The Ministry Of The Interior comprises of several departments. Notable are the General Directorate of Inspection and Censorship for Administrations and General Departments, the Department of Discipline, the General Organization for Sewage and Sanitary Drainage, the General Department of Women's Affairs, and the Passports, Emigration and Nationality Administration department. If you need an official document in Egypt, it will most likely pass through this building at least once.

The building has 14 floors and about 1,400 rooms. It is said that there are about 20,000 employees (depending on if you count shoe-shine boys, newspaper vendors and tea-makers). The Mugamaa building is reputed to date from 1936, though it may also have been built in 1950 or 1975. It has been the site of at least 12 suicides. It is strictly forbidden to photograph the building.

cairo 2009


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