Amnesty: Egypt's housing plans failing Cairo's poor

Amnesty: Egypt's housing plans failing Cairo's poor Cairo  - An international human rights group on Tuesday concluded that government neglect has condemned Cairo's poor to living conditions that place their lives in peril.

In a report released Tuesday, the London-based group Amnesty International said the government was failing to prevent rock-slides in areas around informal settlements that house millions of Cairo's poor.

Most recently, in September 2008, at least 107 people were killed and 58 were injured when a rock-slide hit the overcrowded, eastern Cairo slum of Manshiyet Nasser.

"Slum dwellers describe a life characterized by deprivation, neglect, insecurity and the constant threat of forcible eviction," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's Middle East director.

"The state must guarantee their right to adequate housing and put an end to forced evictions," Smart said.

According to witnesses interviewed for the report, "Buried Alive: Trapped by Poverty and Neglect in Cairo's Informal Settlements," people in the area said they had informed governmental authorities that signs were showing in the period leading up the disaster that a rock-slide was imminent, but nothing was done to protect them.

The Egyptian Interior Ministry, which is responsible for safety in Egyptian governorates, declined to comment on the report. Amnesty said it had received no response from the ministries of housing or planning in its research for the report.

Manshiyet Nasser and similar "informal" settlements are so called because they have sprung up without government license.

The neighbourhood sprung up in the 1960s as people poured to the capital from the countryside. Today, an estimated 8 million people live in the Manshiyet Nasser and similar slums in Cairo. More millions still live just across the river in Giza.

"The Egyptian authorities failed to respect human-rights standards in their responses in the aftermath of the rock-slide," Amnesty said, noting that people did not receive adequate compensation, and that some victims were left homeless.

Moreover, Amnesty concluded, preventive measures that were taken in other areas included forced evictions, without the provision of appropriate alternative housing.

Most of the areas worst affected by the threats of natural disasters are slums, or informal settlements, which have risen up in responds to the unavailability of affordable homes.

There are an estimated 1,221 informal settlements in Egypt, the report said, citing government figures.

Besides the safety issues associated with informal housing, many residents of these areas have trouble obtaining water and electricity, Amnesty said.

The rights group recommended that the government involve residents of the unsafe areas in the planning process for its 40-year development plan for Cairo, and in shorter-term development programmes.

None of the investigations into governmental negligence launched in the aftermath of the Manshiyet Nasser disaster led to an indictment, the report noted.  (dpa)