Calm restored in Upper Egypt after deadly family feuds

Security forces have put an end to the armed clashes that erupted between two families in the Aswan village of Dekka yesterday, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported on Thursday.

The feud allegedly started when a member of one family verbally harassed a female member of another family. The ensuing violence reportedly led to the death of a 23 year-old man who was shot in his abdomen. Fifteen others were injured in the clashes, and an undisclosed number of homes and farms were set ablaze.

Security forces also reported the arrest of three suspects in armed clashes between two other families in the Qena village of Farshout yesterday. The clashes, said to have erupted pursuant to a children’s game, led to one death and 12 injuries by gunfire.

Similar armed clashes have been erupting periodically across the country, often sparked by only minor provocations and escalating into full-blown battles with fire arms. Such incidents point to the increasingly serious problem of illegal possession of arms, which has dramatically worsened since 2011.

Aswan’s governor released a statement announcing an informal reconciliation meeting between the two feuding families to resolve the problem.

Informal reconciliation mediated by the state has been the government’s most common solution to clashes, especially in rural areas where tradition is stronger than law.

However, the solution has often proved to be a mere temporary remedy, and violence often breaks out again shortly after.

The solution fails to impose legal retribution on the guilty party and to deal with the root problems contributing to the violence, including the widespread illegal possession of arms and the general lack of law enforcement in these remote areas.