Al-Ahram Weekly On-line
23 - 29 July 1998
Issue No.387
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 Current issue | Previous issue | Site map
Lebanon's economic mystery
Eqbal Ahmad, in the first of three articles commenting on current Lebanese reality following a recent visit, examines the many faces of Lebanon's post-civil war economy

Assad


Syrian President Hafez Assad was given a red-carpet welcome by French counterpart Jacques Chirac at the elegant Elysée Palace last Friday, the second day of his first official visit to France in 22 years, Atef Saqr reports from Damascus.
Hanging in the balance
The international community has welcomed the cease-fire between the Sudanese government and southern rebels, but questions remain whether it will put an end to the tragedy in Bahr Al-Ghazal, writes Mohamed Khaled
Gearing up for October
Saddam Hussein says a new confrontation with the United States might be looming if UN sanctions are not lifted soon
A skirmish at sea
A brief military clash between Saudi Arabia and Yemen added to the tensions in Sanaa where dissatisfaction with the government's economic policies is rising. Maye Ostowani reviews developments
Hunger The hunger gap
Over two million people in southern Sudan may die over the next few months if more is not done to help them, and to end the war that has driven so many of them from their homes. Jihan El-Alaily describes the tragedy she encountered in Bahr Al-Ghazal
Rights flouted
left and right
Mohamed Fayek, secretary-general of the AOHR, talked to Al-Ahram Weekly about the problems human rights watchers face in the Arab world 		Cartoon Journalists
seek more freedom
Winding up a two-day conference on "Freedom of the Arab Press," journalists expressed solidarity with colleagues who face threats of death, imprisonment and assault. Zeina Khodr and Hussein Thabet report from Beirut
Abuses revealed left and right
In its annual report, the AOHR saw little progress, and some setbacks, in the region's human rights situation. Rasha Saad reviews the report and talks to the organisation's secretary-general 		  Holding human rights hostage
Presenting its first-ever human rights report to the UN in Geneva this week, Israel acknowledged that its Arab citizens suffer discrimination. However, this was all it admitted, as Graham Usher writes from Jerusalem
Najaf's murder mystery
A UN report on human rights in Iraq raised concern that the recent killings of two Shi'ite clerics might have been politically motivated