U.S. Copts Association

By  Said Nafie   

Winding up activities yesterday, the committee that was formed to settle the crisis over separating boundaries between Abu Fana Monastery and Bedouins of Qasr Hor has set seven demands to be carried out during the next period.

The committee was formed by Mahmoud Abdel-Barr, chairman of the General Authority for Agricultural Development and Urbanization Projects.

The demands notably included protecting the ancient monastery, the church, areas needed to be cultivated, the Christian cemetery and the monks’ worshipping cells, as well as finishing the legal procedures for the Bedouins to register the land adjacent to the monastery.

Committee Chairman Abdel-Menaggi al-Batran said the demands included setting up a fence around the area surrounding the monastery as defined by the General Authority for Antiquities, securing the road leading to the monastery and the church as the main road for monks and visitors and not to establish any projects that may reduce its width.