Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 5 - 11 October 2000 Issue No. 502
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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First stop -- Egypt

LIBYAN leader Muammar Gaddafi arrived in Egypt for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on Monday on the first leg of an Arab tour that will also take him to Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Topping the agenda was the outbreak of violence in the Palestinian Territories, as well as Mubarak's call for an Arab summit aimed at forging a unified Arab position. Also under discussion were facets of African-European cooperation and an array of developmental projects, particularly those intended to promote development in Upper Egypt.

Vow of silence

SOCIOLOGY professor and prominent NGO figure Saadeddin Ibrahim is to refrain from engaging in public activities so he can put all his efforts into defending himself at his forthcoming trial. He made the announcement at a news conference held at his home in the southern Cairo suburb of Maadi last Monday, reports Jailan Halawi.

Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel-Wahid last week decided to refer Ibrahim, director of the Ibn Khaldun Centre for Developmental Studies, and 27 of his aides to trial before a State Security Court. He is charged with receiving foreign funding without government authorisation with the intention of tarnishing Egypt's reputation abroad.

"We fully intend to prove our innocence of all charges, and to clear our name and that of the Ibn Khaldun Centre following the unprecedented campaign of defamation by the local press. To that end, we are freezing our public activities, including the monitoring of parliamentary elections and making statements to the press and media," Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim's decision to suspend his public activities may, he said, "partially fulfil the objectives of the authorities," but he added: "Given my history of advocacy and struggle for principles, I don't think I will give up. I may change my style, I may alter my way of doing things, but my commitment will remain as strong as ever."

Ibrahim's freeze on his public activities is in large part due to his lawyer's decision last week to withdraw from the case, a move which left a great deal of work to be done before the trial begins.

Farid El-Dib, the former head of Ibrahim's defence team, stated that he had decided to resign because his client was politicising the case. "I did a great deal in order to gain the sympathy of President Hosni Mubarak to secure his release and he is now deciding to fight the state," El-Dib said. "This is not wise." Ibrahim, however, insists that the charges levelled against him are politically motivated. He faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Bureaucracy online

THE INTERNET has made life easier for those who have access; today you can obtain information, shop and book vacations at the push of a few buttons on your keyboard. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has plans to take the convenience a couple of steps further. The plan is to set up a Web site via which citizens can obtain and process government papers. Sometime in the near future, the long hours lost in the corridors of one government office or another will become a nightmare of the past.

The first stage of this technological/bureaucratic revolution will begin in a few days to provide 60,000 government employees with the necessary training. The second stage involves compiling information about citizens on a data base -- an operation several ministries have already completed. The third stage involves generalising the national number card, a new ID similar to the American social security number, and finally citizens will be provided with training in the use of the Internet. To facilitate the aforementioned task, Ahmed Nazif, minister of communications and information technology, announced that Internet prices are expected to drop by 50 per cent. He said that he expects the private sector to play a role in making this modern technology available to the average Egyptian at affordable prices.

When all these efforts will bear fruit is as of yet unclear; however, the address of the future is: www.government-on-line.gov

Hanging up

TELECOMMUNICATIONS are on their way to being privatised and already a new array of telephone facilities are being advertised, fueling the ardor of those who argue that privatisation equals better service. This week, however, telephone users were astounded by the price tag on this public service. According to samples reported in the local press, people accustomed to paying LE50 every six months were confronted with LE300 bills, those averaging LE160 were required to pay LE1,000.

After tears, fights and a general sense of panic, many people registered formal complaints which will be investigated by Telecom Egypt. However, one of the culprits behind inflated phone bills has already been identified as the overzealous use of the Internet. Another are calls made from home phones to mobile telephones, with a minute costing 50 piastres.

Compiled by Fatemah Farag

 

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