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		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 12 - 18 July 2001 Issue No.542
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Secure peace
SECURING peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) dominated discussions among African leaders on the last day of the African Unity Summit in Zambia. UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan held talks on Tuesday with various leaders of the DRC's neighbouring countries and pressed Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to persuade Ugandan-backed rebels to pull back from a front line in central Congo, as required by the cease-fire agreement signed in Lusaka in 1999.
Former Botswana President Ketumile Masire called for an urgent summit of countries involved in the DRC conflict to agree on a schedule to pull their armies. Masire was mandated by regional leaders to facilitate an internal dialogue among Congolese parties and rebel groups. The Lusaka African summit was due to announce plans for a transition to the African Union, AFP reported. (see What's in a name?)
Sharon's itch
ISRAELI Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for the expansion of Jewish settlements on the Golan Heights during a visit on Tuesday to the occupied strategic plateau. Sharon insisted that only through expanding the Jewish population can Israel "turn the settlements in Golan into a reality that cannot be reversed."
Talking to the residents, Sharon said he was not opposed to an unconditional renewal of peace talks. Syria has traditionally demanded that negotiations be renewed at the point where they ended. Israel is under mounting international pressure to freeze construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Palestinians have been waging an uprising since last September after peace negotiations stalled.
Sharon is expected in Italy today for a one-day official visit and will hold talks on the peace process with Italian President Silvio Berlusconi.
Key player
GERMAN Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder says he wants a common-sense partnership with Syria in spite of some differences with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.
In remarks following their first meeting, Schroeder said that Syria was, without doubt, one of the key players in the Middle East and urged President Assad to do all within his power to achieve peace in the region. President Assad flatly refused to answer a question in a joint news conference with Schroeder after learning that one of the journalists was Israeli.
Assad denied accusations that he was "anti-Semitic", and demanded the implementation of past United Nations resolutions as key to peace in the Middle East.
President Assad arrived in Germany yesterday at the start of a two-day visit accompanied by several ministers and a large business delegation, Reuters reported.
Iraqi rights
TWO months after the US lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) council in an internal vote among members, Iraq announced on Tuesday that it was prepared to hold a "constructive dialogue" with the world's largest human rights body. The official Iraqi News agency quoted an unnamed Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that Iraq would endeavour to entrench the principles of human rights on all levels, despite the difficult economic and political situation the country still faced.

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