Military steps up Suez security
Date September 3, 2013
Tarek El-Tablawy
Fears: The Suez Canal handles about 8 per cent of world trade. Photo: AP
Egyptian authorities have stepped up security along the Suez Canal after a foiled attack on a container ship using the waterway that handles about 8 per cent of world trade highlighted new threats confronting officials since the overthrow of president Mohamed Mursi.
The failed attack on Friday on the Panama-registered Cosco Asia didn't damage the ship or its cargo, head of the Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish said on Sunday. The military dealt ''decisively'' with the attempt, he said, without giving details.
The maritime incident underscored the threats as the military-backed government pursues an offensive against the Muslim Brotherhood and militants following the July 3 coup that ousted Dr Mursi.
More than 1000 people died following the coup, most of them during a single week in August.
''Events like this increase the confusion and cause international embarrassment,'' head of the private Strategic Dialogue Forum research institute Adel Soliman said.
Authorities are already grappling with quashing the Brotherhood while the military continues a campaign aimed at purging the strategic Sinai Peninsula of insurgents, some linked to al-Qaeda.
Dr Mursi and 14 Muslim Brotherhood leaders will face trial in a Cairo criminal court for ''inciting violence and killing'' near the Itihadiya presidential palace in Cairo on December 5, state news agency MENA reported. On the night in question, Brotherhood leaders, worried that the army and police had refused to protect the presidential palace from protesters, summoned their civilian supporters to do the job. A night-long street fight ensued.
Prosecutor-General Hisham Barakat alleged Dr Mursi's supporters killed a journalist, al-Hussein Abu Deif. But his statement made no mention of at least eight other people, all supporters of Dr Mursi, who were killed that night, nor any charges against the perpetrators of those killings. No trial date was announced.
Keeping Suez Canal traffic flowing normally became a concern even before Dr Mursi was deposed. The Suez Canal and Sumed pipeline - as the link between Egypt's ports of Ain Sukhna on the Red Sea and Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean is known - together handle 3.8 million barrels a day of crude and products, according to 2011 data from the International Energy Agency.
Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour issued a decree on Sunday setting up a 50-member committee charged with amending the suspended constitution, which will then be voted on in a referendum.
The Islamist Nour Party will have a representative on the panel, presidential spokesman Ehab Badawy said, adding that invitations were extended to other Islamist parties, including the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party. Only the Nour Party had responded, he said.
Bloomberg, New York Times
