Washington DC - October 10th 2011

We the undersigned leaders of Middle East Christian organizations representing the aspirations of Egyptian Copts, Arameans (Syriacs), Chaldeans, and Assyrians from Southeast Turkey, Syria and Iraq, Maronites and Lebanese Christians, Southern Sudanese, Kabyles Christians from North Africa, denounce vehemently the massacre perpetrated in Cairo on October 9, 2011 at the hands of military forces and armed elements which led to the death of dozens and wounding of about a hundred Coptic Christian demonstrating peacefully. In the name of millions of Christians in the Middle East and in the Diaspora, including in the United States, we declare the following:

1) We call on the Secretary General of the United Nations to send investigators to Egypt and establish a report about the massacre and sending it to the Security Council.

2) We call on the US Administration to call its ambassador in Egypt and summon the Egyptian ambassador to Washington to investigate the massacre and take appropriate actions.

3) We call on the US Congress to suspend military aid to Egypt immediately under all its forms until a protection status for the Copts is established and enforced.

4) We call on the Copts of Egypt to be patient and keep their hopes high as millions of Middle Eastern Christians and their Diaspora around the world are standing by you.

5) We call on the Vatican to call for an international conference on the Christians of the Middle east and North Africa.

We the undersigned leaders of Middle East Christian NGOs have established a coordination committee to follow up on the massacre of Cairo and on other attacks targeting Christian communities in the Greater Middle East. If one of our communities are attacked, we'll consider it as an aggression against all of our communities across the region and worldwide.

Signed by:

Sheikh Sami el Khoury
President / World Maronite Union (WMU)

Tom Harb,
Secretary General, World Maronite Union

Adad Asurseen
President, Assyrian American National Federation (AANF)

Sheba Mando,
President / Assyrian national council of Illinois

Adel al Guindi
President/ Coptic Solidarty International (CSI)

Magdi Khalil
Spokesperson Coptic Solidarity International

Johny Messo
President /Syriac Universal Alliance

Khalil Beshara
Syrian Christian Coordination Committee

Jimmy Mulla
Voices United for Sudan

Prof Farid Bouchama
Christian Kabyles

Sami Fares
Secretary General, Middle East Christian Committee (MECHRIC)