CAIRO: South African police on Wednesday arrested a suspect in connection with the murder in a church of three Egyptian Coptic Orthodox monks.
The motive for Tuesday’s fatal stabbings remains unclear.
“The 35-year-old man is expected to appear before Cullinan Magistrates’ Court on 14 March 2024,” South African Police Service said in a statement.
The monks were murdered on Tuesday at Cullinan, 50 km northeast of Pretoria, the police department said.
“Three victims were found with stab wounds while the fourth victim that survived alleged that he was hit by an iron rod on his hand before fleeing and hiding in one of the rooms,” it said.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it was “closely following the investigations into the killing of three Egyptian monks,” along with the country’s embassy in Pretoria.
The Egyptian ambassador hoped that the investigation leads to “uncovering the circumstances of the incident, the identity of the perpetrators, and holding them accountable.”
The Coptic Orthodox Church of South Africa, in a Facebook message, expressed “deep anguish over the occurrence of such a tragic incident.”
The church and Egypt’s Foreign Ministry extended condolences to the families of the monks, identified on church social media pages as Hegumen Takla El-Samuely, Yostos Ava Markos and Mina Ava Markos, AFP said.
According to police, the suspect or suspects left the scene without taking anything.
The Coptic Orthodox community in South Africa consists of about 4,500 families, according to the church’s website, in a country of 62 million people.
Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, the highest seat of Islamic learning in Egypt, condemned the killings.
He said that attacking a person in a place of worship was a “hateful terrorist act” and that “religious laws, with their values calling for peace and love, can never be a justification for murder and terrorism.”
Al-Tayeb offered his condolences to Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, patriarch of the See of St. Mark, and to the families of the victims.
The church expressed its “extreme pain” over the killings and offered its condolences to the families of the three monks.
A statement said that Pope Tawadros II was closely following the case.
Arrest after Coptic monks stabbed to death in South Africa
https://arab.news/9pt8g
Arrest after Coptic monks stabbed to death in South Africa
- Al-Azhar’s grand imam condemns killings, offers condolences to Pope Tawadros II
- The motive for Tuesday’s fatal stabbings remains unclear
Washington presses Syria to shift from Chinese telecom systems
- Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology
- It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so
DAMASCUS: The United States has warned Syria against relying on Chinese technology in its telecommunications sector, arguing it conflicts with US interests and threatens US national security, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
The message was conveyed during an unreported meeting between a US State Department team and Syrian Communications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal in San Francisco on Tuesday. Washington has been coordinating closely with Damascus since 2024, when Syria’s now President Ahmed Al-Sharaa ousted longtime leader Bashar Assad, who had a strategic partnership with China.
Syria is exploring the possibility of procuring Chinese technology to support its telecommunications towers and the infrastructure of local Internet service providers, according to a Syrian businessman involved in the procurement talks.
“The US side asked for clarity on the ministry’s plans regarding Chinese telecom equipment,” said another source briefed on the talks.
But Syrian officials said infrastructure development projects were time-critical and that Damascus was seeking greater vendor diversity, the source added.
SYRIAN OFFICIALS CITE US EXPORT CONTROLS AS TELECOMS BARRIER
Syria is open to partnering with US firms but the matter was urgent and export controls and “over-compliance” remained an issue, according to person familiar with the meeting in San Francisco.
A US diplomat familiar with the discussions told Reuters that the US State Department “clearly urged Syrians to use American technology or technology from allied countries in the telecoms sector.”
It was unclear whether the United States pledged financial or logistical support to Syria to do so.
Responding to Reuters questions, a US State Department spokesperson said: “We urge countries to prioritize national security and privacy over lower-priced equipment and services in all critical infrastructure procurement. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
The spokesperson added that Chinese intelligence and security services “can legally compel Chinese citizens and companies to share sensitive data or grant unauthorized access to their customers’ systems” and promises by Chinese companies to protect customers’ privacy were “entirely inconsistent with China’s own laws and well-established practices.”
China has repeatedly rejected allegations of it using technology for spying purposes.
The Syrian Ministry of telecommunications told Reuters any decisions related to equipment and infrastructure are made “in accordance with national technical and security standards, ensuring data protection and service continuity.”
The ministry said it is also prioritizing the diversification of partnerships and technology sources to serve the national interest.
Syria’s telecom infrastructure has relied heavily on Chinese technology due to US sanctions imposed on successive Assad governments over the civil war that grew from a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011.
Huawei technology accounts for more than 50 percent of the infrastructure of Syriatel and MTN, the country’s only telecom operators, according to a senior source at one of the companies and documents reviewed by Reuters. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Syria is seeking to develop its private telecommunications sector, devastated by 14 years of war, by attracting foreign investment.
In early February, Saudi Arabia’s largest telecom operator, STC, announced it would invest $800 million to “strengthen telecommunications infrastructure and connect Syria regionally and internationally through a fiber-optic network extending over 4,500 kilometers.”
The ministry of telecommunications says that US restrictions “hinder the availability of many American technologies and services in the Syrian market,” emphasizing that it welcomes expanding cooperation with US companies when these restrictions are lifted.
Syria has inadequate telecommunications infrastructure, with network coverage weak outside city centers and connection speeds in many areas barely exceeding a few kilobits per second.
