Egypt’s Sissi orders cabinet to help resettle Sinai Christians feeing Daesh

CAIRO: President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Saturday ordered the government to take all necessary measures to help resettle Christians who have fled Egypt’s Northern Sinai after Daesh killed several members of the community.
Hundreds of Christian families and students have fled to Ismailia, north Sinai’s neighboring province, after seven Christians were killed in Arish between Jan. 30 and Thursday.
Daesh, which is waging an insurgency there, claimed responsibility for the killings, five of which were shootings. One man was beheaded and another set on fire.
Sissi held a meeting on Saturday with the prime minister, ministers of defense, interior, intelligence among other officials to discuss “the importance to resist all attempts to sabotage stability and security in Egypt,” the statement said.
Sissi had also “directed the government to take all necessary measures to facilitate settlements for citizens in their set resettled areas.”
Orthodox Copts, who comprise about 10 percent of Egypt’s 90 million people, are the Middle East’s largest Christian community. They have long complained of persecution.
In December, Daesh claimed responsibility for bombing a chapel adjoining Cairo’s St. Mark’s Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic papacy, killing 28 people, mostly women and children.