Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid on Friday 14/08/2015 criticized a CNN report on the security situation in Egypt following the apparent murder of Croatian hostage.
Commenting on the report, Abu Zeid said "The CNN report regarding the reported murder of Croatian citizen Tomislav Salopek paints a grim and absurdly distorted image of chaos and rampant terrorism in Egypt".
"The report makes ridiculous assertions, such as the claim that Sinai is lawless, or that Daesh’s operation in Egypt is the most effective after those in Syria and Iraq," he added.
"As a matter of fact, the terrorist group is confined to a small portion of North Sinai comprising no more than five percent of the total landmass of the peninsula, and the rest of Sinai remains home to a large number of highly secure tourist sites and resorts," he said.
"Insultingly, the CNN report even goes so far as to cast doubt on Egypt’s efforts to combat terrorism, rather than providing support and constructive contributions at this critical time," he added.
According to the spokesman, "while it is true that Egypt faces a campaign of terrorism, it is far from being the only country doing so; in fact, the entire world is engaged in a war against the phenomenon of global terror. Attacks have targeted countries East and West, across all continents, and they have slaughtered men and women of all nationalities".
"The fact that Egypt lies on the front line of this global war, and thus bears the brunt of the effort, should prompt solidarity with Egypt rather than insidious attempts to undermine our efforts," he said.
"No one took aim at France in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, nor did anyone claim that the US was in a state of chaos after the Boston bombings. It is bizarre that similar tragedies in Egypt are met with criticism of the state and almost comically exaggerated portrayals of events on the ground," he added.
"It is also disheartening to see that the (doubtlessly tragic) death of a Westerner is considered a significant escalation from the killing of Egyptians, when at the end of the day the blood that is spilled is all of the same color," he further added.
"The CNN report claims that Egypt is failing to deliver on its promise of defeating the terrorist scourge, but neglects the fact that this war is global in scale. Egypt cannot defeat global terrorism alone. We have persistently and adamantly urged the international community to take a stronger stance on counter-terrorism at every possible opportunity, but our calls have constantly been met with lethargy and hesitation," Abu Zeid said.
"Even the coalition that the international community formed to counter Daesh has failed to adequately respond to our repeated calls to include Libya as one of the territories in which Daesh operates, choosing exclusively to focus on combating Daesh in Iraq and Syria. It has disregarded our repeated pleas to treat all Daesh affiliates and variants on the same footing, thereby turning a blind eye to the scale of the threat and focusing narrowly on one of its many manifestations. Despite our constant urging, it has refused to be more emphatic, decisive and swift in its response to Daesh. This has undoubtedly undermined international efforts to combat terrorism in the region," he added.
"It is truly disappointing that CNN has chosen, this time, to take aim at the victim rather than the perpetrators. We sincerely hope that the international community will begin to realize the gravity of the terrorist threat in the region and the need for more serious concerted efforts to effectively defeat Daesh, while expecting the international media to play a more responsible role in this regard," he concluded.
