Seen in Cairo : Waiting for the trip to start

On the board of a train at Cairo's Ramses railway station 

Back in May , I was waiting for a short  trip to Alexandria to start from Cairo on the board of a train at Ramses railways station. I love train trips but I hated waiting.
The train window shutters bugged me at first and looked like bars till I managed to open them as far as I remember.
Source : Instagram 
In case you wonder , all those photos are just a prelude for bigger series of photos from the Mermaid of the Mediterranean. 

Happy new Hijri year 1438

Happy new Hijri year 1438 to all Muslims celebrating it around the globe.
Today marks the start of the first day in the first month "Muharram" in the Islamic Hijri year.
Really praying for peace this year in the Muslim world especially in the Arab world.

El-Siyada Zeinab Mosque in Cairo 

The return of cronies : Ahmed Ezz writes Op-ed and Hussein Salem speaks to TV "‘Updated"

Yes , you read it right in the headline.
Infamous former NDP leading figure and steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz is back to write op-eds about the economic situation in Egypt.
Last week , we found Ezz among the guest writers in Daily Al-Masry Al-Youm in Op-eds section speaking about his optimism during the current economic crisis in Egypt in a letter to the editor-in-chief.
"A Call for optimism !!" the former leading NDP member wrote about the Egyptian economy.
According to his experience as an industrialist and a businessman as well the head of planning and  budget committee in the People's assembly for a whole decade , Ezz is telling the Egyptian people not to worry because everything will be right according to numbers.

Ahmed Ezz

The Pro-regime media and supporters spread his call as a testimony of an experienced businessman.
This is not the first Ezz writes about op-eds in newspapers.

Many people including me remember how he wrote a long op-ed that was published in Youm 7 website and Al-Ahram newspaper "2 pages spread" about how the National Democratic Party led by ousted Mubarak won the controversial 2010 parliamentary elections fairly  !!!

"The people's assembly elections.. a call for people to read" , that was the title of his lengthy op-ed stating the reasons then behind the so-called "landslide victory" of Egypt's ruling party then above them the economic growth in  Mubarak's time

I notice that he always uses "A Call for ...." in his op-eds.

It is worth to mention that Ezz op-ed about the NDP was published on 24 December  2010 ,a month before the 25 January protests would kick off paving the way for the Tahrir revolution that raised the slogan "Bread, Freedom and Social Justice"

Only in Egypt , the high percentage of youth is a "disaster"

During the Scientific conference of the National council for Population on Sunday , head of Central Agency for public Mobilization and Statistics "CAPMAS" General Abu Bakr El-Gendy raised an important question about overpopulation and whether it was a bless or a curse insisting that it was curse currently.

In his speech , the former army general said that other countries envied Egypt for having high youth percentage as it is about 60% of its total population.

He also added that 75% of the current Egyptian population are under 40 years old and that 68% of the population are under 35% years old.

The former army general who got a masters degree in strategic resources management said that that high percentage of youth was a "disaster" in the current circumstances of Egypt !!

A video clip of the speech

I am so tired to argue but let's agree on something : The real disaster here was not having a high percentage of youth in Egypt , the real disaster was the mismanagement of youth , Egypt's biggest and most potential resource.

The boy and the sea from Rashid last week
"Reuters" 

In fact , the real disaster in Egypt is the mismanagement of all its resources above them the humans as well natural resources.

The Egyptian youth are not a liability , they are a great power and asset the Egyptian regime does not want to use or to be precise does not understand its power or importance because it fears it.

Unfortunately , this statement did not have the attention it deserved this week thanks to Rosetta boat tragedy and President El-Sisi's latest speech.

Ironically, that statement can be related to Rosetta boat tragedy and why youth want to leave the country and why the media cares less about the victims.

By the way , President El-Sisi declared in a previous speech that 2016 is "the Egyptian Youth's year"

The Rosetta boat tragedy

Earlier Tuesday, Egypt's Petroleum Marine services managed to float the sunken migrant boat off the shores of  Rosetta city.

The death boat on Tuesday 
"Burg-Rashid FB page"

According to the people of Rosetta, the Beheira governorate and the Egyptian ministry of health, the death toll increased to 202 after it was 169 on Sunday.

As the wooden boat floated back to the surface of the sea after 6 days of hitting its bottom, 33 bodies more were found.

According to the locals in Borg Rashid or Borg Rosetta , the Egyptian Navy forces took the wooden boat to Abu Qir Navy base in Alexandria.

Since early Sunday, the sea began to give more bodies to both fishermen and Navy forces' special search and rescue units.

The numbers jumped from 51 on Thursday to 148 then to 156 then to 169.

Photos coming from Borg Rashid or Borg Rosetta showing the dead bodies at Rosetta port pier with people devastated all around it.

The Rosetta general hospital's morgue has a space for only 8 bodies. It is not equipped to have all those bodies.

The small village of Borg Rashid in Rosetta already has been turned upside down thanks to that tragic incident.

Thus the bodies were left in the sun with ice blocks to try to preserve what remains from the sea water till they are transferred to other morgues and hospitals in Beheira and Alexandria.

The ice preserving the dead bodies found in the boat
on Tuesday "Burg Rashid official Facebook page"

This could be one of the worst capsized migrant boat incidents Egypt has seen so far.

I can not recall anything like that before.

How the tragedy started

It started earlier last week according to survivors.

A fishing boat was in the sea 12 km away from Borg Rasheed in the coastal city of Rasheed or Rosetta waiting to be loaded with migrants from Egypt , Syria , Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia.

Fishing boats are the cover for the illegal migrant boats in Egypt , they are granted special permits for fishing from security authorities above them Egypt's General Intelligence service. It is also booming business as well despite it is illegal.


For three days starting on Saturday, smaller speed boats carrying migrants came to the fishing boat from Edku and Rasheed or Rosetta specifically Borg Rasheed or Borg Rosetta in Beheira governorate and Borg Maghzy in Kafr El-Sheikh governorate.

Notes on the Pro-Sisi rallies organized by the Coptic Church in NYC

Egypt's current President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was in New York earlier this week to attend the UN General assembly meeting for the second year in a row.
Last year, his supporters in Egypt from businessmen and media moguls organized public diplomacy delegations that headed to New York to cheer for the President against the evil Muslim Brotherhood protests planned against him in the big apple.
This year the same businessmen/media moguls "Mohamed Al-Amin" and "Ahmed Abu Hashima" headed to New York to support El-Sisi with media figures in an unofficial delegation that was smaller in number and quieter than last year's big circus.

Ahmed Abu Hashima and members of American Coptic Association 

Yet,they were not alone this year.
The Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Church officially called Egyptian Copts in the United States to mobilize and join the Pro-Sisi rallies in New York.
Yes , officially the Coptic Orthodox Church in New York and New England called the Egyptian Copts in the States to head to New York to support El-Sisi in rallies.

Seen in Cairo : Leaving the capital

Taken in May on the train to Alexandria while leaving Cairo for a short break. This photo was taken at Cairo's Ramses Railway station , the main railway station in Egypt.
 via Instagram http://ift.tt/2cH4pFc