CAIRO, Egypt – The head of the State Information Service (SIS) in Egypt revealed that recent terrorist attacks claimed 28 lives in that country.
Ambassador Salah A. El-Sadek the head of SIS says insurgents in Egypt are hell-bent on committing murder and ruin while they torture their defenceless victims.
He was referring to ISIS that in recent months has run roughshod over huge swathes of Libya, Syria and Iraq where the group received global condemnation for making grisly videos of executions, the most recent the execution of 21 Egyptian migrant workers in Libya.
At the time of the beheadings the Egyptian air force F-16 fighter jets launched retaliatory attacks on ISIS targets in Libya.
With reference to the mass murder of 21 Coptic Christians, Sadek said: “Islam commands us to treat non-Muslims kindly.”
He accused ISIS and other terrorist groups of “wanting to impose their ideology by force of arms, which is not consistent with democracy and human rights stipulated by all international conventions.”
Insurgents are malcontents and murderers whose despicable acts threaten not only peace in Egypt but also the entire world, he said.
“This is what President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi asserted, that terrorism is not just a local but a global phenomenon backed by regional and external forces that are against Egypt and want to dismantle and divide the entire region,” Sadek candidly asserted.
He countered critics of the retaliatory attack by the Egyptian air force in Libya saying: “Let me make it categorically clear that Egypt did not want to merely militarily interfere in Libya but the brutal attack on 21 Egyptians is what prompted our action.”
Sadek suggested confronting terrorism should not only be confined to taking military action but should “address the ideology and formulate development projects to create a repellent environment for such ideological extremism.”
He noted that many African countries currently suffer from atrocities being committed by terrorists who want to impose their ideologies on the continent by use of force.
“It has become necessary that African countries unite to confront terrorism. Otherwise the African continent will become a safe haven for terrorist groups, which causes economic collapse and political deterioration,” he told New Era.
Terrorists can cause some states to collapse resulting in a power vacuum as in Libya where there is political instability.
He also noted that the finger-pointing among some African countries accusing each other of infiltrating terrorists into each other’s territories, compounds the problem.
“For example, Eritrea accused the Islamic movement of cooperating with Ethiopia and Sudan to destabilise its internal stability.”
Sadek accused some external forces of complicity in sponsoring terrorists in Africa so that they can serve their interests.
Egyptian president Sisi also recently told a group of editors and senior radio producers at the presidential palace that Egypt wants better relations with the rest of Africa and Nile Basin countries such as Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
Speaking in his native Arabic through an English interpreter the Egyptian leader said peaceful co-existence with other African countries means prosperity for all.
“God does not like devastation and suffering for anyone but wants peace and prosperity for all his people,” said Sisi.
During the two-week working visit African journalists toured the huge industrial park near Cairo, visited the Egyptian Agency of Partnership Development (EAPD), visited the Egyptian Council of Foreign Affairs and toured the Governorate of Aswan where they were feted by the Governor of Aswan city, Mostafa Yousry, among others.