US Secretary of State expressed their rejection of a religious or theocratic dictatorship, and of US funding of religious-based political parties. The Bishop’s statement explained that: “We stressed that all international treaties on freedom and human rights of which Egypt is signatory should be indiscriminately honoured.”
For his part, Mr Aziz told Watani that he and his colleagues do not see that they have broken the Coptic consensus to meet Ms Clinton, but have carried the Coptic anger and explained it to her.