CAIRO, March 13 (AFP) - Egypt on Monday launched a facelift package for the towns scarred by the country's worst sectarian violence in decades, at a cost of $9 million, the state-run MENA news agency said.
Minister for Housing and Utilities Mohammed Ibrahim Suleiman said a new police station and 65 shops had been set up in Kosheh, where Muslim-Christian clashes over the new year killed over 20 people and left shops burnt out.
The minister, who was in Kosheh to inaugurate the facelift, reiterated the official position that the clashes had no link to religion and were the result of a trade dispute, MENA quoted him as saying.
He added that Kosheh and neighboring Dar es-Salam, where fighting spread, had been allocated 30 million Egyptian pounds (around $9 million) by the government for the redevelopment project.
Buildings have been repainted and roads have been repaved in Kosheh, while work on a new school, youth center and hospital is continuing, he said.
Rural Development Minister Mustafa Abdel Qader, who accompanied Suleiman, said government compensation of 5,000 Egyptian pounds (around $1,500) had been paid to the families of each person who died in the clashes and 1,000 pounds (around $300) had been paid to each person wounded, MENA said.
Dozens were wounded in the clashes.
Egypt's Attorney General Maher Abdel Wahed decided Saturday to bring 98 Muslims and 38 Coptic Christians before a criminal court for their alleged role in the bloodbath.
He told journalists on Sunday the final death toll was 21: 1 Muslim and 20 Copts.
