Earlier this month Abu-Fana monastery announced that the seven-kilometer long fencing wall which runs round the periphery of its land has been completed. A building committee from Minya governorate has inspected the wall and approved it. The 1.5m high fencing wall was built in less than the two months stipulated by Minya governor as a deadline to finish the wall. Mallawi bishopric, to which the monastery is affiliated has asked Minya governor for a permit to raise the height of the wall to four meters. The 1.5m-high wall, the bishopric claims, is no protection against intruders and will in all probability be buried under the sand in a matter of months since the district is one of moving sand dunes.
The bishopric has also demanded that the monastery be supplied with fresh water and electricity, the lines of which pass adjacent to the monastery walls. Minya governor has so far given no reply.
WATANI International
16 November 2008
