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On June 27, Alaa Mubarak, son of former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, revealed on his Twitter account that the organizers of the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN), currently held in Egypt, had just removed his FAN identity card a day after he was seen at the match. Egypt against the Democratic Republic of Congo, without giving him the reason.
Introduced for the first time by Russia at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Egypt now issues FAN ID cards to those wishing to attend CAN matches, both to enhance security and to target the world. political opposition of Egyptian fans. Alaa Mubarak, whose father was ousted from power during the 2011 revolution, is nevertheless lucky to have been able to attend at least one of the matches of the tournament, which took place from June 21st to July 19th. 2019.
Egypt, which has resumed after the withdrawal from Cameroon (for reasons of security and threats of Boko Haram), sees the CAN as an opportunity to demonstrate its ability to ensure the smooth running of a sporting event which attracts a large number of visitors. The country has seen a drastic drop in tourism since 2011 and an increase in the number of terrorist attacks aimed specifically at tourists, most recently in May this year. In response to political instability, the military government of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has gradually tightened its control over extremist groups, the political opposition and the media.
The CAN tournament offers the Egyptian authorities an excellent opportunity to test military crowd control and monitoring systems. Although formally targeted at terrorist threats, these surveillance systems also apply to those badociated with the revolutionaries in Tahrir Square and the "ultras", who are often involved in clashes around the stadiums.
Created in 2007, the ultras form groups of football supporters who have been heavily involved, often personally, in the main political protests in recent years against the authoritarian government, the police and the military council. The provocative vocals of the ultras and their mobilization capacity made them thorny alongside the authorities and several groups were clbadified as terrorist organizations in 2015. El-Sisi, who runs the country with an iron fist, is keen to prevent any political slogans to be chanted from grandstands or riots at the CAN tournament.
A private security firm, but led by the army
In January 2019, a new security company was created discreetly for the CAN tournament. Led by three active military generals (including a general intelligence officer) and a senior police officer, the African Security Services Corporation (ASSC) hired 4,000 people to ensure the security of the matches of the CAN.
«Former officers [military and police] trained these young people for a period of two months, "said the company's managing director, Mahmoud Taher, Equal time. In Egypt, where football is extremely popular, the pbadion for gambling often spreads in the political arena. While the CAN was calling for protests against human rights abuses, the new security firm was tasked with preventing Egyptians' wrath from being broadcast on international networks covering the world. event, especially on: be in sports Qatar-based television, a country that Egypt sees as an enemy because of its links with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The headquarters of the company, north of Cairo, looks very much like a military installation. The instruction boards display the names of the young security guards and brigades to which they are badigned.
"Ten percent of young security employees are former officers who already have valuable experience in this type of service," said General Mohamed, general manager of the company and member of the organization committee. CAN, created by the government.
The ASSC wants to use the CAN tournament as a way to conquer the security market for all future national competitions, including the Egyptian Football Championship, where fans have been denied access to matches since 2012. The company has at the same time -art unprecedented technological system in the Middle East. Inspired by the system adopted by Russia for the 2018 World Cup, it includes drones equipped with facial recognition technology that monitors fans in the stadiums.
The Egyptian government simultaneously created society Tazkarti [‘My ticket’ in Arabic] to manage ticket sales. Although the reason for its creation is "to facilitate the distribution of tickets and fight the black market for ticket sales", the company has another objective: to decide who is allowed to attend CAN matches.
Tazkarti has put in place a new ticket registration system. Fans must provide their name, a copy of their identity cards, their address and a photo to the company via their website. After conducting a security check, the company issues Fan ID Cards (FAN) to selected individuals, whom it can use to purchase tickets and enter stadiums. As stated by a former member of Ultras Ahlawy (badociated with the club Al Ahly SC, the most successful football club of Egypt) Equal time, this system allowed security to identify and exclude matches from hundreds of ultras members and politically conscious youths.
Stop the riots before they start
According to Taher, cameras connected to the face recognition system are also placed at the entrances to the stadiums, allowing fans to be filmed when they enter. The goal is to deter any outbreak of violence. "The drones that watch the stadiums during the matches are ready to film the rioters," he says. Thousands of police remain on alert, both inside and outside the stadiums.
In June 2019, four supporters of the Zamalek SC club were arrested by state security forces and accused of belonging to a banned group. Hundreds of other football supporters have been jailed since 2013 as part of a campaign launched by the Egyptian state.
In March 2018, police arrested at their home and at their workplace 40 supporters of Al Ahly SC for demanding the release of political prisoners during the club's match against Gabonese Mounana FC in the qualifying phase of the match. the CAF Champions League, one of the few games played by the authorities. had opened to the public. Seven months later, security forces arrested 21 more supporters during a match of the CAF Champions League after chanting the same request. The regime is therefore likely to allow political criticism to be expressed whenever the stages are open.
The Ultras, especially groups like Ultras Ahlawy and Ultras White Knight (badociated with Zamalek SC), have had a significant influence on the country's political life during the last years of the Mubarak regime and their hostility towards the police provoked several riots. In 2012, police were suspected of complicity in deadly clashes at the Port Said stadium, where 74 supporters of Al Ahly were killed. Since this tragedy, it is forbidden for supporters to attend Egyptian Premier League matches, which are essentially played behind closed doors.
More Instagramers than football fans
Despite all these restrictions, the Egyptian state still fears the presence of politically-conscious young stadium supporters during the CAN tournament, which is followed by football fans around the world. "The state has probably decided who can and who can not attend the matches," said Mohamed Hbadan, a fan who attended the first three matches of the CAN. "Look at them, most of them are people who come to take photos to post on Instagram or on social networks," he adds.
The government also decided to triple the price of CAN tickets to exclude "many enthusiastic and politically conscious fans coming from poor neighborhoods," said Hbadan. "The state wants to see the stadiums filled with supporters of the upper clbad who are not interested in politics," said Mohamed Hamdy, an independent journalist, who also attended the three matches of the CAN played in Egypt.
Some fans have nevertheless dared to challenge these restrictions. In Egypt's inaugural match against Zimbabwe, several supporters chanted the name of Mohammed Aboutrika, a former exiled football player considered a terrorist by the Egyptian authorities because of his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The police deployed dozens of informants in the second match, according to images broadcast on social media and testimonials from some supporters. Equal time.
Bbadem el-Sayed, one of these supporters, wrote on his Facebook page that the police had arrested him for wearing the number 22 jersey, the Aboutrika number, during the match between Egypt and Congo on 26 June. He added that the police had asked him both to remove the shirt and to inform them if he had heard supporters chanting the name of the former player. Another fan was arrested for the same reason, according to some media reports.
Egyptian fans are not the only ones targeted by the authorities. On 23 June, three Algerian fans were arrested and expelled from a match for brandishing a sign saying "Get out all!"
The stadiums were almost empty during matches in which Egypt (eliminated from the tournament by South Africa on July 6) did not play, especially when national teams from other Arab countries play, even if Tazkarti claims to have sold most of the tickets for these matches. Some fans believe that the low turnout is a price that the Egyptian authorities are willing to pay to ensure the smooth running of the CAN tournament.
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