Egypt army to rebuild torched church

Ruling junta tries to calm Copts after deadly clashes with Muslims led to church set ablaze.

Middle East Online

Dangerous romantic liaison ended up in disaster CAIRO - Egypt's army will on Sunday begin rebuilding a church that was set ablaze last week, sparking deadly clashes between Muslims and Christians, a senior officer said. "The Egyptian armed forces will on Sunday start to rebuild the church in Sol in the province of Helwan," south of Cairo, General Adel al-Qorashi said. He was speaking at a rally attended by religious figures and residents of the town of Sol, where a romantic liaison between a young Christian and Muslim led to a family feud that left two people dead. The subsequent torching of the Shahedein Church in Sol sparked protests by Coptic Christians across Cairo and clashes in the poor working class district of Moqattam, killing 13 people on Tuesday. The ruling military council "will rebuild the church at its expense and (the work) will be carried out by the army's engineering body at the exact same site," as the burned church, Qorashi said. On Friday, hundreds of Egyptians gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square to call for national unity, a day after the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces -- which took power after president Hosni Mubarak's ouster last month -- met with Coptic representatives. Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million population, complain of systematic discrimination and have been the target of several sectarian attacks.