29 March - 4 April 2001
Issue No.527
|
Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 29 March - 4 April 2001 Issue No.527 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
'Something like a war zone'
Brusque-mannered, heavily armed soldiers, checkpoints every 50m on main roads, tanks around the hotels where Arab leaders and ministers were staying, and a panoply of other security measures greeted those arriving in Amman for the Arab summit.
"This is like being in Bosnia in the early '90s; everywhere you go there is a soldier who seems ready to shoot," commented one correspondent.
A war zone seems a fair enough description of Al-Shmissani neighbourhood, where presidents and foreign ministers are staying. Jordanian authorities forced residents living near the hotel that hosted the heads of states to move out of their homes into furnished apartments or hotels further inside the city. Residents living near the hotels of foreign ministers and other key officials were issued passes a few weeks ago, and have had to use these to leave and return home. They were told plainly that they are not allowed to receive visitors and that they must accommodate the presence of security and army officers on a fairly regular basis.
The entire neighbourhood of Al-Shmissani was cordoned off to privately owned vehicles, taxis and even pedestrians. "I have never seen anything like this," commented one driver. "This is a total curfew. They have even forced the shops, restaurants and pharmacies of Al-Shmissani to close."
Moreover, armed soldiers were deployed inside the hotels where ministers, senior officials and even reporters stayed. Soldiers were stationed before elevators and only hotel guests were allowed up -- after passing through a metal detector and being frisked if that was deemed necessary. Just in case that was insufficient, an armed soldier was posted on every floor.
The harshest security measure, however, was applied by the hotel hosting the heads of states. "They have removed every single chair and table from the lobby and lounges. It is unbelievable: we, as senior officials who have to accompany the minister and the president, could not find a chair to sit on," commented a senior delegate, adding incredulously: "They issued the passes for us to enter the hotel, then decided we did not deserve a few chairs to sit on, even in rotation."
Working conditions for reporters and camera crews were a nightmare, to say the least. "We should have stayed home. What is the point of us coming here if we have to be locked in this little room where we have no access to anyone or anything?" demanded one Jordanian reporter on the second day of the foreign ministers' meeting. "This is terrible. If they wanted us to cover the event based on TV reports, they should simply have said that journalists would not be allowed to attend," she added.
Indeed, for the summit opening on Tuesday morning, reporters were shuttled in buses to a media centre 20 minutes away by car from the hotel that was serving as the venue. Only licensed photographers and camera crews were temporarily allowed in the summit hall. And, in the words of one: "We were working with guns pointed at us."
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page