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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 April 2000 Issue No. 478
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Heritage Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Out of the gridlock
MOST of those who daily brave the capital's streets would agree that no amount of money is too much to spend to ease the problem of the city's traffic jams. Prime Minister Atef Ebeid himself apparently subscribes to this view, having earmarked LE270 million to be used for the sole purpose of getting the traffic to flow in downtown Cairo, the Opera and Ataba squares, and the Gamiliya in Islamic Cairo.According to Transport Minister Ibrahim El Demieri, a programme of action to implement new traffic strategies will be initiated immediately in coordination with the Cairo Governorate. The programme's completion will coincide with the inauguration of the Al-Azhar Tunnel planned for the end of the year.
Orascom gets InTouch
SHAREHOLDERS of 60 per cent of InTouch Communications Services, Egypt's largest Internet Service Provider, agreed to sell the majority of their shares to Orascom Telecom (OT), as Amira Howeidy found out.OT, which already owned 40 per cent of InTouch, now controls approximately 99.99 per cent of the company's shares. InTouch's top executives, Mohamed El-Nawawi, chairman and managing director, Emad El-Azhari, vice-chairman and director of engineering and Akram Farag, board member, have submitted their resignations to the new ownership. Naguib Sawiris, chairman of OT, is expected to form a new board and appoint new chief executives.
Upstream water rescue
OVER 90 per cent of the rain water which feeds the River Nile is lost to evapotranspiration -- the consumption of aquatic plants. In order to combat these plants' debilitating effects, a delegation from the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources visited Uganda to set the timetable for a joint project funded by an Egyptian government grant.According to Abdel-Fattah Metaweh, head of the delegation which returned from Uganda this week, the value of the grant is $13.9 million to be divided between machinery and technical assistance, targeting water hyacinths that are smothering Lakes Victoria and Kyoga, covering a total area of six square kilometres.
Women stick to their guns..
. HEARINGS of the first of 17 divorce cases initiated by women on the basis of the new legislation of khul' (approved by parliament in March and giving women the right to divorce if they give up all their financial rights) took place at the Cairo Court for Personal Status on 15 April.According to the Arabic-language press, the presiding judge made a great effort in explaining the dire consequences of divorce, and yet all the wives insisted on going through with their demand.
...But one bails out
IN TANTA, however, two "referees" appointed by the court succeeded in bringing Wafaa Gabr, the first woman to file for khul',' and her husband El-Sayed El-Mahdi back together. Wafaa wanted a divorce on grounds of assault and battery as well as unwillingness to discharge his financial obligations. El-Mahdi promised that from now on he will treat Wafaa well as well as provide a separate apartment for her, away from his second wife.Unofficially in Britain
BRITISH immigration authorities have denied EgyptAir pilot Hamdi Hanafi Taha official permission to enter Britain -- although he is already there -- but his request for political asylum remains under consideration, reports Amer Sultan from London. The authorities declined to give the reasons for their decision but Mark Williams, official spokesman for the British Immigration, Nationality and Asylum service explained to Al-Ahram Weekly that "refusal of entrance leave does not override the asylum application."
Taha
According to British law, Taha will have until 10 July to appeal against this decision. However, irrespective of whether or not Taha decides to appeal and of the refusal to grant him official entry to Britain, he has the right to stay in Britain until a decision is taken on his asylum request.
Taha had requested political asylum following his arrival at Heathrow Airport on 5 February. According to Sabah Mokhtar, a British lawyer of Iraqi origin specialised in cases of immigration and asylum, the legal procedure in such cases is usually long and tortuous.
Amgad Salfiti, a civil rights lawyer of Palestinian origin, expressed the opinion that the denial of the entry visa could affect the final outcome of the asylum application. Salfiti reasons that the refusal was probably based on either Taha providing British authorities with incorrect facts or misusing his crew visa to enter Britain. If this is the case, suspicions will be thrown on the credibility of the information on which he based his request for political asylum.
Despite Taha's request for an entry visa being turned down, Taha continues to reside at an unknown address in London. Home Office sources confirmed to theWeekly that he is not in detention.
You will not riot
77 PEOPLE were referred to the State Security Court on charges of rioting, attacking police officers and burning cars after a fatal traffic accident last month.On 5 March, 5,000 people rioted in the village of Miet Nema, situated 20 kilometres north of the capital, after a young woman met her death when hit by a truck while crossing the highway on her way to school. Ten people suffered bullet wounds inflicted by the police when the latter opened fire on the rioters, while another 50 people, including policemen, were hospitalised with lesser injuries. Rioters complained that the death of the student was only the latest in a string of fatal accidents which happened because the government failed to build a pedestrian bridge over the highway to serve the village.
Sentences handed down by the State Security Court cannot be appealed and if convicted, the accused could face a maximum sentence of hard labour for life.
The week in crime..
AN OVER-ACTIVE IMAGINATION and a grim existence prompted 21-year-old Sayed Abdallah to attempt a bank raid last week 'armed' with a few cigars and a TV remote control.Abdallah's life-story is commonplace. A college student from an impoverished family, he worked as a child at a workshop where the owner used to beat him with a hammer. When his father had a leg amputated, his uncle made him carry the limb to a man who dealt in human parts. Abdallah's life has been a protracted struggle to survive. One day he saw a foreign film featuring a couple robbing a bank. A few days later he walked into the Giza branch of Banque Misr in his hole-ridden shoes and attempted a stick-up, US gangster style, whereupon he was arrested on the spot.
A CONSPICUOUS LACK OF IMAGINATION, however, is the only possible excuse for a 49-year-old doctor in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, who never suspected that the 'woman' practically living with him and his wife was not only a man but also happened to be his wife's lover!
It all started over two years ago, when the good doctor's young wife sought her husband's permission to allow a fully veiled friend of hers, who allegedly had problems with her family, to live with them. After giving his consent, life moved along smoothly until last week when, upon feeling tired, the doctor decided to return home early, only to discover that the woman was a 33-year-old man and the lover of his wife.
A YOUNG WOMAN IN ASSIUT decided to take deadly action against a man who habitually harassed her at the local bus station.
Magda Mohamed pulled a pistol out of her hand-bag on the morning of 13 March and shot her tormenting neighbour, Esmat Ahmed, in public.
After committing the crime, Magda quietly walked to the nearest police patrol car and gave herself up. She explained that Ahmed had habitually harassed her despite the fact that she had made clear her lack of interest in him.
Unwilling to take 'no' for an answer, Ahmed acquired pictures of the young woman with her friends and started blackmailing her. Matters reached a climax when, one week before the murder, he stopped her on the street and attempted to touch her. This caused her to buy a gun from another neighbour which she used to kill her tormentor few days later.
Compiled by Fatemah Farag
