Archaeologists threaten strike over unfilled ministry position

Al Masry Al Youm

Egyptian archaeologists threatened to organize a strike and sit-in on Sunday if a ministry official is not immediately appointed to take charge of archeology-related affairs. The threat came in light of the repeated thefts and lootings of Egyptian artifacts and relics.

The archeologists sent a letter to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf in which they demanded the appointment of either a minister or a head of an independent body affiliated to the Council of Ministers.

In the letter, Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, the director of the Central Administration for Antiquities in Alexandria and Lower Egypt warned of the seriousness of the situation, saying that it “has resulted in the total paralysis in the decision-making process needed for the continuance of archaeological work.”