 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 9 - 15 March 2000 Issue No. 472
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
| ||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Focus Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Peace shuttle
PALESTINIAN President Yasser Arafat came to Cairo for the second time in one week to consult with President Hosni Mubarak on the stalemate in the peace talks with the Israelis. Mubarak and Arafat met at the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al-Sheikh on Monday. The meeting was followed by a long-distance telephone call from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to Mubarak, focusing on the Palestinian track of the peace process.Arafat told reporters that his talks with Mubarak dealt with ways of "keeping the peace process alive despite the obstacles it is facing". He said that current Egyptian-Jordanian, American and European efforts aim at jump-starting the process after negotiations on the Syrian and Palestinian tracks became bogged down. US special envoy Dennis Ross was back in the region on Tuesday for another round of shuttle diplomacy.
Mubarak's chief political adviser Osama El-Baz visited Israel last week to directly convey objection to Israel's shelling of Lebanon's infrastructure and urge Barak to re-launch the negotiations on all fronts.
Mubarak's surprise visit to Beirut two weeks ago caused an uproar in some Israeli circles, with Foreign Minister David Levy strongly criticising the Egyptian show of support. Last Sunday, however, Mubarak indicated that tensions between Cairo and Tel Aviv have abated. "Some Israelis hastily criticised Egypt, but Barak did not raise [the issue of] my trip to Lebanon," Mubarak told reporters. "[Barak] was realistic in his statements". The president remarked that by visiting one country, "this does not mean I'm against another. We work for peace, and nothing else".
Moussa in Libya
FOREIGN MINISTER Amr Moussa flew to Libya on Monday for a short visit and was received by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for three hours of talks.The Foreign Ministry press office said the talks covered a wide range of issues, including the upcoming summit of Africa and the European Union -- to be held in Cairo on 3-4 April -- in which Gaddafi is expected to take part.
The joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative for peace in Sudan was discussed, with Egypt and Libya hoping to arrange a meeting -- possibly in Cairo -- between Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and his three main opposition leaders by next month at the latest.
Moussa and Libya's top officials reviewed the overall situation in the Arab world, focusing on the upcoming Arab foreign ministers meeting in Beirut and the possibility of organising an Arab summit. In talks with his new Libyan counterpart, Abdel-Rahman Sholgom, Moussa discussed bilateral relations and trade.
Egypt and Libya have so far failed to restore direct flights between the two countries after the UN lifted its air embargo against Libya nearly a year ago. "The reasons are primarily technical since aviation authorities in both Egypt and Libya have not settled a number of outstanding issues," commented one official. He added, "This should not be seen as a sign of tension in Egyptian-Libyan relations. After all Libya flies direct flights to only three Arab countries: Saudi Arabia, Syria and Jordan."
EgyptAir vindicated?
MORE than four months after EgyptAir flight 990 crashed in the Atlantic on 31 October, what exactly happened and what caused the deep plunge into the ocean remain unknown. Last Friday, US investigators announced they would resume the search for the wreckage. Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said he had asked the US navy to search for the remaining engine and flight control components that have not yet been recovered.The new search is due to start around 18 March and last for 10 days. It will prolong an investigation that has become controversial due to American media reports claiming that a co-pilot committed suicide by deliberately crashing the plane and taking the 217 people on board with him. The reports outraged Egyptians and Hall has denied that any conclusions had been reached. Mohamed Fahim El-Rayyan, EgyptAir chairman, has repeatedly denied the suicide theory.
EgyptAir officials view the resumption of the search as proof that the suicide theory is false.
A blow for Badri
SHEIKH YOUSSEF El-Badri and five Islamist lawyers have good reason to celebrate after the Court of Cassation ordered Rose El-Youssef weekly magazine to pay them financial reparations for defamation. The magazine will have to pay El-Badri and his group LE30,000.The legal battle continued for five years after the lawyers sued the magazine for calling them and their leader, Sheikh El-Badri, "disreputable fanatics" in a 1995 article. The article was published in response to lawsuits filed by the lawyers against cinema entertainers for allegedly using indecent posters and billboards to promote their films.
Wael El-Ibrashi, Rose El-Youssef's assistant chief editor, viewed the Cassation Court's ruling as "a blow to the enlightened trend", but El-Badri considered the ruling "a victory for morals, chastity and justice".
