Mr. Kofi Annan

Secretary General

 United Nations,

      On December 31st, 1999 an angry rifle-wielding mob attacked Christian homes and businesses as well as a church building in the upper Egyptian village of El Kosheh.  Reportedly, over 20 Coptic Christians were killed, 10 are missing, and over 50 Christian shops and homes were burned, looted, or destroyed. 

According to witnesses the Egyptian Police Force did not intervene to protect the Christians until the mob had done its murderous damage. The Christian citizens of El Kosheh live in fear for their lives, victims of the Egyptian Governments refusal to treat them as equal citizens and to extend to them equal protection under the law.

 Discrimination is enshrined in the Egyptian Constitution, which imposes the Islamic Sharia as the supreme law of the land. The tragedy in El Kosheh is not an isolated incident, but is symptomatic of the violent oppression perpetrated by the Egyptian Government against the Copts.

We urge the United Nations to use their influence to convince Mr. Mubarak to take the following necessary steps:

1) Amend the Constitution to remove religious documents as the source of law.

2) Explicitly protect the citizenship and legal, religious, political, educational and occupational rights of the Coptic Christians.

3) Cancel the Hamayoni line, a law enacted under the Ottoman Empire, which restricts the building and repair of Churches.

The tragedy in El Kosheh has sparked the mourning of Copts throughout the world. Your personal intervention is needed at this difficult time.