Watch Egypt Get Veiled

My pal Tom Gara wrote this fascinating post on his blog about the changes that have taken place at Cairo University over the last 100 years.  It is really breathtaking to compare these pics.  

FROM A DIFFERENT DRUMMER:

 

This year is the 100th anniversary of Cairo University, the largest university in the Middle East. The Egyptian bog Hatshepsut has posted some pictures of Cairo Uni English Faculty graduating classes from the last 50 years.   

You’ll have to click on each pic to see it in full size – but the generational changes in the wearing of headscarves is amazing.

1959:

1978:

1995:

2004:

 

Tutankhamun’s Childrden Under Study

hey guys – fyi to all the Egyptian antiquities lovers:

Tutankhamun’s Childrden Under Study 

In collaboration with the Cairo University ‘s Faculty of Medicine, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) started a scientific project to study two mummified fetuses which have been stored at the university since their discovery in Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 on Luxor’s west bank. It is thought that the tiny bodies may be those of the young king’s stillborn children.

Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced the collaborative project today, adding that the scientific team headed by Dr. Ashraf Selim, head of Cairo Scan, and Dr. Yehia Zakaria of the National Research Center carried out a CT scan on the two fetuses and took samples in order to carry out a DNA tests.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, said that the study aims at identifying the linage and the family of king Tutankhamun, particularly his parents. The DNA test and the CT scan will may also help to identify the fetuses’ mother.

The results of these studies, asserted Hawass, will also help in identifying the mummy of queen Nefertiti, the wife of the monotheist king Akhenaton. Within the framework of the SCA’s project to CT scan all royal mummies for identification, samples from several unknown female mummies found at the Egyptian museum have been taken for DNA testing.

All of the results will be compared with each other, along with those of the mummy of the boy king Tutankhamun, which CT scanned in 2005.

Dr. Hawass also signed a scientific agreement with Dr. Ahmed Sameh, dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, to establish Egypt’s second ever DNA lab at the faculty. The first one is inside the Egyptian Museum. Such a lab, explained Dr. Hawass, will enable scientists and researchers to carry out scientific comparisons between the results provided from both labs.

Dr. Hawass said that the forensic section at the faculty will study the bones found inside the pyramid builders’ cemetery on the Giza plateau, in order to learn of the diseases that they suffered during their lifetimes and their average ages at death.    

Egypt Hard Hit by Inflation

This is an audio feature I recorded while on assignment this week in Egypt.  It’s a wrap of my coverage.  

Click here if you’re interested.

Cairo property has a traffic jam

Vivian Salama

The National | July 09, 2008 7:53PM UAE

Photo by Victoria Hazou

CAIRO // Egypt’s property developers say that higher market prices, brought on by an influx of Gulf-based developers and soaring construction costs, have caused a slowdown in the industry. 

Analysts estimate that only two to three per cent of Egyptians can afford the properties, priced at more than 1 million Egyptian pounds (Dh687,000), that are springing up across the country.

“This is a poor country – the people have it tough as it is,” said Hatem Issa, the general manager of Iqarat Misr, a Cairo-based property investment company. “The Gulf developers who come here work in dollars. This is a pound-driven market, so it naturally drove prices up.”

In recent years Egypt has been the emerging market of choice for many Gulf-based developers, since it offers a large domestic market with low input costs. Industry estimates place the value of Gulf investment in the Egyptian property sector in excess of $885 million per year and growing.

“Initially the effect is that [Gulf companies] instilled a level of optimism and excitement because they came in and paid a lot of money for raw land,” said Tarek Shahin, a property and construction analyst with Beltone Financial in Cairo. “They are willing to pay historically high prices for land because they think that much money can be derived from the Egyptian public.”

The most populous country in the Arab world, Egypt is home to nearly 80 million people. Ninety-six per cent of them live on only four per cent of the land, due to the sprawling deserts both East and West of the Nile.

Industry forecasts suggest a demand for 600,000 units a year in Egypt, although Mr Issa says the figure is unrealistic.

According to the UN, the urban population is expanding at a rate of 1.7 per cent a year, triggering the dispersal of Cairo’s city dwellers to outlying areas.

Intensive urbanisation projects have resulted in major developments around the capital, including Sixth of October City, New Cairo and Katameya Heights. Developers estimate that about 85 per cent of the upmarket properties built in recent years are owned by Egyptians and Egyptian expatriates. 

However, according to Mr Issa, prices are soaring at unprecedented rates, creating panic within the industry. In Sept 2006, Iqarat Misr sold villas in Sixth of October City for 800,000 pounds; today the same houses sell for 1.8m pounds.

“If the situation was moving step by step then it’s one thing, but it’s happening bam, bam, bam; not expected at all,” said Mr Issa. “If we had time to reformat our strategies and re-evaluate our costs then it might be better, but it’s happened so fast and nobody knows what tomorrow will bring.”

The impact of the Gulf-based developers’ positioning in the market is exacerbated by soaring costs. The price of steel reinforcement bars, which make up approximately 20 per cent of the total cost of construction, has risen threefold since 2006.

Despite the concerns of local developers, billboards around the capital demonstrate the ubiquity of their UAE-based counterparts. Emaar Misr has invested Dh20.33 billion in Egypt, including a Dh7.7bn development in Uptown Cairo and the Dh2.57bn Cairo Gate, a commercial and residential development.

The company will soon start a project in Marassi, an upmarket residential and tourism community built around an area of seven square kilometres at Sidi Abdel Rahman. The company paid Dh642.8m for the undeveloped land in an auction two years ago. Emaar Misr also plans to build a self-contained residential community close to the Smart Village on the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road.

Also last year, Damac Properties announced a number of ambitious projects in Egypt, including Park Avenue, a mixed-use centre of four million square metres. It plans to build the New Cairo project, which will comprise residential and commercial properties, over an area of 6.3 million square metres.

Al Futtaim Group also recently began work on Cairo Festival City, an indoor-outdoor shopping and entertainment centre of 154,000 square metres, similar to its namesake in Dubai.

Mr Shahin said that the greatest problem brought on by luxury developments from the Gulf was a mismatch in the country’s property offerings. “Affordability is going to be an issue but the fact is, people will always need to buy a home so the question now is who will offer a project where they sell more affordable housing?”

vsalama@thenational.ae

UAE in Farm Talks with Egypt for Food Supply

Photo by Victoria Hazou

by Vivian Salama

The National

CAIRO // The UAE is pursuing investments in farmland and other agricultural business projects in Egypt in an effort to secure strategic food reserves. 

The Egyptian minister of foreign trade and industry, Rachid Mohammed Rachid, confirmed that his government was in talks with Abu Dhabi to embark on bilateral agricultural investment projects.

“There are some projects we are negotiating with the UAE related to food security for the UAE, and possibly third countries,” said Mr Rachid. “At the same time, the UAE is willing to help from an investment point of view, because it became a viable investment proposition to put more money into food, especially agriculture and agribusiness, and there are a number of projects we are currently negotiating.”

Mr Rachid said the proposed projects ranged from farmland investment and development to setting up infrastructure for agribusiness and food processing. He is scheduled to travel to Abu Dhabi tomorrow for further discussions with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. .

While an Egypt-UAE agricultural alliance could prove to be vital in helping to protect UAE residents against crippling export bans, record-high commodity prices and potential food shortages, it would also be of equal benefit to Egypt.

Mr Rachid said his country was looking to boost its annual agribusiness investments from about four billion Egyptian pounds (Dh2.75bn) to the rate of about 25bn pounds per year for the next 10 years. Details for any UAE-Egypt initiatives have yet to be finalised.

Egypt, the world’s fourth-largest exporter of rice, is set to produce 4.6 million metric tons this year. A total of 3.2 million metric tons were estimated for local consumption, while 1.4 million were available for exports. It is also a significant producer of wheat, corn, sugarcane, fruit and vegetables, and fodder. With almost 80 million residents, Egypt has the highest population of any country in the Arab world.

In an effort to preserve local supplies, the Egyptian government has implemented a controversial ban on rice exports, which Mr Rachid said could last until April next year. Earlier this year, Egypt, like many countries worldwide, was the scene of violent social unrest over rising food prices.

“We are not happy having the ban in place, but obviously we are not in a position to pass these high prices to Egyptian consumers,” Mr Rachid said. “Egyptians are paying double the price for wheat, three times the price for corn – animal feed is up by three to four times.”

Various factors including limited water and agricultural land force countries in the GCC to rely almost entirely on imported food items. The UAE imports nearly 85 per cent of its food, worth an estimated Dh11bn annually.

UAE inflation accelerated to a 20-year high of 11.4 per cent last year – its highest level in 20 years – with food, beverage and tobacco accounting for 11 per cent of that hike. The situation is just as grim in Egypt. Inflation rates rose to 19.7 per cent in May, the highest since the government began regularly releasing records to the public, in 1998. Official statistics show that food and beverage prices in Egypt rose by 27 per cent in the year ended in May.

The Egyptian government has long implemented subsidies on various basic goods, with state subsidies for basic food products estimated at more than 21.5bn pounds, compared to 10bn pounds last year, an increase of 115 per cent, the Ministry of Finance reported. Mr Rachid said it was his government’s intention to transform the subsidy system from a commodity- to a cash-based system, a move expected to shave 30 to 40 per cent off government expenditure.

“What we have seen in the last 18 months is a global crisis at a magnitude that we have not seen in the last 25 to 30 years,” Mr Rachid said. “The normal conditions that normal Egyptians have to cope with is horrendous.”

The partnership with Egypt is the latest effort by the Government to establish strategic food reserves outside the UAE’s borders. Earlier this year, the Abu Dhabi Government finalised a scheme to buy 29,400 hectares of farmland in Northern Sudan, a project set to commence by the end of this year. The farm, located in the town of Abu Hamed in the state of Nahr an Nil, which borders Egypt, will be used primarily for the cultivation of alfalfa, a plant used to make food and animal feed. Government officials have confirmed that Pakistan was also on their radar for farmland investments, although no official proposals have been made public.

Photo by Victoria Hazou

Egyptian archaeologists find fortified city

An Egyptian archaeological mission in northern Sinai, headed by Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, head of antiquities of Lower Egypt, has found the remains of the largest ancient Egyptian fortified city from the New Kingdom. Egypt’s Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni announced the discovery, which took place within the framework of a joint project of the Ministry of Culture and the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) to explore the ancient military road known as the “Way of Horus,” which once connected Egypt to Palestine.

Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the SCA, said that the mission has found a relief of king Thutmose II (1516-1504 BC). This relief is thought to be the first such royal monument to be found in Sinai, and indicates that Thutmose II may have built a fort in the area.  

Dr. Hawass added that the mission has also unearthed remains of a mud brick fort with a number of 4-meter-high towers. The fort measures 500 by 250 meters in area, and can be dated to the reign of King Ramses II (1304-1237 BC). Early studies suggest that this fort was Egypt’s military headquarters from the New Kingdom (1569-1081 BC) until the Ptolemaic era (305-31 AD).  

Dr. Abdel-Maqsoud said that the first ever New Kingdom temple to be found in northern Sinai has been located, and early studies indicate that it was built on top of an 18^th dynasty fort. The mission also unearthed a collection of reliefs belonging to kings Ramses II and Seti I, along with rows of storehouses used by the ancient Egyptians to store wheat and weapons.   

ALSO FROM THE COUNCIL TODAY:

A bronze statue of the goddess Aphrodite, a headless Ptolemaic royal statue, an alabaster head of Queen Cleopatra, and a mask thought to be of her lover Mark Antony have been discovered by an Egyptian-Dominican team headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary- General of the Supreme Council Antiquities (SCA) at the archaeological site of Taposiris Magna at Abusir, 45 km north of Alexandria. 

Egypt’s Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni made the announcement yesterday.

Dr. Hawass said that inside the temple of Taposiris Magna, a number of tunnels 50 meters in depth were found, along with corridors and the foundation stones of the temple, which revealed that the structure was built during the reign of king Ptolemy II (282-246 BC). He noted that the shafts and tunnels have not led the team to Cleopatra’s tomb, as international newspapers have reported.  

We have found nothing that indicates the presence of the tomb of either Cleopatra or Mark Antony,” he said, adding that excavation work in the area will be resumed in November.

Developers keen to invest in Cairo

 

by Vivian Salama

The National

 

UAE retailers are looking to expand operations beyond home shores and for some, Cairo is the next big investment opportunity.

“This is a place that changes on a monthly basis – it’s absolutely booming,” John Davis, the chief executive officer of Colliers International, said yesterday.

Cairo has generally been ignored in the rush to satisfy surging consumer demand in the Middle East. However, with the recent relaxation of trade duties, which have dropped from nearly 150 per cent to 20 per cent, a pent-up demand for international consumer brands has been unleashed.

“Before, the barrier to entry for retail merchandise, textiles in particular, made it impossible to enter the market,” Mr Davis said.

As a result, a number of developers based in the UAE have moved into the greater Cairo area. Al Futtaim Group has begun work on Cairo Festival City, a 154,000 square metre indoor-outdoor shopping and entertainment centre, similar to its namesake in Dubai. The mall will feature 250 shops and services, as well as 85 restaurants and cafes.

“What’s happening in Cairo is that there’s a lot of international investment coming in,” said Peter Young, the director of retail development for Al Futtaim Group Real Estate.

Emaar has invested Dh20.33 billion (US$5.54bn) in Egypt, including a Dh7.7bn development in Uptown Cairo and the Dh2.57bn Cairo Gate, a commercial and residential development.

Majid Al Futtaim Shopping Malls has purchased 400,000 square metres in central Cairo for five new malls. The group also plans to expand existing centres in Maadi and Alexandria.

And last year, Damac Properties announced a number of ambitious projects in Egypt, including Park Avenue, a four million square metre mixed-use centre. It plans to build the New Cairo project, which will house residential and commercial properties over a 6.3 million square metre area.

The Egyptian retail sector will not be as dependent on tourism as it is in the UAE. Instead, it will focus on the domestic market.

Egypt’s gross domestic product is forecast to grow by eight per cent by 2012, with total retail and leisure expenditure in the primary and secondary trade areas projected to reach 28.5 billion Egyptian pounds (Dh19.25bn) in 2009, rising to 79 billion Egyptian pounds by 2016. The population is 78 million, the highest in the region, and is expected to rise to 90 million by 2020.

“The population is absolutely massive in Egypt,” said Mr Davis. “So it’s a very attractive market for retailers to get into.”

vsalama@thenational.ae

 

Egypt accuses Europe of discrimination, xenophobia

This crossed the wires this morning.  First, we learned that Egypt was not mentioned in President Bush’s speech during his Middle East tour about Arab governments that are on the path to democratization; now this.  So much for being a regional ally!  It almost sounds like Russia’s spat with the British Council.  Frankly, Egypt is a long way from the days of Gamal Abdel Nasser where it can afford to intigate any negativity between itself and the West.  It depends far too much on US (and European) foreign aid to have the luxury of burning bridges.  Still, Europe is now home to far too many Arabs/Muslims for it to make hasty and potentially inflamatory comments.

CAIRO, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Angry about a European Parliament resolution on human rights in Egypt, the Egyptian government countered with an accusation that religious and ethnic minorities face increasing discrimination in Europe.

“Egypt is deeply concerned at the deteriorating state of the rights of religious and ethnic minorities and immigrants on the European continent,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

“(The spokesman) condemned the prevalence of the phenomenon of xenophobia and discrimination against Muslims in various parts of Europe,” added the statement, issued late on Thursday.

It cited a report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as saying that Muslims in Europe face discrimination in education and housing and through stereotyping as terrorists or extremists.

An OSCE report in 2006 said that intolerance and discrimination against Muslims have become increasingly prevalent in the OSCE region in recent years.

The Egyptian government and parliament have dismissed the European Parliament’s resolution as unwarranted interference in Egyptians affairs. The parliament has said it will cut off some forms of contact with the European body.

The resolution, passed on Thursday, called on the Egyptian government “to end all forms of harassment, including judicial measures, detention of media professionals and, more generally, human rights defenders and activists.”

It called for the immediate release of opposition politician Ayman Nour and for a change in the law on military courts, which the Egyptian authorities have sometimes used against the government’s political opponents.

The Egyptian statement said: “Egypt rejects … any attempt by any party to set itself up as inspector of human rights in Egypt or as mentor to the Egyptian people.”

But the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition group, welcomed aspects of the European resolution. “Human rights have become an international language, even if each country has its specificities,” said Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim, deputy leader of the Islamist movement’s parliamentary group.

“When it (the European Parliament) talks about the existence of torture in Egypt, then that is real. When it talks about referrals to military courts, this is something that really happens. What is needed is dialogue about it in a transparent and objective manner,” he added.

The Other Christmas Rush Is Christians Fleeing Arabia

 As always, I am eager to hear your thoughts!

By Vivian Salama

Newsweek

Jan 14, 2008 Issue 

Christmas is usually a time to celebrate the arrival of Christians in the Holy Land. But this year, as Patriarch Michel Sabbah of the Latin Rite Catholic Church revealed during his Christmas sermon in Bethlehem, local leaders are currently concerned with the opposite phenomenon: exodus. Speaking to the legions of Arab Christians fleeing the region, Sabbah said, “I say to you what Jesus told us: do not be afraid.”But there’s reason to be. Last year, dozens of Christians were slain in Iraq and a Syriac Orthodox priest was beheaded in Mosul. Two prominent Christian Palestinians were recently killed in Gaza. A political stalemate in Lebanon and the increased dominance of Shiite Hizbullah has made Maronites fear their traditional perks, like control of the presidency, are slipping. Even in Egypt, where religion has played little role in government, Christians now worry that the increasing popularity of the Muslim Brotherhood could lead to new restrictions.

Thus many are voting with their feet. There are now just 12 million to 15 million Arabic-speaking Christians left in the Middle East, and this could drop to 6 million by 2025. Countries are being transformed: in 1956, Lebanese Christians made up 54 percent of the country; today they’re about 30 percent. Iraq’s Christian population has fallen from 1.4 million in 1987 to 600,000 today. And Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, was 80 percent Christian when Israel won independence in 1948; now it’s 16 percent. Fred Strickert of Wartburg College estimates that hundreds of thousands of Christian Arabs have been displaced in the recent years, including half a million from Iraq alone. Christian Arabs emigration isn’t new. But according to Drew Christiansen, editor of America Magazine, the tide has increased since the second intifada in the Palestinian territories and the Iraq War. James Zogby of the Arab American Institute says most Christians chose to relocate to Europe and the Americas. Some 75 percent of the United States’ 3.5 million Middle Easterners are Christian, as are large slices in Canada, France, and Brazil. Many new exiles hope to relocate to the United States: no small irony given that the instability they’re fleeing was set in motion by the United States itself.

With the exodus, ancient practices and cultures are being lost, and Middle Eastern Christians risk eventually being “amalgamated into Western Christianity,” says Christiansen. The result will be “a dilution of the diversity of Christian traditions.” But given the life or death choices many Arab Christian emigrants now face, that looks like a small price to pay.

Call for new inquiry into Sudanese protest assaults

Thanks to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights for sending this along.  This story only continues to get sadder.  I photographed this protest extensively in the days leading up to its violent breakup exactly two years ago.  To view the photos, click here.

CAIRO — Five Egyptian and international human rights organizations today called on President Hosni Mubarak to authorize an independent judicial inquiry into the December 30, 2005 police assault on Sudanese protestors – refugees, asylum seekers and migrants – in Cairo that resulted in the deaths of 27 persons and injured scores more.
 
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Hisham Mubarak Law Center and the Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence said that an independent judicial inquiry should also examine the conduct of  the initial investigation into the incident by the Dokki Prosecution Office, which found no evidence of police or official misconduct. The groups reviewed a copy of that initial investigation and found a concerted effort to absolve the police of any wrongdoing.   
 
“President Mubarak should use the second anniversary of the police action against Sudanese protestors to initiate a complete and transparent investigation of what really took place,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division. “The public prosecutor’s total exoneration of the police lacks any semblance of credibility.”
 
In the early hours of December 30, 2005, a force of nearly 4,000 Egyptian police and security officers surrounded a makeshift camp in Mustafa Mahmoud Square in Cairo’s Mohandisin neighborhood, near the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where for three months hundreds of Sudanese refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants had engaged in a peaceful sit-in protest. According to media accounts at the time, police fired from water cannons into the crowd and then entered in force, beating people indiscriminately. The episode resulted in the deaths of at least 27 of the Sudanese, including 11 children and eight women. An investigation by the public prosecutor’s office in Dokki concluded in May 2006 that all the deaths “resulted from a stampede,” and found no wrongdoing on the part of the police.
 
The government never made public the written decision to close the investigation, but the five groups recently obtained a copy of the decision ( http://hrw.org/pub/2007/mena/dokkiNyabaDecisionMustafaMahmud.pdf ). 
 
The government’s initial “no fault” conclusion appears in a 16-page memorandum dated May 20, 2006 and signed by Wael Hussein, chief of the Dokki Prosecution Office. The memorandum reveals serious failures in the official investigation into the killings, and shows how the public prosecutors and state forensic doctors collaborated to absolve the police from any responsibility for the 27 deaths.

For example, the memorandum states that none of the police officers and security officials interviewed by public prosecutors was able to name the official who issued the order to launch the operation or the security official who led the anti-riot force responsible for carrying it out. Among the 127 police and security officers interviewed, the public prosecutors directly asked 28 police officers, two State Security Intelligence officers, the district chief of criminal investigations, and the top security official for the northern Giza district if they could identify the officers in charge. According to the memorandum, all 28 claimed they did not know the names of the officers, with one of them citing “the presence of numerous police leaders representing different sectors at the site of the incident.” The memorandum shows that public prosecutors made no serious effort to investigate this apparent attempt to protect those responsible for ordering the attack on the protestors.
 
Prosecutors also interviewed four eyewitnesses who all claimed that the protestors initiated the violence by attacking the police. The government put the total number of protestors at 1,107, and at least 650 protestors were in state custody for several weeks following the assault, but prosecutors managed to interview only one Sudanese woman who was injured in the attacks.
 
“Prosecutors were clearly more interested in protecting the police and vilifying the victims than in establishing the truth of what really happened on December 30,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa program.
 
The memorandum also shows how Justice Ministry forensic experts endeavored to obscure any criminal responsibility for the deaths. The autopsy reports cite marks of “injuries resulting from crashing against solid, rough-surfaced objects,” a death resulting from “bruises in the head and neck leading to a brain concussion and a failure of higher vital brain centers,” and another death “resulting from a head injury leading to nerve fiber injuries.” The forensic experts nonetheless concluded that all the deaths resulted from a “stampede” leading to asphyxia, and claimed there was “a lack of any signs indicating the use of excessive force in assaulting them.”
 
Chief Prosecutor Wael Hussein relied on these forensic reports and on the statements of police officers to conclude that there was “absolutely no relation between the deaths and the conduct of police forces in dispersing the protestors.” Citing “lack of evidence,” Hussein decided to exclude the charge of premeditated murder. No one has alleged that the killings were premeditated, but the prosecutor failed to indict any police officer with manslaughter or unintended injury, or even with the misdemeanor offense of carrying out his duties with cruelty or brutality, as per article 129 of the Penal Code.
 
Instead, the chief prosecutor charged the protestors en masse with committing crimes of manslaughter, unintended injury, resisting authorities, and the deliberate destruction of property. Citing the inability to identify the perpetrators of these crimes, the Public Prosecutor’s Office then decided to suspend the investigations into possible police misconduct and instructed the police to continue the search for perpetrators.  
 
“Charging the protestors with serious crimes and exonerating the police of any wrongdoing is the absurd but inevitable outcome of a sham investigation,” said Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. “Two years after their deaths, the victims of police brutality in Mustafa Mahmoud Square still await justice.”
 
The five organizations called on the Egyptian government to open an independent judicial inquiry into the killings in order to identify those who ordered, led, and implemented the attacks, and to hold them responsible for any unnecessary or excessive use of force that resulted in the large number of deaths. In April 2007, the UN Committee on the Rights of Migrant Workers requested that the investigation into the killings “be reopened in order to clarify the circumstances leading to the deaths of the Sudanese migrants. Whatever those circumstances, [the committee] also recommends that measures be adopted to prevent the occurrence of similar events in the future.” The inquiry should also look into the serious, and apparently deliberate, failures of the earlier investigation into the killings, and make the results of this inquiry public.