In the aftermath of the assault on the Nile City Towers, Boulaq Abul Ela residents call for more transparency as rumors swirl

On August 2, tensions between the Nile City Towers business complex and local residents escalated into a violent attack on the Fairmont Nile City hotel. The hours-long assault left one assailant dead, a security guard hospitalized and extensive destruction of property.

The incident was a blow to the heart of Egypt's corporate world as well as its tourism industry. Since opening in 2003, the Nile City Towers have become an icon of Egypt's shift to a private-sector economy.

The clashes highlight a major challenge to the national developmental process. The Nile City complex, overlooking the Nile in the North of Cairo's Boulaq Abul Ela district, is comprised of a five-star hotel, a night club, a shopping mall and offices housing major companies. The width of a parking lot separates the luxury facility from one of the most impoverished and expansive slum areas in Cairo.

Ramlet Boulaq, where Nile City Towers are located, is the northernmost section of the Boulaq Abul Ela district, an informal settlement that stretches southward to include the Maspero Triangle. A jumble of densely populated wood and brick shacks, Ramlet Boulaq is home to the individuals accused of attacking the Fairmont Nile City Hotel.

The tense relationship between Cairo's pinnacle of luxury and the residents of one of its worst slum areas has led to controversy over the causes of the clashes.

An attack on tourism
On August 16 a press conference was held at the Fairmont hotel, attended by the Minister of Tourism and the Minister of Investment, with the goal of reassuring the tourism industry that the government is working to revitalize the industry and restore security.

Speaking to Business Today, Frank A. Naboulsi, Vice President and Manager of Fairmont Nile City emphasized that the attack had not only impacted business at Fairmont but Egypt's tourism industry.

"This attack was an attack on all tourist activities in all of Egypt," says Nablousi. "These thugs attacked the heart of the tourism industry, and we [the tourism industry] are barely getting back on our feet. When you have your number-one industry being attacked, and the number-one revenue generator in terms of foreign receipts, [...] it's devastating for all of us."

He added that the hotel can guarantee the safety of its staff and guests by continuously updating security procedures.

Antagonistic rumors
Nile City and the government were quick to condemn the attack as an isolated incident committed by a handful of criminals.

However, media reports and human rights groups have linked the attacks to long-standing tensions between developers and Boulaq residents who are struggling to remain on the mainly state-owned land.

Rumors that Nile City Towers' ownership is eyeing land in Ramlet Boulaq have exacerbated the situation. The area is prime real estate located between the Nile River and downtown Cairo and in proximity to numerous five-star hotels and business complexes.

Naboulsi dismissed claims that Nile City Towers is trying to drive out the area's residents.

According to Kareem Ibrahim, an urban planning consultant at Takween Integrated Community Development, it is not unlikely Nile City Towers' ownership, like many developers, has an interest in the land, but the alleged attempts at acquiring property in the area cannot be considered anything more than rumor. The ambiguity of land ownership in Boulaq and a lack of transparency on the part of the government have created "an antagonistic situation" according to Ibrahim.

The siege
Competing narratives have also emerged of the events of the day of the attack. Media reports suggested that the first attacker had specific grievances, a claim categorically denied by Nile City Towers.

According to Director of Security at Fairmont Nile City Tarek Raslan, a man identified as Amr Amar, entered the Fairmont hotel lobby at 1:30 pm along with four or five other individuals. Angered by Fairmont security's refusal to let him park his motorbike on the entrance ramp, the man began brandishing a knife. The assailants then began assaulting hotel staff, stabbing a security guard in the back.

According to Raslan, a police officer at the hotel pointed his firearm at Amar and ordered him to exit the premises. When the assailant attempted to disarm the police officer, he was shot and killed.

Several residents from Ramlet Boulaq arrived at the hotel and carried the body away from the scene. Five minutes later, Raslan says, about 35 people carrying "homemade pistols" and Molotov cocktails arrived and attacked the hotel from outside.

The police did not arrive for an hour and a half because the assailants had blocked the roads. During that time, the hotel remained under lockdown. Security personnel fended off the attackers, who set fire to cars parked outside. The situation was finally brought under control by riot police who fired tear gas to disperse the assailants.

Raslan says that the police were able to identify many of the attackers using the hotel's surveillance system and conducted raids on the Ramlet Boulaq area, resulting in the arrests of around 50 suspects.

Nile City Towers' version of events is contradicted by the testimony of Boulaq residents. Residents who spoke to bt said that the clashes had been caused by Nile City Towers' refusal to pay Ramlet Boulaq residents who they had informally hired to guard the area behind the complex following the January 25 Revolution. The assailants went to the Fairmont Hotel to demand their salary, numerous residents claimed.

When asked about the accusations, Raslan denied that Nile City Towers ever hired residents of Ramlet Boulaq. However, he added that the assailants had previously attempted to extort payments from the Fairmont and had been refused.

"On that day they were trying to give us a lesson, they were trying to show how strong they were," he says.
Impoverished residents trying to make money as valets outside the Nile City Towers had also exacerbated tensions with the complex's management. Boulaq residents also told bt that anger toward the Nile City Towers escalated when a fire broke out on June 27 in a shack in the area. Security personnel at the towers allegedly refused to provide water when residents tried to connect hoses to the towers. The fire claimed the life of a five-year-old boy.

"The truth about it is that we provided them with 800 [cubic] meters of water," says Raslan. "Because it's not possible that you have a fire beside your hotel and you don't put out that fire."

Land rights organizations point out that such incidents are bound to be repeated as Egypt's developmental process clashes with the reality of sprawling informal settlements that make up approximately 60% of Cairo's urban developments.

While different parties try to assert their version of the truth, the core of the problem remains ignored, says Ibrahim.
"I don't care who's right, I want to know how we reached this situation," he says. "How we can have this massive contradiction of people living in a fancy building and just in their backyard, there are people living in the poorest conditions in the city?"

The people of Boulaq
Boulaq residents are stereotyped as thugs. At best, says Ibrahim, residents of informal areas -- 40-50% of Cairo's population -- are seen as victims of society who need to be removed to "civilized areas". This stereotyping has hampered the efforts of local activists who, through protest, litigation and negotiation, work to protect their right to stay on land their families have occupied for decades.

Activists from the Maspero Triangle area of Boulaq were eager to distance themselves from the individuals who attacked the Nile City Towers. Members of the local land and housing rights organization the Maspero Triangle Network described the attackers as "thugs". They insisted that such people had been turned away from protests held by local residents in the past. But the constant pressure that has been put on Boulaq residents to leave the area has created mistrust and resentment toward their corporate neighbors, they say.

The Maspero Triangle is a historic quarter of Cairo. First developed in 18th century, it boasts unique examples of French and Italian architecture. Goats and other livestock wander in the foyers of early 19th century Art Nouveaux Liberty style apartment buildings and the narrow alleyways outside. "Yes to development, no to eviction," is written in graffiti on the antique stone walls.

Services such as garbage collection are limited in many areas in the Maspero Triangle as in other areas of Boulaq. A 10.6 feddan inhabited area of the Maspero Triangle is deemed unsafe for human habitation by the Informal Settlement Development Fund.

The district's historic buildings are severely dilapidated. Prior to the January 25 Revolution, renovation work was banned to push residents to leave the area, says Masbah Hasan, a member of the Maspero Triangle Network who negotiates with government authorities. The ban was strictly enforced by police.

Activists and human rights groups blame the ban on renovation for the collapse of dozens of houses throughout Boulaq, often with residents inside. The rubble of collapsed houses can still be seen throughout the district.

"Is there anything worse than banning restoration of houses so that they would collapse and kill people?" asks Hasan.

In December 2011, a house in the Maspero Triangle collapsed, killing five residents, leading local residents to hold a protest in front of the Maspero state television building. Following the protest, says Hasan, authorities lifted the ban on restoration work.

In January 2012, the Maspero Triangle Network was given a meeting with the Department of Urban Planning.

"They gave a presentation explaining their plan to build 64 residential towers to house 3,150 families that live in our area," says Hasan. The Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Development did not respond to bt's request for information about the residential tower project.

An uncertain future
Activists have gained concessions since the revolution, but the future of the Boulaq area remains ambiguous.

The government's development plan for Boulaq is based on the Cairo 2052 urban development plan, which aims to reorganize Cairo into a "global city". According to the Maspero Triangle Network and other land rights group, the government has sold 21 feddans of land to several Gulf companies including Kuwait Real Estate Investment Company. Eighteen feddans are owned by public company, Maspero for Urban Development. The remainder is still owned by the Cairo governorate.

The land is estimated to be worth more than LE 30,000 per square meter. Providing alternative housing for displaced residents would further increase costs for investors.

The plan was revamped following the revolution, including pledges to respect human rights. But local activists say they are still kept in the dark as to the timing or exact plans of development projects.

Rabie Wahba of the Habitat International Coalition says that no specific information has been provided as to the fate of residents in areas targeted by the plan. Wahba points to previous cases in which evicted residents of informal areas were never given promised alternative housing. In other instances, housing was provided in isolated areas outside Cairo and far removed from the residents' social and economic networks. Based on precedent, he doubts the governorate will house residents in the 64 towers to be built in the area.

What is seen by activists as the latest move to evict residents, an expropriation decree was issued by the Cairo governorate on June 20 announcing the "temporary seizure" of the Ramlet Boulaq area, to be implemented over a period of three years.

Ibrahim notes that the decree is an example of a lack of transparency on the part of the government and the ambiguity of the land's status. The expropriation decree is dated October 19, 2011 but was not issued until eight months later. Officials have yet to speak publicly concerning the decree and intentions for the land.

Meanwhile, human rights organizations and media reports have cited residents of Ramlet Boulaq who complain of being constantly harassed and assaulted by unidentified thugs, who they suspect are sent by those who want residents off the land.

Inclusive development
The state-of-the-art Nile City Towers represents the beginning of development projects that aim to attract investment, create jobs and push Egypt's economy forward.

Such development is the best approach to creating opportunity for all Egyptians, says Naboulsi, likening the towers to the Pyramids as an iconic symbol of Egypt.

"We have multinational companies in the [Nile City Towers] complex [...] we have two embassies in the complex, so we're bringing life to the area," he says. "Some people may not want this development here because it does not suit them [...] but from an economic point of view, this is the right track."

Naboulsi points out that the Fairmont Nile City, not including the rest of the Nile City Towers complex, employs 850 people, only 10 of which are foreigners.

"We're creating jobs, we're creating opportunities, we're creating a future," he says.

Ibrahim points out that there are many international precedents that show impoverished, deteriorated historic areas can be converted into fashionable quarters without uprooting communities or destroying historic fabric. Such renovated neighborhoods in Europe have attracted investment and tourism and generated employment.

Maspero Triangle Network activists say they understand the need for development in the area, but need to be included in the process. Investors, says Hasan, need to "seize the opportunity and gain the people's trust".

© Business Today Egypt 2012