3 - 9 May 2001
Issue No.532
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 3 - 9 May 2001 Issue No.532 |
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Sudan summit
PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak will hold talks with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir next week to coordinate bilateral projects and review progress in economic, agricultural and industrial cooperation. Talks will also cover the revival of the Egyptian-Libyan initiative for reconciliation between the Khartoum government and the rebel factions in the south. A civil war has been raging in Sudan since 1983.Cairo and Tripoli launched a peace initiative to bring the warring factions to the negotiating table, an effort parallel to mediation attempts by the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), an organisation of seven East African countries.
The two presidents had agreed to meet in Cairo when they were attending the Arab summit in Amman in March.
Moussa tour
EGYPTIAN Foreign Minister Amr Moussa was in Syria and Saudi Arabia on Monday and Tuesday delivering a report from President Hosni Mubarak to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Saudi Arabian King Fahd on the latest developments in the region.Moussa met with Assad and Fahd, as well as Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah. Moussa also held talks with his counterparts in both countries to update them on Egypt's efforts to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and to discuss other regional issues. (see p.2)
A quiet year
A US STATE Department report released on Monday confirmed that there were no terrorist attacks in Egypt or by Egyptian groups reported in 2000. The report indicated that Egyptian government continued to regard terrorism as its most serious threat, however. Numerous terrorists were tried and convicted in 2000, including 14 members of Egypt's largest militant Islamic group Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiya. Two Egyptian members of Islamic Jihad, convicted in 1999 for planning an attack against the US embassy in August 1998, were executed in February, the report noted. It also said that security forces attacked a terrorist hideout in Aswan in late October, killing two Al-Gama'a members, including the group's leader in charge of armed operations in Qena, Sohag, and Luxor.
According to the report, international counter-terrorism cooperation remained a key foreign policy priority for the Egyptian government throughout the year. In September, at the UN General Assembly millennium summit, Egypt signed the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Financing. One salient event singled out by the report was Cairo's cooperation with US authorities after the bombing in October of the USS Cole in Yemen, conducting a security survey of the Suez Canal and recommending measures to protect ships from possible terrorist attacks in the canal. Egypt also played an important role in sharing its expertise at the Central Asian counter-terrorism conference sponsored by the US State Department in Washington last June.
In 2000, Egyptian security forces and government agencies continued to place a high priority on protecting US citizens and facilities in Egypt from terrorist attacks, the report said. The government increased security for the US embassy and other official facilities in light of disturbances in Israel and the Palestinian territories and related threats against US interests.
Boosting cooperation
PRIME Minister Atef Ebeid and his Tunisian counterpart Mohamed Ghannouchi signed 10 cooperation agreements when the Supreme Joint Egyptian-Tunisian Committee met in Tunis last week. The accords aim to encourage bilateral economic cooperation in various fields.
In 1998, Egypt and Tunisia signed a free-trade deal to gradually liberalise trade before the year 2007. The two countries want to boost the volume of annual trade from $102 million in 2000 to $300 million.
During his two-day visit, Ebeid conveyed a message from President Hosni Mubarak to President Zine Al-Abidine Ben Ali on plans for an Arab economic summit in Cairo in November.
New US ambassador
DAVID Welch will replace Daniel Kurtzer as US ambassador to Egypt, American President George W Bush announced in Austin, Texas, last Friday.
A career foreign service officer, Welch has served as assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Organisation Affairs since 1998 and has held a variety of other posts in Washington and abroad.
Press Syndicate in action
THE PRESS Syndicate's investigative committee will question Maher Mahran, editor-in-chief of Al-Nabaa, in connection with the independent weekly newspaper's dismissal of eight journalists in violation of required procedures. The reporters told the Press Syndicate that Mahran encourages journalists to blackmail their sources in order to win advertisements for the newspaper. Those disobeying his orders are threatened with dismissal, the journalists said.
In another development, the Syndicate's council sent a letter to Wafd Party chairman Noaman Gomaa, urging him to reconsider his decision to expel MP Ayman Nour from the staff of the party's newspaper. Gomaa had dismissed Nour from the party on the grounds that he sowed chaos in party ranks.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Abu-Lu'ayya, a journalist with the suspended Islamist newspaper Al-Shaab, was sentenced to one month in prison and fined LE7,500 for libelling Press Syndicate chairman Ibrahim Nafie and secretary-general Yehia Qallash.
Abu Lu'ayya had distributed leaflets to newspapers and syndicate members condemning the syndicate's organisation of a concert by Lebanese singer Magda Al-Roumi last year.
A lonely mummy
BAHARIYA Oasis has produced yet another mummy which may solve the mystery of two decapitated mummies discovered three weeks ago, reports Nevine El-Aref.
During the final days of the excavation season, Egyptian archaeologists unexpectedly unearthed a well-preserved mummy near the tomb of the headless mummies.
Zahi Hawass, director general of the Giza Plateau and Bahariya Oasis, said that the newly discovered mummy is that of a 30-year-old man wrapped in linen with partly deteriorated teeth. A few golden fragments were found on parts of the body.
Restored and wrapped, the mummy will remain in situ until the next digging season. Studies will be carried out to know more about its identity and why it was buried outside the family tomb.
Saving the cinema
THE CABINET approved in principle, at a meeting on Sunday, a draft law for preserving Egypt's cinematic heritage. The bill has been sent to the State Council and parliament's Legal Affairs Committee for further study. The draft law, submitted by the Ministry of Culture, provides for the establishment of a national archive where all Egyptian films will be collected.
There will also be a national centre possessing a copy of the negatives of all Egyptian films produced since the inception of the cinema industry in the early 20th century. The centre will have the sole right to use the films locally and abroad for all purposes related to cultural events, education and festivals. Commercial use will be prohibited. In addition, the centre will ensure that films will not be screened without the scriptwriter's permission for 50 years. The draft law includes provisions for the renovation of damaged films.
San Giovanni down
ONE OF the oldest hotels in Alexandria, the San Giovanni, will be demolished soon. Mohamed Ibrahim Suleiman, minister of housing, utilities and urban communities made the decision last Thursday in order to make way for an LE340 million corniche-expansion project.
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