Govt accuses Brothers of exploiting Aswan violence

Presidential adviser Ahmed al-Moslemany accused the Muslim Brotherhood of using the recent clashes in Aswan to achieve political goals. 

In an interview with privately owned Al-Hayat satellite TV channel on Tuesday, Moslemany said that there isn't any definitive information on how the clashes started, “but from a strategic point of view, instead of focusing on combating terrorism in Sinai, attention is being drawn by some Brotherhood websites to security forces, and they’re using the incident to achieve political goals, despite it being a criminal incident,” privately owned Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported. 

“Some want this country to burn from all sides — Sinai, the west side and the southern borders,” he added.

At least 25 people were killed during clashes between Hilail and the Nubian Dabodeya tribes in Aswan. The dispute started on Wednesday of last week between two students and escalated when members of Hilail killed four Nubians belonging to Dabodeya. 

On Saturday, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb and Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim headed to Aswan to monitor the situation, calling for reconciliation and an end to the bloodshed.

Some observers accused security forces of negligence, pointing out their apparent absence and reluctance to intervene to stop the clashes. 

The streets of Aswan witnessed intermittent periods of curfew imposed by the governor and schools were shutdown to avoid resurgence of clashes. 

Ibrahim Abdeen, a Nubian activist, told Mada Masr that “what is happening to the Nubians in Aswan is now pushing us straight to the United Nations and African Union offices.”

“Let us go back to Sudan,” he said. “We can live anywhere, at least I will live like a human being.”

Meanwhile, Moslemany said that those who talk about the separation of Nubia are “delusional”, adding that “Nubia will never be separated from Egypt, not now, not in the future, and not ever, no matter what regional or international efforts were put into it. It will never happen, and the future will never witness the formation of a Nubian state.”