 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 31 August - 6 September 2000 Issue No. 497 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 31 August - 6 September 2000 Issue No. 497
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
||
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Briefs
No ransom
IN HIS first ever appearance before the foreign press, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Seif Al-Islam, promised on Tuesday to publish the secret details of the negotiations to release Western hostages held by Muslim rebels in the Philippines.The move is an effort to refute allegations that Libya paid a ransom for their freedom. He denied that the charitable organisation he heads had paid a single cent as ransom and said the astronomical sums reported existed only in the minds of those who had invented them.
At an elaborate ceremony in Tripoli on Tuesday, six Western hostages were handed over to representatives of their governments who had travelled to the Libyan capital. The Libyan chief negotiator said he will pursue his efforts to free the remaining seven hostages.
Campus anger
IRAN's mainstream reformers scrambled yesterday to head off rising anger on university campuses following five days of vigilante violence against students.Pro-reform MPs from the Islamic Iran Participation Front, led by the brother of Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, denounced attacks by hard-line gangs, backed by elements of the security forces, on a big gathering in the western city of Khorramabad, but they also warned students to remain calm. (see p. 7)
No spying
THE HEAD of the new UN weapons inspection agency ruled out any attempt by his experts to spy on Iraq if they were allowed into the country.Blix, a former Swedish Foreign minister and ex-chief of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, now heads the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC).
Electronic surveillance methods, says Blix, will not be used to eavesdrop on Iraqi military communication as the previous body (UNSCOM) was accused of doing by Iraq.
