Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi held talks with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Rai and Chaldean Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako, on Thursday, March 2, who have been in Cairo to attend the Conference on "Freedom, Citizenship, Diversity and Integration”, organized at the University of al Azhar in Cairo.
During the meeting, he expressed his view on the need to "renew religious discourse" in the Middle East, as an antidote to sectarian conflicts that disrupt large areas of the Middle East. He said that religious leaders, in the current historical phase, have a key role in spreading the principle of citizenship in all Arab countries and rejecting false interpretations of Holy Books and religious teachings used by extremist and terrorist organizations as an ideological tool of their power projects.
Referring to the situation in Egypt, he said that he does not identify Egyptian Muslims and Christians as members of a religious "majority" and "minority", underlining the need for all members of the Egyptian nation to be treated without discrimination, in respect of full equality founded on the principle of citizenship.
He added that Muslims and Christians should not be identified as a “majority” and “minority” in Arab countries, but as equal citizens. Criticizing Islamic extremism, he stressed the need to “renew religious discourse” in the Middle East, in order to combat extremism.
In another development, the Egyptian president voiced his position concerning recent sectarian clashes especially in the territory of Minya, where during a brawl earlier in the week, a Coptic Christian was killed by Muslim assailants. “The law in Egypt guarantees equal rights and duties for its Muslim and Christian citizens and the government should be on the lookout for any attempt to insert a wedge between the two communities,”. It follows that all perpetrators of sectarian violence or attacks will be prosecuted and punished according to the law because “Egypt has a rule of law”.
Speaking during a military certificate awarding ceremony, on March 2, the Egyptian president appealed for religious harmony and reaffirmed his intention to prosecute anyone involved in sectarian violence.
In his address during the ceremony Al-Sisi urged all Egyptians to promote national unity, reaffirming that Egyptian law recognizes Christian and Muslim citizens as equal.
Following this intervention, Copt Orthodox Patriarch Tawadros II, after a brief meeting with President al Sisi, addressed the national press urging all citizens not to offer pretexts to persons aiming to take advantage of similar events to the detriment of a nation with a population of 90 million serious economic difficulties and scarcity of financial resources, “because their intention is to destroy our country”.
These statements by President al Sisi and Patriarch Tawadros follow similar words by Sheikh Ahmed al Tayyib, Al-Azhar grand imam, who issued a public statement calling all the populations of the region to opt for the path of reason in order to stem the spread of sectarian sedition. The organization ‘Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights’ has identified at least 77 episodes more and less serious of sectarian violence in the Minya region since the so-called ‘revolution’ on January 26, 2011.
Source: en.abouna.org
