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President Mubarak Calls for Egyptian Unity
February 5, 2010
Delivered on January 21, 2010
Egypt’s national security, understood comprehensively, is my primary responsibility, and I will accept neither complacency nor half-measures in regards to it.
We live in an unstable world, and a difficult region. It would be a mistake to ignore the growing ring of instability extending from Afghanistan and Pakistan, through Iran, Iraq and Yemen, and to Somalia and Sudan.
It would be a mistake to ignore the growing tides of sectarianism in the Arab & African regions and the world as a whole, nor attempts to ignite discord between the people of one nation such as demands for quotas, incidents of violence and bloodshed, and attempts to use foreign powers for domestic leverage; and external interferences that fuels fires, and which act according to their own interests and agendas.
The criminal attack in Nagaa Hamaady has shaken the nation’s conscience, shocked our sensibilities, and pained the hearts of Muslim and Coptic Egyptians.
Notwithstanding the execution of my orders to quickly capture the perpetrators, and refer them to the Emergency State Security Court, this horrific incident against the Copts on the Christmas Eve demands that all of us, Muslims and Copts, take a serious and forthright stand with ourselves.
I have received numerous reports from state agencies, and fact finding missions, which lay out the details of this sinful attack, including its background, details, and possible motives.
I, as President of the Republic, and of all Egyptians, warn against the dangers of undermining the unity of our people, and of conflict between its Muslims and Copts, and I state, in the clearest possible terms, that I will not be lenient with those, from either side, who attempt to undermine it or show contempt for it.
I was commander of the Air College in 1968, when Israeli warplanes bombed Nagaa Hammadi, and destroyed the Qena bridge. On that day, there was no difference between the blood of a Muslim and a Christian among the victims of that aggression. When we fought the October War, the people of Egypt, from all sides, sacrificed their blood and lives, and lifted the Egyptian flag over Sinai.
We are witnessing incidents and phenomena that are alien to our society, driving it to ignorance and fanaticism, and fed by the absence of an enlightened religious discourse from the men of Al-Azhar and the Church.
A religious discourse that must be supported by our educational system, our media, and our writers and thinkers; One that confirms the values of citizenship, that religion belongs to God, and the nation belongs to all; One that promotes the understanding that religion is a matter between a human and his Lord, and that Muslim and Christian Egyptians are partners in one nation, and that they are faced with the same difficulties, and that they share the same aspirations for a better future for themselves, their children, and grandchildren.
This is a necessary and vital role that must be played by the wise and the reasoned of our nation from all sides; One that confronts sectarian incitement, contains extremism, and which strives to build an advanced Egyptian society and modern and civil state; One which calls upon Muslims and Copts to strive to build schools and hospitals, assist the poor, and serve the nation.
The normal frictions of the daily lives of citizens, if they should develop a sectarian dimension, become a time bomb that ignites discord, undermines both pillars of the nation, and harms the image of our society, opening the door to foreign attempts, which we refuse, to interfere in purely Egyptian affairs that concern the children of a single family, and single Egyptian society.
To both wings of our society, I say, in the clearest possible terms, that we shall confront any sectarian crimes, acts or behaviors with the force and resolve of the law, with swift and effective justice, and stern sentences that will impose the severest penalties against their perpetrators and inciters, and which will deter those who make light of the security of our nation and the unity of its people.