An island of resilience in Cairo
IMPOVERISHED residents of red brick homes on an island in the Nile look nervously across the river at another Cairo slum, bulldozed this summer into a wasteland of rubble.
Both areas are earmarked for tourism or business developments, part of efforts by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to attract investment and boost an economy still reeling after Egypt’s Arab Spring upheaval of 2011.
Since taking office in 2014, Sisi has sought to transform Cairo, building a new administrative capital on its outskirts and aiming to turn the city centre into an investor’s dream. Glossy magazine adverts make Cairo look more like Dubai, with glitzy tower blocks on the banks of the Nile.
But there is an obstacle to that vision: people living there. Many say they do not want to leave, and have not been told what will happen to the districts they have called home for generations. The plan for the Nile island, Warraq, is being overseen by the army and a government housing body. Areas scheduled for development include slums where authorities say residents have built illegally on state or privately owned land for decades, such as Warraq and the nearby area razed this summer, Maspero.
Under pressure from Sisi to transform those areas, authorities have either attempted forced evictions or offered compensation in money or property.
Inhabitants say their livelihoods, from running shops to farming and fishing, will be destroyed if they are forced to move far away, some to isolated desert compounds. They complain that compensation for vacating prime real estate is small, and believe they will end up worse off.
“Development is great, but we don’t think it’s meant for us,” said Hussein Zeidan, a building contractor living on Warraq, a large green island that is home to nearly 100 000 people.
Warraq has seen the strongest local resistance to evictions. A protester died in clashes last year between residents and security forces who came to demolish homes.
“The demolitions came without warning. Only after the clashes did officials try to reassure us the area is being developed for us,” Zeidan said.
Weeks before the violence, Sisi had told government ministers live on TV: “There are islands on the Nile, which legally should not have people on them. “Make dealing with them a priority.” Authorities have since softened their approach, trying to coax people out with offers to buy their land or provide them with apartments at Asmarat, a sprawling housing complex on Cairo’s desert outskirts.
“The offers aren’t enough – about 1 400 pounds (R1 140) per square metre. That’s too little to be able to afford other land in Cairo,” Zeidan said.
“People who work on Warraq are farmers and fishermen.
“They want to put them in an apartment in the desert – where would their animals go?” said one woman who declined to be named for fear of reprisals by authorities.
The plans for Warraq are not yet clear.
In June, the government announced it would “establish a new housing community on lands of Warraq island”, without elaborating on the development.
Development is great, but we don’t think it’s meant for us HUSSEIN ZEIDAN Contractor