Despite a great mobilization of civil society in Egypt, the destruction of floating houses in Cairo continues. Before the end of the week, the last inhabitants of these emblematic residences will be dislodged, without compensation.
Since the last week of June, the river police in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, drags behind his boats dozens of houseboats — “Awamates”. A strange event that attracts the attention of passers-by. This is a historical tragedy: some of these apartments date from the end of the XNUMXth century. Some retain the Ottoman architectural style with carved balustrades and ornate blinds.
The inhabitants, the last of whom will be evicted this week, without any planned rehousing or any compensation, are mostly writers, artists or teachers. Some, like 88-year-old Ikhlas Ibrahim, have sold real estate in upscale neighborhoods in order to live in one of these iconic houseboats. From last Sunday, the last houses are now being demolished, and the inhabitants are escorted outside, manu militari.
The reason for this improvised dislodging campaign: President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's urban redevelopment plan. A plan that had left entire neighborhoods of Cairo completely razed. Some new roads built in recent months pass within 30 centimeters of windows in northern neighborhoods of Cairo. A highway, the "Sahel Road", continues outside the capital, overlooking a strange highway bridge that specialists consider fragile, and that President al-Sissi qualifies as "unfinished".
Seizures and destruction… without general interest
Be that as it may, the destruction of floating houses and the auctioning of some of them are part of the "restoration of a civilized setting" on the banks of the Nile. More specifically: create a tourist district. Indeed, the Egyptian authorities have offered cafe or restaurant licenses to the former inhabitants. Licenses that would serve them to start a structure on the plot of land attached to the houseboat. All the inhabitants, however, refused.
Author Ahdaf Soueif, who lived in one of these houses, said: “My floating house is private property. I pay for a navigation license every year. We live here, these are our homes”.
As a reminder, before seizing and destroying the floating houses of Cairo, the government had imposed heavy taxes, reaching tens of thousands of dollars, in order to dissuade the inhabitants from keeping these houses.
On July 4, the Ministry of Justice suspended the destruction of floating homes for one day. Government officials met with the remaining residents, but no solution was found.
The writer Omar Robert Hamilton, who also lived in the district, denounced “a total asymmetry of information”. "In reality, no resident had any information during this meeting," he says.
yesterday…
Tomorrow we rebuild. pic.twitter.com/fFEY0cQQ2r
—Omar Robert Hamilton (@ORHamilton) July 6, 2022