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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 4 -10 February 1999 Issue No. 415
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Book Fair Economy Opinion Culture Features Living Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Debate inside, demonstrations outside
By Nadia Abou Al-Magd
"There is absolutely no intention on the part of the United States to either punish Iraq or to partition Iraq or to hurt the Iraqi people," US Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer assured the almost 70 participants who attended a closed seminar last Thursday.
The two-hour seminar, which was entitled "Sovereignty and Aggression Against Peoples: The Example of Iraq," was not listed in the published Book Fair schedule because it was not open to the public, but restricted to invited intellectuals.
However, as soon as word leaked through about his presence at the fair, a few hundred visitors staged what appeared to be a spontaneous demonstration near the hall where the seminar was held, not because they wanted to attend, but because they wanted the ambassador out of the fair and out of Egypt.
One of the hastily written banners read: "Kick out the ambassador of aggression, killer of the children of Iraq." Another banner and slogan read: "The people have one demand: Close the embassy and kick out the ambassador."
"We wanted to express our protest at inviting the American ambassador to the Book Fair, because he is not an intellectual and because he is the ambassador of the country that is still launching aggressive attacks against Iraq and the Iraqi people," Ahmed Hassan, a lawyer and one of the demonstration's organisers, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
When the demonstrators tried to approach the hall where the seminar was taking place, police prevented them but the two sides did not clash.
Classical abstraction in the dance world has to be faced -- it is historic and will never die so long as theatre lives. People love it, not least because it is dangerous to do. It requires brave, tough and dedicated souls, all of which the big public adores. And so do composers, directors and Abdel-Moneim Kamel.
A US Embassy source, who requested anonymity, told the Weekly that "we didn't even know it [the demonstration] had happened; we had no idea until we left. By that time, it had already finished."
Inside, a heated debate was taking place between Kurtzer and the participants. Kurtzer, although admitting to his audience that "US policies still face dilemmas," said that he hopes that in the course of the afternoon they will agree that Saddam Hussein still poses a threat to the region and to his own people.
Hassan Nafa'a, a political science professor, responded by saying, "I don't expect we will convince the ambassador to accept our point of view and I don't expect him to persuade us with his."
Nafa'a, while conceding that Saddam committed aggression when he invaded Kuwait and also when he killed the Kurds in Halabja in northern Iraq, argued that "he is not the only criminal that humanity has produced." Nafa'a described the current sanctions imposed on Iraq as very harsh and unprecedented in the history of the United Nations. He added that "linking the lifting of economic sanctions to the destruction of mass destruction weapons is being done to serve Israel's interests only."
Nafa'a concluded his statement by condemning the US for violating international legality. "Like we condemned Saddam Hussein at the beginning, I and the Egyptian people declare clearly that what the United States is doing now is a blatant aggression that is outside the scope of international legality," he said.
Another attendant, Professor Ashraf Bayoumi, former director of the observation unit of the World Food Programme in Iraq, whom Samir Sarhan, chairman of the General Book Authority, introduced as a munadel or fighter, said that he does not have questions for the ambassador but wants to make a few points. Bayoumi accused the United States and Britain of using depleted uranium in their strikes against Iraq which, he said, is responsible for the spread of cancer and deformation of children in Iraq. Bayoumi showed the audience photos of deformed Iraqi children. Then he said angrily before he left: "The American administration and Israel are the real enemies of the Egyptian people."
Mohamed Abdellah, head of the People's Assembly Foreign Policy Committee, said that while he believes that "Saddam Hussein is a catastrophe for the Arab peoples and to their interests, his regime will inevitably end, but what will remain is the Iraqi people who are part of the Arab nation and we cannot but sympathise with them."
Hala Mustafa of the Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies said that post-Cold War American policy lacks clear vision, "as manifested by what it did in Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq."
Kurtzer responded to the speakers' criticism by criticising them for not coming up with alternatives for dealing with, and containing, Saddam and by defending his country's policies as serving American national interests.
"I'm proud that my country does pursue its national interests, that's what we are supposed to do. And I hope that you'll understand, even if you don't agree, that we think we are doing what actually might be good for the people in the region," he said.
On the American strikes against Afghanistan and Sudan last August following the bombing of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, Kurtzer said: "We don't apologise for it and we will try to act against terrorists whenever they act against us."
Nafa'a does not regret participating in the seminar. "It was important, and I think the ambassador got the message that all Egyptians, regardless of their political inclinations, reject and condemn American policies which violate international legality. I think that the ambassador's answers were very weak," Nafa'a told the Weekly.
