Al-Ahram Weekly | Region

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 26 July - 1 August 2001 Issue No.544
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

A Criminal's welcome
A REPORT published on Thursday by the US-based Human Rights Watch called on Denmark to reject Israel's nomination of Carmi Gillon, former Chief of Israel's main security service, to be the new Israeli Ambassador in Copenhagen. In a letter to Denmark's Foreign Minister Mogens Lykketoft, Human Rights Watch charged that Gillon had been a high official in Israel's General Security Services at a time when the agency used torture and ill-treatment in its interrogation of thousands of Palestinians.
"Diplomatic service should not be the source of job and travel opportunities for persons responsible for committing or sanctioning torture," said Lotte Leicht, director of the Human Rights Watch office in Brussels. "Welcoming Gillon to Copenhagen will make a mockery of the guidelines on policy towards torture in other countries that the EU adopted in April."
Breaking the ice
A HIGH-LEVEL delegation from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) headed by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al-Nahayan arrived in Iran on Monday on a rare visit in a decade of tension between the two oil-rich countries over three Gulf islands that each country claims as its own. The UAE's official news agency WAM quoted the minister as saying he had "comfortable" talks with Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, although they did not discuss the three disputed islands which are held by Iran but claimed by the UAE -- a key issue clouding relations.
"Our visit was aimed at congratulating President Khatami [on his re-election] and talks did not include the islands. Instead, they concentrated on the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians and the Islamic nation. But there will be more such visits," Sheikh Hamdan said.
Four Yemenis convicted for blast
FOUR Yemenis were convicted on Sunday of bombing the British Embassy last year and sentenced to between four and 15 years in prison.
The Yemeni court said the men planned and carried out the bombing, which shattered windows and damaged a generator at the embassy in Sana'a, but caused no casualties.
The British Embassy was bombed the day after the USS Cole was bombed in the southern port of Aden. The Cole attack killed 17 sailors and injured 39.
The two main defendants in the embassy bombing, Abu Bakr Gaiyul and Ahmed Massoud, were each sentenced to 15 years in prison. A third defendant, Salem Salam, was sentenced to six years and Faris Saleh was given four years.
The court also ordered the four to pay compensation to the embassy and residents of neighbouring houses for damage caused by the blast.
Talks with Iraq deferred
UN CHIEF Kofi Annan suggested on Monday that a second round of high-level talks with Iraq will have to wait at least until the end of the year due to differences among Security Council members over UN policy on Baghdad.
"I have made it clear to the Iraqis that the second round was going to take place once the council has completed its own deliberations, and that it would be counterproductive for me to engage in another round of talks while the council itself is trying to define its direction," Annan told reporters.
Security Council policy deliberations on Iraq appear at present to be on hold until at least November.
Annan held an initial round of talks with an Iraqi delegation in late February in an effort to break an impasse on weapons inspections and UN sanctions on Baghdad.
More talks were initially planned in April or May, but Annan postponed them, blaming deep policy divisions on Iraq among the Security Council's 15 member-nations, including permanent members Britain, Russia, the United States, China and France.
North Africa tour
ARAB League Secretary-General Amr Moussa left Egypt on Tuesday for a tour that will take him to all of the Arab North African Maghreb states for talks on the reform of the League, current developments in the Middle East and "other Arab concerns."
Moussa will meet with the heads of state of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Mauritania for open- agenda discussions.
In Libya, Moussa is expected to confer on efforts to broker peace in Sudan. In Tunisia, which is currently a member of the UN Security Council, he is expected to discuss the international position on providing protection for the Palestinians and the debate regarding sanctions on Iraq.
While in Morocco and Algeria, the Arab League secretary-general is slated to discuss the Western Sahara file. The focus of talks in Mauritania is expected to be about means for providing economic support to this less-developed Arab state.
Compiled by Rasha Saad

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