Following the deadly Al-Duwayqa rockslide of September 2008, the Egyptian authorities identified 26 ‘unsafe areas’ in Cairo whose residents live in conditions which pose a constant threat to their lives and health.

Earlier this year, Amnesty International visited two communities in Al-Duwayqa that continue to live in fear of further rockslides. They say they cannot afford to move to a safer place and the authorities have not offered them any alternative to where they live now.

The Egyptian authorities are developing plans to address the problems in Greater Cairo’s ‘unsafe areas’ but they are doing so without adequately consulting the affected communities.

The authorities have also been forcibly evicting people in Al-Duwayqa without giving them adequate advance notice or consulting them on their resettlement.

Many families in Al-Duwayqa have been left homeless and more families risk being forcibly evicted.

Image caption: Hussein Mahmoud Morsy, right, with his neighbours from Al-Shohba, Egypt, 3 August 2009.