Bush Apologizes to Mubarak for Suez Shooting - EGYPT - Muhammad Fouad Afifi

NEW YORK TIMES

March 28, 2008

Bush Apologizes to Mubarak for Suez Shooting

By MONA EL-NAGGAR

CAIRO — President Bush apologized to the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, on Thursday for the killing of an Egyptian vendor when a cargo ship chartered by the United States opened fire on his small boat near the Suez Canal on Monday in an incident that has enraged Egyptians.

“President Bush expressed his deep regret and sympathies for the incident in the Suez Canal,” the White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said Thursday morning aboard Air Force One, adding that, in his telephone conversation with Mr. Mubarak, President Bush promised that the United States “would fully investigate.”

President Bush also expressed hopes that the accident would not damage friendly relations between the two countries, a press release from the Egyptian president’s office said Thursday.

The vendor, 28-year-old Muhammad Fouad Afifi, was a licensed trader selling cigarettes and antiques to ships passing through the Suez Canal. He was shot on Monday evening as he approached a cargo ship, the Global Patriot. The ship was under contract to the Navy, which has been wary of small motorboats since the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in 2000, in which terrorists drove a small vessel packed with explosives into the ship as it lay at anchor at a Yemeni port, killing 17 crew members.

An Egyptian daily newspaper, Rozalyousef, reported on the case on Wednesday under the headline “Cole Phobia Resulted in the Suez Canal Tragedy.”

Egyptians were further infuriated when the United States Embassy in Cairo and the Navy initially maintained that the security team aboard the Global Patriot said there had been no casualties in the shooting.

On Wednesday, Vice Admiral Kevin J. Cosgriff, the commander of the Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, acknowledged the killing, calling it accidental. In a statement, he said a security team on board the ship had fired two sets of warning shots as three small boats approached. After the first set, two boats turned away, but the vendor’s boat did not. “This situation is tragic, and we will do our utmost to help take care of the family of the deceased,” the statement said.

Mr. Afifi left behind his 23-year-old wife, a 5-year-old daughter and a 9-month-old son. On Thursday, a relative said they had not received any form of compensation.

“There is no possible compensation for his life,” said Heba Moustafa, Mr. Afifi’s 21-year-old niece, in a telephone interview. “But we want to feel like someone is standing up for us.”

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company







The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition

Egypt upset at US over accidental killing in Suez Canal

Associated Press , THE JERUSALEM POST


Mar. 27, 2008

Egypt's Foreign Minister says his country is upset with the accidental killing of an Egyptian citizen by a US Navy-contracted ship that fired warning shots at approaching motor boats in the Suez Canal.

The state-run Middle East News Agency quotes Ahmed Aboul Gheit as saying that the dead man's rights should be protected. The Navy has expressed regret for the incident and promised to take care of the victim's family.

The cargo ship entered the Suez Canal on Monday and was approached by small motor boats that conduct informal commerce in the canal, prompting the onboard Navy security team to fire shots after issuing verbal warnings.







updated 9:42 a.m. EDT, Wed March 26, 2008


U.S.: Egyptian killed by warning shots

* Story Highlights

* U.S. military security team on civilian cargo ship fired on approaching boat

* Warning shots accidentally hit man on boat, U.S. Navy says

* U.S. initially said no one died; it vows to help take care of victim's family

*

* Small boats often approach civilian ships, avoid warships, source tells AP
(CNN) -- The U.S. Navy on Wednesday admitted an Egyptian was killed this week when shots were fired from a military-contracted cargo ship at a boat near the Suez Canal.

art.global.patriot.ap.jpg

The U.S. military-contracted cargo ship Global Patriot moves through the Suez Canal on Tuesday.

art.egyptian.killed.ap.jpg

Mohammed Fouad, a 27-year-old father of three, was killed in Monday's shooting incident.



"We accept responsibility for actions that apparently resulted in this accidental death. This situation is tragic, and we will help take care of the victim's family," said Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Cosgriff said the fleet is cooperating with Egyptian authorities in their investigation.

The United States originally said no one died in Monday's encounter between the cargo vessel Global Patriot and three small boats near the Suez Canal, a 100-mile waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea.

When the boats approached the Global Patriot, a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn warned the vessels to turn away, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, said.

"A warning flare was then fired," the embassy said in a statement. "One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots."

The embassy said Wednesday it appears that one of the warning shots killed an Egyptian on the approaching boat.

The embassy did not mention anyone being wounded. Egyptian media reports said two people were wounded in addition to the death.

"We express our deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the embassy said.

A senior U.S. military official said an armed military security team was on board for the canal transit.

Abbas al-Amrikani, the head of the Suez seaman's union, told The Associated Press the dead man was Mohammed Fouad, a 27-year-old father of three.

"The bullet entered his heart and went out the other side," the AP quoted al-Amrikani as saying.

An Egyptian security official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity, said merchants often use small boats to try to sell cigarettes and other items to ships transiting the Suez Canal.

The merchants know not to approach military vessels, he told the AP, but the fact that the Global Patriot was a civilian vessel may have led to confusion.

The U.S. State Department said the U.S. Department of Defense had contracted the vessel to carry department materials

Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.









BBC News

Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 09:47 GMT








US admits to Suez canal killing

The Global Patriot (image from Global Container Lines website)

The ship was reportedly carrying used military equipment

US officials have said an Egyptian was killed when a ship contracted to the US navy fired warning shots at approaching boats in the Suez Canal on Monday.

US officials had previously maintained that there were no casualties.

Mohammed Fouad was buried on Tuesday amid expressions of anger against the Egyptian government and the US.

A US embassy statement issued on Wednesday said: "It appears that an Egyptian in the boat was killed by one of the warning shots."

According to the US account of the incident, the Global Patriot - on short-term charter to the US military - was approached by several boats as it prepared to enter the Suez Canal after dark on Monday.

Map

Warning shots were fired from the ship.

"The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker using a bullhorn to warn them to turn away. A warning flare was then fired," the embassy statement said.

"One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 yards in front of the bow."

Egyptian officials and witnesses say that two others were injured in the shooting.

Hawkers

According to the US Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC), the Global Patriot is a US-flagged roll-on, roll-off container ship chartered from Global Container Lines.

In is used by the MSC to transport US military equipment around the world.

The BBC's Heba Saleh in Cairo says fisherman and small boats carrying hawkers ply the waters of the canal trying to sell cigarettes and other local products to ships passing through.

Al-Qaeda militants have in the past used small motorboats to attack US military and other foreign vessels in waters off the coast of Yemen, our correspondent adds.

Some 7.5% of world sea trade passes through the Suez Canal, which is 190km long (118 miles) and 120m wide (395ft) at its narrowest point.