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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 10 - 16 August 2000 Issue No. 494
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons It takes two to tango
DURING talks last Thursday in Alexandria, President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak agreed that the peace process should not be allowed to end in failure. Mubarak also pressed on Barak Cairo's firm position that sovereignty over Jerusalem cannot be conceded to the Israelis alone.The meeting was part of ongoing consultations between Cairo and Middle East protagonists to jump-start the stalled peace process. A day earlier, Mubarak was speaking with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat -- who was expected again in Egypt yesterday -- on the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli track of negotiations.
Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said that the "agreement should take into consideration the interests of all parties equally," adding that there must be "flexibility and progress" soon. "It is not our job to encourage one side to pay a higher price than the other, but rather to help the two parties reach a balanced [agreement]," he noted.
With Barak, Mubarak discussed the possibilities of where to go from here. "All issues were on the table," said Moussa, although no date was set for re-launching talks following the failure of the 14-day marathon negotiations at Camp David.
Furious, beyond a doubt
THE GOVERNMENT'S decision to postpone setting a date for delayed Bar Association elections has prompted lawyers to threaten counter-action, reportsMona El-Nahhas. Hundreds of lawyers had gathered at the High Court of Justice Tuesday morning, waiting for the decision by Counsellor Wahid Mahmoud, head of the interim committee in charge of running the association's affairs, that would determine the election date. Yet for all their waiting, lawyers were to be gravely disappointed when they were notified in the early afternoon that no decision would be taken before two days, at the earliest.Some observers predict 2 September as the date for Bar Association elections, a day before the military court is expected to hand down sentences against 20 leading members of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Three of those on trial were among the Brotherhood's candidates in the last elections.
According to Mahmoud, the process of preparing polling stations and printing new voting cards requires time. In reaction, lawyers decided to prolong a sit-in strike, which they started on 4 July at the association's headquarters. They will also stage a hunger strike. Lawyers vented their anger in a half-hour session of shouting anti-government slogans, accusing the government of deliberately delaying elections.
At a news conference last Saturday, Counsellor Mahfouz Shuman, head of the judicial committee in charge of supervising the elections of professional syndicates, promised that elections would take place immediately after the interim committee made all the necessary preparations.
Shuman also asserted that elections would be held at the headquarters of the general and branch syndicates and not at social clubs and companies, putting an end to a long legal dispute between the government and lawyers about the location of polling stations. Shuman's decision, which was based on a previous ruling passed by the Administrative Court, was met by approval from all lawyers.
Entr'acte
IN ANOTHER postponement, the trial of 96 people charged in the massacre of 20 Christians and one Muslim on 2 January in the upper Egyptian village of Al-Kosheh, was adjourned until 3 October. The decision, taken by the Sohag Criminal Court, specified that all the defendants will remain behind bars.Thirty-eight of the defendants, all of them Muslim, face execution if convicted on charges of premeditated murder. The others, 33 of whom are Christian, are being tried on charges of attempted murder, armed robbery, destruction of public property, illegal assembly and illegal possession of weapons.
The first spark of violence in Al-Kosheh began on 31 December following a quarrel between a Christian merchant and a Muslim customer over a piece of cloth. The tension spiraled into full-scale rioting and gunfire.
Rights out of funds
THE EGYPTIAN Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) announced on Monday that its board of trustees had decided to stop receiving foreign funding. The 15-year-old organisation also said it will shut down its branches across the nation and will confine itself to its Cairo headquarters. Moreover, in a hint that it will lay off staff as a result of its financial crisis, the statement thanked those "who said they're willing to do voluntary work" for the organisation.The decision came one week after the Social Affairs Ministry refused to grant the EOHR a license to operate legally in the country despite earlier official promises. The organisation has been fighting a legal battle since 1990 to register as an NGO under law 32 for 1962. It applied for another licence last May under a new law, 153 of 1999, and submitted the papers necessary for registration.
According to Law 153, the Social Affairs Ministry must respond within 60 days from the date it received the papers or else the application would be considered accepted. When they received no response, the EOHR considered itself registered, especially after Social Affairs Ministry officials promised them a licence two weeks ago and even provided the organisation with its registration number. But it received a severe blow when the ministry refrained from granting the EOHR a licence "at the request of the security authorities."
In search of truth
SENIOR Egyptian officials will attend, on Friday in Washington, the announcement of an initial report by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on the preliminary results of the investigation into last year's EgyptAir crash that killed 217 people.Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Ibrahim Demiri told reporters that the initial report will "not include an analysis of the causes of the incident." Demiri, who is heading the Egyptian delegation that left for Washington on Tuesday, added: "We hope the report will be in our favour and reveal the facts that will refute any false accusations against Egypt's loyal pilots."
Some US investigators have announced they suspected relief co-pilot Gamil El-Batouti to have initiated the 10,000 metre plunge into the ocean that killed all people on board. The NTSB had been ready to hand over the probe to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a criminal case shortly after the crash, but Egypt protested.
Earlier this month, the Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority sent a letter to US investigators asking them to examine possible problems in the controls of the Boeing 767 aircraft, while relatives of crew members killed in the incident sued Boeing and other companies on the grounds that flaws in the aircraft brought the plane down.
Demiri pointed out that Egypt wanted to be present at the announcement of the report by the investigation team and was "determined to uphold the rights of Egypt and the Egyptian victims" of the disaster.
Please hold...
IF YOU are a local or a foreigner living inside or outside Egypt, you can now have your most pressing administrative/security questions answered via telephone. Yes, just dial 128 and a welcoming voice will direct you to one of five departments: Criminal Evidence, Traffic Administration, the Personal Status Authority, the Work Permit Administration and/or the Passport Authority. This is the Ministry of the Interior of the new millennium, using advanced technology to offer user-friendly service and save people time and effort.The service was launched last week. Although you will eventually have to make a trip in person to one authority or another, you can cut out the nasty suprises by finding out in advance what papers you need to be armed with.
It's a zoo out there
WE HAVE blamed road accidents on everybody and everything -- drivers, faulty roads and inadequate legislation. But two donkeys and a dog? Yes, this week's tragic accidents were the fault of the otherwise cute creatures.The first mishap occurred on the Cairo-Alexandria desert road when a donkey decided to cross the highway, its attention obviously caught by the lawn in the middle of the road. The lush grass could serve as a hearty meal. But the donkey was in the way of a speeding bus. The driver crashed his foot against the brakes, but too late. The bus hit the poor animal and overturned, killing two passengers and seriously injuring nine others.
Further south, along the road that leads from Cairo to Upper Egypt, and near Giza, a taxi turned over several times, because the driver attempted to evade a donkey that suddenly appeared before him. Nine passengers are being treated for serious wounds. In this case, however, the offending animal was last seen making a speedy get- away from the scene of the crime across the fields.
Finally, Ahmed Hafez was driving his wife and three children for a visit to the family in Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, when a dog suddenly crossed his way. He tried to evade the poor animal only to bring calamity onto himself and his family, all of whom are now in the hospital.
Compiled by Fatemah Farag
