30+ Dead in Egypt Bombings
0 Comments Published by Tom Gara on Friday, October 8 at Friday, October 08, 2004.
Luckily I'm not one of them :)
Super lucky in fact considering that we were planning out spending the long weekend out in Sinai but changed our minds at the last minute.
I can't type for too long, but just to mention a few things:
- most media reports on the bombings are presenting them as being focussed on Israeli tourists. This underestimates how severe the casualties will be for Egyptian tourists - as this was the 6 October long weekend, pretty much every middle class travelling Egyptian went somewhere this weekend - Sinai being a particular favourite (see post below). Right now Egyptian television is saying 33 dead, majority Egyptians with 10+ Israelis. But take the opinion of Egyptian english language television with a grain of salt.
- This is incredibly bad news for Egypt. It will cause a significant, significant drop in tourist numbers. After Suez Canal revenues, tourism is Egypt's number 2 earner of foreign exchange dollars. This is bad.
- A gaggle of random fuck-face Islamist groups are claiming responsibility right now. One of them is going by the name of Jamiaah Islamiyah, which was the same name as the group who organised the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia. Although as I understand, Jemiaah Islamiah is Arabic for something like "soldiers of Islam" - which means it is probably a common name for these militant Islamic groups
- Egypt keeps an incredibly tight grip on home grown militant Islamic groups. The army is constantly mobilised all over the country, and the strict counter terrorism measures that have been in place since Sadat's assisination are still used to keep the boot firmly on anyone who seems Islamist and violent. This is going to present an obvious challenge to the Egyptian government. They can all but annihilate local terrorism, but this bombing clearly shows that Egypt, and the people and economy of Egypt, is not off limits to international Islamic terror networks. How Mubarak responds to this could be interesting.
- I wouldnt be surprised if in the coming weeks, the following happens: (1) Egypt is offered a ajor, major new US military aid package designed to fight terrorism (they already collect something around the $2 billion mark). (2) Egypt accepts the aid package (3) Egypt starts to play a much more co-operative role in the Israeli withdrawal of Gaza (it will practicaly become Egyptian territory after the withdrawal). (4) Egyptian personnel start heading to Iraq
I dont think internationally people are really understanding how much of a crisis this could lead to. This event could severely shag the economy of the most populous, miltarily powerful and influential Arab countries - and in doing so, it may have an interesting effect on the Egyptian political and social landscape. Maybe I'm saying too much here because I'm a little freaked out/shocked but for sure this is big, big news here, and in the region.
I will write more once I am back in Cairo. Jesus, what a way to screw the vibe of a nice long weekend on the coast.
Super lucky in fact considering that we were planning out spending the long weekend out in Sinai but changed our minds at the last minute.
I can't type for too long, but just to mention a few things:
- most media reports on the bombings are presenting them as being focussed on Israeli tourists. This underestimates how severe the casualties will be for Egyptian tourists - as this was the 6 October long weekend, pretty much every middle class travelling Egyptian went somewhere this weekend - Sinai being a particular favourite (see post below). Right now Egyptian television is saying 33 dead, majority Egyptians with 10+ Israelis. But take the opinion of Egyptian english language television with a grain of salt.
- This is incredibly bad news for Egypt. It will cause a significant, significant drop in tourist numbers. After Suez Canal revenues, tourism is Egypt's number 2 earner of foreign exchange dollars. This is bad.
- A gaggle of random fuck-face Islamist groups are claiming responsibility right now. One of them is going by the name of Jamiaah Islamiyah, which was the same name as the group who organised the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia. Although as I understand, Jemiaah Islamiah is Arabic for something like "soldiers of Islam" - which means it is probably a common name for these militant Islamic groups
- Egypt keeps an incredibly tight grip on home grown militant Islamic groups. The army is constantly mobilised all over the country, and the strict counter terrorism measures that have been in place since Sadat's assisination are still used to keep the boot firmly on anyone who seems Islamist and violent. This is going to present an obvious challenge to the Egyptian government. They can all but annihilate local terrorism, but this bombing clearly shows that Egypt, and the people and economy of Egypt, is not off limits to international Islamic terror networks. How Mubarak responds to this could be interesting.
- I wouldnt be surprised if in the coming weeks, the following happens: (1) Egypt is offered a ajor, major new US military aid package designed to fight terrorism (they already collect something around the $2 billion mark). (2) Egypt accepts the aid package (3) Egypt starts to play a much more co-operative role in the Israeli withdrawal of Gaza (it will practicaly become Egyptian territory after the withdrawal). (4) Egyptian personnel start heading to Iraq
I dont think internationally people are really understanding how much of a crisis this could lead to. This event could severely shag the economy of the most populous, miltarily powerful and influential Arab countries - and in doing so, it may have an interesting effect on the Egyptian political and social landscape. Maybe I'm saying too much here because I'm a little freaked out/shocked but for sure this is big, big news here, and in the region.
I will write more once I am back in Cairo. Jesus, what a way to screw the vibe of a nice long weekend on the coast.
0 Responses to “30+ Dead in Egypt Bombings”
Post a Comment