Missing in Egypt Read online

  Paul Keating was successful in taking the reins from Bob Hawke in December 1991, just as the rumour mill had said he would be.

  Later that week I received a phone call from Kareem at work. “Its my father” he said obviously extremely upset. “He had another heart attack during the night and my mother found him dead beside her in the morning. She is very upset she didn’t hear anything.” “Oh Kareem, I’m so sorry” I responded. “Please tell your mother I’m thinking of her. If there’s anything I can do…..”

  “I have to arrange the funeral. I hope you understand I have a lot to do and I may not be able to see you for a few days”. “Yes, of course, I replied. If I can help in any way, please let me know”. I felt so sorry for Kareem and his mother. Mr Hazif had seemed to be recovering so well and it was a bolt out of the blue for them.

  I went to the funeral. It was a small, private service at the local crematorium and afterwards we gathered at the house. It was very sad – no celebration of life – just family and close friends mourning the loss of a loved one. I felt honoured to be included in this small number and to have had the opportunity to have met Kareem’s father.

  A couple of weeks later, over dinner at my place, Kareem announced it was time for him to resume his search for Ramy. “My mother has lost her husband and her son is still missing, I must go and find him” he said simply. I made an instant decision “I’ll come with you. I have a few weeks’ leave accumulated – you know how it is, there is never a good time in politics to take it. I want to help you find Ramy”. I knew from the look in Kareem’s eyes that he was pleased. “It will be hard work” he said, “not much of a holiday, but it will be great to have you with me”.

  Two days later we were on the flight to Cairo. What a fascinating city! The traffic was frenetic – the taxi we took from the airport weaved in and out of lanes with a blast of his horn. As everyone else was using their horn, the result to my unaccustomed ears and eyes seemed chaotic and dangerous.

  Kareem had booked us into the Marriott Hotel – a beautiful hotel which was once a small palace. It was like an oasis in the middle of this busy city, the new accommodation wing being very sympathetic to the original structure. It had huge colonnades and underneath, along the length of it, were tables with green umbrellas surrounded by lovely gardens and on the level below a magnificent swimming pool. The pool went under an arch at one end and into the shade. The majority of it however was in the sun, with tiered gardens overlooking it. We were to have one night of luxury before heading for Luxor and we made the most of it! We swam in the pool, ate dinner in the gardens lit with fairy lights, luxuriated in the huge bed and had a hearty breakfast before heading off the next day.

  Before we took the flight to Luxor we went to see Kareem’s uncle and aunt. They made us very welcome and I could understand how Ramy would have spent a very pleasant month in their company. Their house had a very peaceful inner courtyard which was like an oasis from the traffic and noise of the city. Kareem told them in detail about his progress on his previous visit and they agreed they would be the contact point for Kareem and his mother. Naturally, Kareem was anxious about leaving his mother alone so soon after his father died and he wanted to make sure she knew he was okay. We had coffee with them and some delicious Egyptian cakes, before heading off to the airport.

  I liked Luxor better than Cairo – it’s not as chaotic. We went to the hotel of Jahi’s cousin, Hamadi. He was dressed in western clothes and spoke reasonably good English. He appeared to be in his thirties, average looking and with short black hair. Kareem introduced himself and Hamadi was pleased to meet him. “Your brother” he said “he stayed here with the attractive Egyptian lady. Have you found him yet?” “No”, replied Kareem” we are here to search for him. Do you have a room for us?” “Of course” said Hamadi “I give you my best room. Go and make yourselves comfortable and after we will talk”.

  It was not the Marriott but it was clean and comfortable and looked out on to the street. The main bazaar was just around the corner. We went downstairs and Hamadi had coffee waiting for us in the lounge. “I can’t tell you very much” said Hamadi apologetically. “They stayed the night – they had a big row and your brother walked out but he came back after a couple of hours and then they left the next day. The lady, she came from a good family. She had beautiful jewellery and she conducted herself like a lady. That’s all I know – I don’t know where they were going. I have asked around the bazaar but no-one can tell me anything. I suggest you try some of the tour operators. Maybe someone will remember something.”

  We spent the rest of the afternoon showing Ramy’s photo around but to no avail. It was very hot and sticky – I was glad when Kareem finally said “Let’s call it a day. We’ll go back to the hotel and take a shower and then go somewhere for a drink”.

  I was in the shower – letting the tepid water cool my body – when Kareem shouted out “I’ll be back in a minute – there’s a call for me in reception”. He returned as I came out of the bathroom. “That was my uncle. Someone has contacted my mother” he explained. “They say they have Ramy and want $A250,000. She told them I am in Egypt and we will get the money. She has already arranged a mortgage on the house and will wire it via Western Union tomorrow or the next day. She has also spoken to the police and they will monitor the next call, although how it will help from Sydney I don’t know.” I put my arms around him and he laid his head on my shoulder. “Thank goodness he is alive and will soon be able to come home with us” he said.

  We went out for that cold drink. We found a café overlooking the Nile and sat into the evening and had dinner there. Neither of us was very interested in what we were eating. I couldn’t help wondering why it had taken so long to get the ransom call. How long had Ramy been missing now? It was over two months. Normally you would expect to get the ransom call within a day or two. Or maybe he hadn’t been missing all that time but had just been having a fun with his new girlfriend and then something had gone wrong. Something didn’t seem quite right though. I tried to bring this up but Kareem was just too excited at the thought of rescuing his brother to fully take in what I was saying. “Maybe he was trying to get Ramy to find the money” he reasoned. “Or maybe Ramy wasn’t telling them who he was or where his family lived. He can be very stubborn when he wants to be.” It occurred to me that no-one is going to be very stubborn if their life is being threatened, but I kept the thought to myself – it didn’t seem to be the right moment to share it.

  4. The Ransom

  Two days later Kareem and I went to Western Union and collected the money. I had begged Kareem to go to the local police but the kidnappers had insisted that there be no police involved if we wanted to see Ramy alive. “Besides” Kareem pointed out “the local police are often very corrupt and they may relieve me of the money before I can pay the ransom!” I was very jumpy as we walked back from the Western Union office to the hotel with the equivalent of $A250,000 in a bag!

  Kareem rang his uncle. The kidnappers had contacted Kareem’s mother again and told him to be at the Temple of Luxor at 8.15 am the next day with the money. He was, of course, to go alone and to proceed towards the back of the Temple. He would see his brother behind one of the columns and a man in traditional clothing would take the bag with the money in exchange for Ramy. Unfortunately, the Australian police told his mother, the call was not long enough for it to be traced.

  I was so nervous as Kareem set off. I begged him to let me go with him – at least as far as the Temple entrance, but he was adamant he would not jeopardise his brother’s life by taking any chances.

  By 10.30 am I was very anxious. He should have been back by now – where was he? 11 am came and went and by now I was pacing the small reception area. Surely it couldn’t take that long. Even if Ramy was ill and they had gone straight to the hospital, I would have expected a call from Kareem by now. I forced myself to be

  calm. There would be a very good reason – maybe there was a bomb threat and the Te
mple had opened late. Maybe Ramy was so ill Kareem had taken him straight to a hospital and hadn’t thought to ring me. By mid-afternoon I could contain my fears no longer. I put a call through to Kareem’s uncle. He wasn’t there, of course, he was at work. His wife said she would contact him and get him to ring me straight back. More waiting. But within 15 minutes his Uncle was on the phone. “Something must be wrong Anna” he said. “I have a bad feeling. Wait another hour and then go to the police”.

  That hour was the longest of my life. I kept going over and over Kareem’s last words. “I will take a taxi to the Temple and find my brother. We will come back in a taxi and ring my mother. Then we will go out and have a big celebratory lunch. I will not be long”.

  At 4 pm I went downstairs again. Hamadi was at Reception. I told him what had happened and he straight away said he would take me to the police station - I would probably need an interpreter. I was very glad of his company; by now I was starting to feel very much alone.

  The police station was about 10 minutes away in the taxi and Hamadi pushed through the throng of people waiting to talk to someone. He said something to the policeman on the desk and in a couple of minutes we were ushered into a room. The policeman who seemed to be in charge came in to talk to us. Hamadi explained that my friend’s brother had been kidnapped and my friend had gone to pay the ransom money and not returned. Through Hamadi I told him what had happened to date. He spoke some English but he was very hard to understand and I was glad of Hamadi’s help. “We will look into it” he assured me and then we were back out in the sunshine and the heat and on our way back to the hotel.

  The rest of that day and the next day I waited at the hotel, not wanting to be absent if Kareem turned up and not wanting to miss any contact from the police. In the meantime I put a call through to the Australian Embassy and arranged an appointment for Thursday. It couldn’t come quick enough.

  Next morning Hamadi arranged a taxi for me from the hotel to Luxor Temple. Hamadi had warned me not to go out on the street on my own and not to catch a taxi off the street. “Make sure you get the hotel to book you a taxi and then wherever you go get them to call you one back to the hotel. Just like Cairo, it is not safe to for tourists, especially women on their own.” I wanted to see where Kareem had disappeared. I knew I wasn’t going to find him there but I needed to see where he had gone to meet his brother’s kidnappers, believing he would be returning with Ramy. I wanted, I suppose, to feel closer to him, to look for clues, just to see if there was anything that would give me an idea as to what had happened. I had a photo of the two of us taken in Aswan and I showed it at the ticket office and to the guards, but no-one remembered seeing Kareem. Seeing the throng of people swarming over the temple, I wasn’t really surprised.

  The Temple itself was amazing – even though I was not there to sightsee I could not help but be impressed by its size and beauty. Unlike Greece or Italy, where many of the ruins are incomplete and leave an enormous amount to your imagination, in Egypt they are very well preserved and large parts of them are intact. The entrance is flanked by 2 large statues of Pharaohs (over 15 metres high) and I walked through an avenue lined with huge engraved columns and statues. I saw the sitting Ramses II statue, huge and imposing and the red granite obelisk, covered in carvings and towering against the blue sky. Covering 260 sq metres in length the Temple of Luxor is truly breathtaking. I took in the avenue of sphinxes with rams’ heads which apparently become human heads as you approach the Temple of Karnak about 3 kilometres further on. For a while I was totally entranced by the height and size of these amazing images, still in such wonderful original condition. It was fascinating to see part of a way of life from so many years ago. The Temple weaved a sort of magic and for the first time since Kareem went missing I was able to forget the pain and the stress of this horrible ordeal. However, eventually my mind pulled itself out of this make-believe world and back to the present. I wandered amongst the columns and imagined where I thought the exchange would have taken place. I passed another guard and showed him the photo of Kareem, but he just shook his head. I wasn’t sure how much English he understood but he obviously didn’t recognise the photo. Eventually, hot, tired and exhausted, I gave up and returned to the hotel.

  Late that afternoon I flew back to Cairo, to the sanctuary of the Marriott. I couldn’t help but remember where Kareem and I had sat and enjoyed drinks overlooking the gardens, how we swam in the pool before breakfast and ate dinner in the garden under the stars.

  My appointment was with a John Turner at 10 am the next day and I caught a taxi from the hotel. I liked John as soon as I met him. A typical tanned, blue-eyed Aussie he was very friendly and easy to talk to. He had a diplomat’s voice, very well-spoken - he could have had a job with the ABC. Apparently he had been with Foreign Affairs all his life and had been in Egypt for nearly two years. He didn’t try to fob me off but listened whilst I told him about Kareem’s meeting with the kidnappers and how he hadn’t returned. He had the file on Ramy in front of him and was familiar with the actions taken to try and trace him. John promised to make some further inquiries and get back to me. I told him I was returning to the hotel at Luxor, I felt comfortable there and had Hamadi to help me as an interpreter. Also it was a lot cheaper than the Marriott! Before I left he gave me access to the phone to ring Jim. I didn’t think I’d have much chance of catching him - when Parliament was not sitting he was either at a meeting or attending an opening or other electorate event. However, my luck was in and I was able to fill him in on what had happened. “I’m so sorry” he said. “I’ll contact the Ambassador myself and ask him to give you every assistance. If I can help in any way let me know, and don’t worry about work”. I replaced the phone and said goodbye to John. His blue eyes looked deeply into mine and I felt reassured that he would do everything in his power to help me.

  I flew back to Luxor that afternoon and Hamadi greeted me warmly. But what was I to do now? I couldn’t just sit around the hotel, but it didn’t make sense to be in Cairo. I lay awake most of the night, reliving the events of the past few days and trying to make some sense of it all. Why had the kidnappers waited so long to make contact and where was Kareem? Had they kidnapped him too? Had he been killed? Was Ramy still alive or already dead when they made the ransom call? I resolved to stay put for a couple of days and wait and see if the Embassy could find anything out for me or (a long shot I knew) maybe Kareem would suddenly turn up at the hotel. In the meantime, tomorrow I would go and see the Temple of Karnak – there is plenty to see in Egypt to pass the time. Of one thing I was sure - I would go mad if I just sat around the hotel waiting!

  When I awoke it was late – I had finally dropped off to sleep and made up for it the next morning. After breakfast I found Hamadi and told him I was going to Karnak and asked him to call me a taxi. “I’ll come with you” he said. “I need a break and I can show you around”.

  Karnak was also amazing. Hamadi was a good guide – he gave me information on the Temple without going overboard as they tend to do on a tour.

  “Although badly ruined” he explained “no site in Egypt is more impressive than Karnak. It is the largest temple complex ever built by man. It is actually three temples, enclosed by these enormous brick walls. Only the largest, Amun-Re is open to the public. Luxor Temple, which you saw the other day, is outside these enclosed walls, joined to Karnak by the avenues of the sphinxes.”

  I found myself marvelling again at the incredible size and accuracy of the statues and columns. All those years ago, man had been able to make such huge, perfect and beautiful works of art that we were still enjoying today. Everywhere you looked there were hieroglyphics depicting stories – Ramses II, the Queen Nefertari with her servants bearing gifts of food and wine, depictions of fighting with dying enemies surrounding the King, Gods Horus, Isis, Rae all featured with offerings of servants and food. Hamadi gave me a short history on each of the main players in these scenes in front of me. It was fascinating and I found myself dra
wn into the mystery of this world of long ago. To think that these people had walked amongst these same columns all those years before! They had worked, loved, had families and lost loved ones, no doubt had mortgages and debts, just as we do today. And yet this huge, strong civilisation was no more. It was very humbling and made me realise just how unimportant we are in the general scheme of things.

  We returned to the hotel and I had a late lunch before settling into a sunlounge in the leafy courtyard with a book. Try as I might though, I couldn’t concentrate. I re-read the first page three times before giving up and falling into a light sleep in which I was being chased by people with rams’ faces! I was relieved then when Hamadi came and woke me. “Come quickly” he said ‘The Australian Embassy is on the phone for you”.

  It was John Turner. “Sorry to get your hopes up” he said. “I don’t have any news but I just wanted to let you know I am working on it. How are you today?” I said I was fine. His voice was friendly and warm and I knew from his tone that he didn’t ring all his compatriots to give such an update. It was nice to hear from someone who seemed to care though and made me feel less alone in this country so alien to me. “Look” he said “I was thinking I might fly up there and have a look around the Temple of Luxor where the ransom exchange was to take place. I can ask a few questions and maybe someone will remember something. If I come up tomorrow will you come out to the Temple with me?” I explained that I had already been out there but none of the guards seemed to remember seeing anything. “It will be easier for me as I speak some Egyptian” he pointed out. “It’s worth a try isn’t it?” I readily agreed that anything was worth a try and at least I would be doing something other than sitting around. He arranged to pick me up at the hotel at 1 o’clock.