Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 26 Oct. - 1 Nov. 2000 Issue No. 505
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Right man for the job

GRAND Mufti Nasr Farid Wassel affirmed this week that there is nothing in Islam prohibiting a Christian from nominating himself in parliamentary elections. The mufti added there are no religious reservations about a Muslim giving his vote to a Coptic candidate.

Wassel said the right man for parliament was one who is sincere, can provide services to his constituency and will work for the public's interest.

Exchange of views

AS THE Grand Mufti outlined the criteria for choice in the ongoing parliamentary elections, supporters of rival factions were violently expressing their points of view on the ground.

In a bout of electoral violence on Monday, a victory march in the oasis town of Fayoum, celebrating the triumph of NDP candidate Mustafa El-Kholi, was attacked by an independent rival's supporters who fired at the procession. Eleven people were hospitalised as a result of the fray.

Two weeks earlier, eight election campaign activists were shot in the town of Toukh, north of Cairo, in clashes between rival independent candidates. And in the northern town of Kafr Al-Sheikh, supporters of rival candidates hurled stones at one another, injuring 15 people.

So far, however, the scope of the violence appears to be limited compared to the 1995 parliamentary elections in which 60 people were killed and over 400 were wounded.

Bigots with sticks

WHILE the mufti was conveying a message of unity and cooperation between Muslims and Christians, three people were wounded while renovating a church in Upper Egypt.

In Samallout, a wall in the Church of Mar Girgis needed repairs. Nothing much, but the restoration work ruffled the feathers of some town residents so much that a fight broke out, sticks were used and three people landed in hospital. Security sources would not disclose the faiths of those hospitalised.

Health and captivity

WHAT happens when you cannot pay a hospital bill? The hospital locks you in and holds you in hock until someone pays up. This is the answer supplied by the story of 17-year-old Hashem who had the misfortune of falling off the roof of his apartment building. He was watching a televised football match with his family and the picture was a bit hazy, so up Hashem goes to adjust the antenna, loses his balance and falls. For two weeks his life hung in the balance before he recovered.

On the day of his release the hospital management dished up a LE16,000 bill and when the family said they couldn't possibly pay, Hashem was put under lock and key -- with tight security for good measure.

The boy is still locked away in Room 318 at a Manshiyet Al-Bakri hospital waiting for the Ministry of Health to lend a helping hand.

Crises defined

A RECENT study released by the Crisis Management Centre at Ain Shams University documented that there were 718 "crises" in 1999 which killed 1,177 people and injured 6,260. The definition of "crisis" covers 12 categories: traffic, fire, public services, poisoning, violence, falling buildings, explosions, national and environmental disasters, health, naval and airplane accidents.

The report said traffic accidents were Public Enemy No 1, accounting for 386 "crisis accidents" in 1999 which claimed 814 lives. Still, traffic accidents represented only 1.5 per cent of the total number of accidents in 1999. Those totalled 24,410 and killed 5,367, injuring 22,375.

Time vessels

THE REMAINS of 14 wooden royal boats, believed the oldest in Egypt, were discovered earlier this week in Abydos, a rich archaeological area in the southern governorate of Sohag, reports Nevine El-Aref. The boats, discovered by an American-Egyptian team, were found buried in the sand ensconced inside 29-metre-long, boat-shaped, mud-brick tombs.

"It is a very important discovery which will change our perception of ancient history, " said Gaballa Ali Gaballa, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA). Gaballa said all ancient boats unearthed in the past by other missions excavating in Abydos were ordinary vessels. "This is the first time we find royal boats in the area, proving the pharaohs used Abydos, not only Saqqara and Giza, as a royal cemetery," he said.

So far, only one boat has been unearthed. Dating back to the First Dynasty, or 3000 BC, it is 23 metres long, two metres wide and 75 centimetres high. Made of cedar wood bars imported from Lebanon and fixed together by fine rope, the vessel resembles Khufu's royal boats in Giza and King Senusert III's boat at Dahshur. "This means that royal boats date back to the First Dynasty, not the Fourth, as was previously believed," Gaballa added.

Cloudy days

TO PRE-EMPT the return of the "black cloud" over Cairo skies, stringent measures are being taken in advance, reports Mahmoud Bakr.

The Minister of State for Environmental Affairs Nadia Makram Ebeid told reporters that in the next two months harsh measures will be taken against those "who contribute to the deterioration of air quality." The Nile Delta governorates of Sharqiya, Daqahliya and Gharbiya will be placed under close scrutiny because all three cultivate rice. The burning of rice straw was blamed by the ministry for last year's black cloud.

To prevent its recurrence, an "early warning system" has been in place since 11 September.

Compiled by Fatemah Farag

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