 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 August 2000 Issue No. 496
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Truth sought
PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak said yesterday it was unlikely that the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 was caused by a suicidal co-pilot, reports Nevine Khalil. "I cannot imagine it was suicide," Mubarak told a gathering of some 1,500 university students attending summer camp in Alexandria. "If there was an iota of truth to this theory, the captain and the other crew members would have stopped him [the co-pilot]."Mubarak said that according to taped recordings in the cockpit there was no evidence of resistance. "The truth of what happened is in the hands of the American investigators," he noted, stressing that final conclusions must be based on "scientific and material evidence, not Qur'anic verses which were misinterpreted."
The plane crashed off the eastern coast of the United States on 31 October.
Although investigations by US officials were not complete, "from my experience I would say that there was a mechanical fault in the elevators of the tail group," noted the president, who was air force commander during the 1973 Middle East war.
At the 90-minute rally, the president addressed a number of domestic and foreign policy issues. He announced that the upcoming parliamentary elections, which will be held under full judicial supervision and conducted in three stages, will cost between LE90 million and LE100 million. "We respect the constitution and law," said Mubarak. "Therefore, we amended electoral laws to ensure judicial supervision of polling stations."
"The important thing is that this change brings about reform and eligible voters use their right to choose their representatives. That is the only safety valve," the president said.
On other domestic issues, Mubarak said that the government repaid LE8 billion of its domestic debts over the past two months in order to ease the liquidity problem which has plagued the economy.
He explained that recession on the market was caused by an increase of production and imports. "Import figures are rising annually and businesses mushroom without thorough studies of market needs," said Mubarak.
Import figures for the year 2000 up to now stand at LE54 billion.
