News

DATE=10/22/98 TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT NUMBER=5-41659 TITLE=UPPER EGYPT: LUXOR TOURISM BYLINE=SCOTT BOBB DATELINE=LUXOR, EGYPT CONTENT= VOICED AT: ///EDS: FIRST IN A SERIES OF NEWS FEATURES ON UPPER EGYPT; FOR POSSIBLE PROGRAMMING, PLEASE NOTE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF LUXOR TOURIST ATTACK IS NOV. 17TH/// INTRO: LAST NOVEMBER, A SMALL GROUP OF ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS KILLED NEARLY 60 TOURISTS VISITING SOUTH EGYPT'S FAMOUS ANCIENT TEMPLES OF LUXOR. WHILE EXTREMISTS HAD, FOR YEARS ATTACKED POLICE AND FOREIGNERS IN THIS PART OF EGYPT AS PART OF A CAMPAIGN TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT AND INSTALL AN ISLAMIC STATE, THE ATTACK LAST YEAR ON THE TEMPLE WAS PERHAPS THE MOST VICIOUS EVER. IT HAS LEFT BOTH PSYCHOLOGICAL SCARS AND ECONOMIC HARDSHIP. OUR MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT SCOTT BOBB VISITED LUXOR RECENTLY AND FILED THIS REPORT. TEXT: LUXOR HAS, PERHAPS, THE GREATEST PAST OF ANY CITY IN THE WORLD. LYING ON THE BANKS OF THE UPPER NILE RIVER, IT IS HOME TO SOME OF THE GREATEST MONUMENTS OF ANCIENT TIME. SOME OF THEM ARE FOUR-THOUSAND YEARS OLD, BUILT BY THE KINGS OF THE OLDEST KNOWN HUMAN CIVILIZATION, THE PHARAOHS. THE TEMPLE TO THE QUEEN PHARAOH HATSHEPSUT, WHO LIVED 34-HUNDRED YEARS AGO, LIES AT THE FOOT OF THE CLIFF THAT OVERLOOKS THE VAST COMPLEX OF TOMBS AND TEMPLES ON LUXOR'S WEST BANK. IT IS A WIDE, HORIZONTAL EDIFICE WITH THREE STORIES OF COLUMNS AND A LENGTHY STONE RAMP LEADS UP TO ITS MAIN ENTRANCE. ON NOVEMBER 17TH LAST YEAR, SIX MEMBERS OF THE OUTLAWED ISLAMIC GROUP ENTERED THE TEMPLE, KILLED THE GUARDS, AND SHOT AND STABBED VISITORS, CUTTING OPEN MANY OF THE BODIES AND PLACING EXTREMIST LITERATURE INSIDE THEM. ///OPT/// THE PEOPLE OF LUXOR CAN'T FORGET THAT DAY: THE SOUND OF SHOOTING, THE RESCUE HELICOPTERS EVACUATING THE DEAD AND THE WOUNDED. MANY OF THEM DONATED BLOOD. OTHERS HELPED POLICE TRACK DOWN AND KILL THE ATTACKERS. MANY REMAIN SHOCKED BY THE ATTACK AND DISGUSTED OVER THE ATROCITIES COMMITTED. ///END OPT/// ///SFX TOURISTS TALKING IN SPANISH -- IN FULL TO ESTABLISH AS BREAK, THEN UNDER AND LOSE/// TODAY, TOURISTS FROM MANY COUNTRIES STILL TAKE THE FERRY ACROSS THE NILE TO THE WEST BANK AND HIKE UP THE HARD SCRABBLE PATHS TO THE TEMPLES. BUT IN ADDITION TO VIEWING THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS, THEY EXAMINE THE BULLET MARKS IN THE STONE WALLS AND LISTEN TO THE GUIDES TELL OF THE TERROR THAT DAY LAST NOVEMBER. WHILE THE NUMBER OF TOURISTS SINCE THE ATTACK REMAINS LOW, MANY WHO VISIT SAY THEY DO NOT FEEL THEY'RE IN DANGER. JASON WATKINS IS AN AMERICAN TRAVELLING WITH A CHURCH GROUP FROM THE CENTRAL STATE OF MISSOURI. ///WATKINS ACT./// THE KILLING OF THE TOURISTS KIND OF MAKES YOU SCARED AND NOT WANT TO COME. BUT YOU CAN'T LET SOMETHING LIKE THAT KEEP YOU FROM COMING BECAUSE YOU WOULDN'T GO ANYWHERE. ///END ACT/// JULIE HERSEY IS A NEWLYWED FROM THE SOUTHERN STATE OF FLORIDA WHO IS HERE WITH HER HUSBAND ON THEIR HONEYMOON. ///HERSEY ACT/// IF YOU'RE SCARED TO TRAVEL YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO EXPERIENCE THIS, AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET ANYONE HOLD ME BACK AND SCARE ME FROM COMING TO SEE SOMETHING SO FASCINATING AS THIS. ///END ACT/// ANGELA HOUSE IS AN AMERICAN TEACHER WHO MOVED TO EGYPT TWO MONTHS AGO AND IS VISITING LUXOR FOR THE FIRST TIME. ///HOUSE ACT./// I DON'T FEEL UNSAFE. I DON'T FEEL LIKE ANYONE IS GOING TO HURT ME OR STEAL ANYTHING FROM ME. I FEEL SAFER HERE THAN I DO IN THE STATES. ///END ACT/// //END OPTS// TOUR OPERATORS SAY THAT FOLLOWING THE ATTACK IN LUXOR, HOTEL OCCUPANCY RATES DROPPED FROM MORE THAN 70 PERCENT TO JUST FIVE PERCENT. IN RESPONSE, HOTEL ROOM RATES HAVE BEEN CUT BY AS MUCH AS ONE-HALF. OPERATORS SAY THEIR OCCUPANCY RATES HAVE BEGUN TO RISE IN THE PAST FEW MONTHS -- BUT THEY ARE STILL LOSING MONEY. THE LOCAL RESIDENTS WHO DEPEND ON TOURISM -- THE TAXI DRIVERS, THE GUIDES, THE SELLERS OF SOFT DRINKS AND SOUVENIRS -- ARE HAVING AN EVEN HARDER TIME. ///SOUND OF STREET HAWKER -- ESTABLISH AND UNDER, THEN OUT/// THESE PEOPLE LIVE FROM DAY TO DAY, AND ARE OFTEN DESPERATE FOR A CUSTOMER. THE MAYOR OF LUXOR IS A RETIRED ARMY GENERAL, SALMY SELIM. HE WAS APPOINTED ONLY A FEW WEEKS AFTER THE LUXOR ATTACK. MAYOR SELIM ACKNOWLEDGES THE ATTACK HURT TOURISM, BUT HE SAYS IT IS RECOVERING. ///SELIM ACT IN ARABIC (WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION)/// INDEED, THE INCIDENT (ATTACKS) CUT THE NUMBER OF VISITORS TO THE CITY, ESPECIALLY IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF THE YEAR, BUT THANK GOD, THE NUMBER IS STARTING TO RETURN TO ITS NORMAL LEVEL. //OPT// WE HAVEN'T REACHED THAT YET, BUT DAY BY DAY, WEEK BY WEEK, THE NUMBER IS GROWING AND WERE ARE VERY ENCOURAGED. //END OPT// ///END ACT./// MAYOR SELIM SAYS HE INHERITED A TRAUMATIZED CITY, BUT THAT BECAUSE OF IT, SECURITY FORCES HAVE SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED THE WAY THEY PROTECT THE CITY AND ITS MONUMENTS. //OPT// GENERAL SELIM SAYS SECURITY FORCES HAVE ESTABLISHED SECURITY CORDONS AROUND CERTAIN AREAS WHICH OVERLAP, LIKE CHAIN LINKS. HE SAYS THE MILITARY CAN ALSO BE CALLED IN WHEN NEEDED. BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANGE, HE SAYS, IS THAT LOCAL CIVILIANS HAVE BEEN ENLISTED TO WATCH OVER THE CITY AND IDENTIFY ANY SUSPICIOUS STRANGERS. ///END OPT/// GENERAL SELIM SAYS LAST YEAR'S ATTACK IN LUXOR WAS BY A SMALL GROUP WHO USED WHAT HE CALLS "THE BANNER OF RELIGION" TO TRY TO TAKE POWER. THE MAYOR SAYS THAT IN SEVEN-THOUSAND YEARS, LUXOR NEVER SAW SUCH VIOLENCE. IT'S HIS INTENTION, HE CONCLUDES, THAT IT NEVER SEE IT AGAIN. (SIGNED) NEB/SB/PCF 22-Oct-98 1:44 PM EDT (1744 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .