Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 March 2001 Issue No.526
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Washington agenda
IN PREPARATION for his 2 April visit to the US, President Hosni Mubarak held a meeting with his top aides on Monday to discuss his agenda in Washington. The outcome of the Arab summit, the peace process, the Iraqi problem and bilateral relations between Egypt and the US will be the main items of discussion.
Cairo will sound out the new Republican administration's views regarding the Middle East and its future policy in the region. George W Bush's administration has already indicated that economic ties with Egypt will be restructured, and such frameworks as the US-Egyptian Partnership and its apparatus will be replaced.
"It will take some time for us to reach an understanding on this," Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told reporters after the meeting. "We will present our perspective and listen to their ideas." Moussa added that the process of reaching "a formula and understanding" could take some time.
Denying conflicting reports that a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries would be finalised during the president's visit, Moussa said the issue was not on the table. He said the visit would be an occasion for the two sides to explore the possibility of a trade agreement.
Released!
FOURTEEN people who stand accused of taking unvalidated bank loans have been released by the order of the Higher State Security Court. The accused -- who include five deputies of the People's Assembly -- have been released on bail of LE20,000 each after being remanded in custody for the past 20 months.
A committee comprising the Faysal, Al-Muhandis, Suez Canal, Al-Nil and Al-Masri Al-Mutahid banks will come into being on 1 April with the mandate of reviewing the financial transactions of all 14. The committee is required to present its findings to the court on 5 May.
Obedient polling
THOSE expecting change from Saturday's Al-Maglis Al-Melli, or Coptic Community Council, elections were disappointed to find that 15 of the council's 24 members were re-elected, promising more of the same for the next five years, reports Nadia Abou El-Magd. Of the 45 candidates, three were women, and only one made it onto the new council.
Saturday's vote saw the triumph of candidates favoured by Pope Shenouda III, head of the Coptic Church and the Al-Melli Council. Outgoing council deputy and Shura Council member Tharwat Bassili, who was on the list supported by the pope, was re-elected and stressed the importance of the pope's backing. "It does not make sense to enter into public service if you lack the blessing of your spiritual leaders," Bassili told Al-Ahram Weekly. Like many of his colleagues on the new council, Bassili has downplayed the political role played by the council, saying that "Copts who want to play a political role should do so in parliament; the council is not a Coptic parliament."
At the five polling stations, the pope's lists were widely distributed, along with leaflets warning voters against other candidates and urging them to "isolate the malicious" among them. One leaflet accused candidates with a political edge of being "desperate for fame" and dismissed them as doing nothing but "screaming and opposing all the time." One candidate under such attack was attorney Mamdouh Nakhla, director of the World Centre for Human Rights, who failed for the second time to gain a seat on the council. Nakhla has been an outspoken critic of council regulations and still has five lawsuits pending. He adamantly believes the council should have a larger political role. "Saturday's elections took place under purely religious circumstances; the clergy blessed those who voted for their nominees and scared those who did not," Nakhla told the Weekly.
Kamal Zakher Moussa, an expert on Coptic affairs, said that none of the candidates he voted for won, but he wasn't surprised. "Many leaflets called for obedience," he said. "What do elections have to do with obedience?"
One tourist wounded ...
TAKING advantage of Saturday's sunny weather, Yoko Irvin, a 37-year-old Japanese woman living in Egypt, and her British husband were on a family trip to the Pyramids when disaster struck. A botched robbery beside the 4,500-year-old Khafre Pyramid left Irvin bleeding from stab wounds. Her assailant, identified as Mohamed Shehata, a barber, stabbed her with a pocket knife in the abdomen and once in the back, the Interior Ministry said. Shehata fled the crime scene, setting off firecrackers to cause confusion. A police officer in pursuit was also stabbed and slightly wounded. The apparent aim of the crime: the woman's camera.
Sources at the Maadi hospital, where Irvin is being treated said that she was recovering nicely. But Shehata, who is in critical condition after being shot by the police, has not fared as well. If he survives, only more trouble awaits, as his case has already been referred to the High State Security Court. Security was tightened at the Pyramids and outside the capital, but tourism officials have dismissed suggestions that the attack, coming less than a week after the kidnapping and release of four German hostages, would affect tourism.
... And four released
FOUR German hostages kidnapped in Luxor by a tourist guide caught up in a child custody battle with his estranged German wife were released early on Thursday. Egyptian security forces seized Ali El-Sayed Moussa while leaving his apartment, apparently to surrender. The hostages were found inside the apartment bound in plastic. The four men arrived in Frankfurt airport on Friday in good health.
Christopher Paning, one of the hostages, told the press that during the four-day ordeal, they sometimes were allowed to walk around freely and they even considered escaping, but decided against it later on. The men had agreed to go to Moussa's home to have an Egyptian meal cooked by his daughter, but after eating, Paning said, he blacked out and woke up tied to a bed with the other men.
Moussa has been fighting a battle to regain custody of his two sons, aged seven and three, after his wife took them to Germany with her a year and a half ago. His desperation led him to the stunt, but it is unclear whether Moussa will ever be given the right to see his sons again. He is currently being held in custody for 15 days pending trial.
Mit Halfa sentences
BRINGING an end to the unusual case of the "radioactive cylinder" trial, one- to seven-year sentences were handed down for five of the eight defendants involved in the affair. Two others were fined LE200 each and one suspect was acquitted.
The story drew a great deal of attention last year when it was revealed that a radioactive object had made its way to the village of Mit Halfa. A farmer found the unassuming rod and, thinking it might be precious, stored it in his house. The man and his son eventually died of radioactive poisoning in June.
The harshest sentence -- seven years with hard labour -- went to Selim Sayed Ahmed, who owns the welding company from which the object strayed. He was accused of failing to inform the authorities that the dangerous object had been lost. The Atomic Energy Authority believes that the cylinder, imported from the US and containing Iridium 192, was illegally dumped to avoid paying the high cost of radioactive waste disposal.
Compiled by Fatemah Farag

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