VZCZCXRO5613
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHEG #1851 2341136
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211136Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0291
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS CAIRO 001851 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR PASCUAL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM EG
SUBJECT: INFERNO AT EGYPT'S SHURA COUNCIL 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a dramatic fire the evening of August 
19, the 142-year old building housing the main hall, offices, 
and committee rooms of the Shura Council, Egypt's upper 
parliamentary house, was heavily damaged.  The GOE has 
pledged to rapidly rebuild, and parliament, which is 
currently on recess, is expected to reconvene on-time in 
mid-November.  A pervasive sense of schadenfreude has gripped 
the Egyptian public in response to the blaze, with no small 
number of Egyptians feeling that parliamentary fat cats, who 
recently passed a highly unpopular traffic law, have gotten 
what they deserved. End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) Black smoke billowed over downtown Cairo for nine 
hours on August 19 as firemen, and then military helicopters 
called in to douse the flames with water from above, battled 
the blaze. Initial government statements ruled out any foul 
play in the incident, and on August 20 Interior Minister 
Habib al Adly told reporters that no "sabotage, subversive or 
terrorist acts" started the fire.  According to press 
reports, faulty wiring or some similar electrical problem is 
the most likely cause.  The Shura Council building, built by 
Khedive Ismail in the mid-19th century, was largely made of 
wood, so the fire spread quickly once it started.  The 
building reportedly had no sprinkler system. One fireman died 
and 13 were injured while fighting the fire. The blaze 
reportedly heavily damaged the Shura Council's main hall, 
several parliamentary committee meeting rooms, as well as the 
official records of the parliament. 
 
¶3. (U) Egypt's parliament is currently on recess, and not due 
to start its new session until mid-November. Speaker of the 
Shura Council Safwat el Sherif and People's Assembly Speaker 
Fathi Surour have both pledged that the new session will 
begin on time, and that reconstruction will begin 
immediately. PM Ahmed Nazif toured the damaged building on 
August 20, and said that a technical committee is being 
formed to investigate the cause of the fire, assess the 
extent of the damage, and provide recommendations for 
immediate rebuilding at government expense. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment: A pervasive sense of schadenfreude has 
gripped the Egyptian public in response to the blaze. Even as 
the fire burned, we heard comments like, "it's too bad that 
the Shura wasn't in session, and all of those corrupt 
politicians went down with the building!" and "So the Shura 
burnt down - will anyone notice? It's not like that council 
does anything anyway!"  According to contacts who were in the 
street watching the fire, the average reaction of passerbys 
was not shock and grief that such a historical building was 
destroyed, but rather a "serves them right" smirk.  Some 
activist contacts told us they viewed the destruction of the 
Shura Council as a metaphor for the Egyptian state - "the 
institutions of the state itself are weak and easily 
destroyed, while it is the regime that is strong."  Hamdeen 
Sabahi, an MP from a Nasserite party, told reporters that, 
"There is anger towards the regime and the feeling that 
officials deserve what happened." The Muslim Brotherhood 
parliamentary bloc, quick to capitalize on any opportunity to 
criticize the government, released a statement noting 
"disappointment at the careless handling of the crisis by 
Egyptian authorities, despite the importance of the building 
... (This highlights) the shameful carelessness of Egyptian 
authorities and their weak crisis management abilities." 
Egypt's emergency response services looked weak and 
ineffective in their response to the fire, with the 
widespread perception being that they did not know how to 
properly respond, and that the military had to bail them out. 
SCOBEY