 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 March 2000 Issue No. 471 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 March 2000 Issue No. 471
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Interview Features Focus Heritage Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Under a microscope
ON THE EVE of his departure to London, yesterday, for a meeting with his publishers, internationally renowned political writer Mohamed Hassanein Heikal gave an exclusive interview to Al-Ahram Weekly in which he outlined his analysis of the current hiatus in the Middle East peace process, emphasising the responsibilities the current conjuncture in the region demands of Egypt."I believe the coming challenge for Egypt is to provide careful and imaginative coverage for the halt in the peace process," says Heikal in the interview. This can be achieved, he believes, by putting President Hosni Mubarak's recent solidarity visit to Lebanon, the reactions it triggered, and the subsequent decision to hold a meeting of the Arab League Council in Beirut, "under a microscope".
See full text of the interview
One voice
CRITICISING Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, French President Jacques Chirac has said that to preserve the country's interests it is vital that the presidency and the government speak with a single voice on foreign policy. He affirmed that France's even-handed policy in the Middle East had not changed.Following Jospin's return from Jerusalem where his calling Lebanon's Hizbullah guerrillas terrorists caused an uproar, Chirac gave his prime minister a dressing-down.
Jospin assured the National Assembly on Tuesday that he agreed the president should have the pre-eminent role in foreign policy. Nonetheless, the premier stood by his comments, insisting his remarks were meant to denounce the escalation of violence aimed at hampering a fragile peace process.
See Region page
Jospin shock
THIRTY of Egypt's most prominent artists and writers signed a statement on Sunday denouncing remarks made by French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin describing the Lebanese resistance to Israeli occupation as "terrorist."The signatories included cinema directors Youssef Chahine and Radwan El-Kashef, plastic artist Hassan Soliman and writers Sonallah Ibrahim, Radwa Ashour, Edward El-Kharat and Bahaa Tahir.
The statement expressed the Egyptian intellectuals' sense of "utter shock" that such remarks had come from the prime minister of France, whose people valiantly resisted the Nazi occupation of their country.
New step
LIBYAN leader Muammar Gaddafi ordered the abolition of the central government yesterday and the transfer of their functions to the provincial cells of the popular congresses.Calling it a new step in "the popular revolution", Ahmed Ibrahim, deputy speaker of the General People's Congress, told the congress at its annual session yesterday that a small secretariat at the central level will handle sovereignty issues such as foreign policy, security and information.
As a result of the devolution, some production and services functions will be transferred to state-controlled companies and others will be abolished.
