14 - 20 February 2002
Issue No.573
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 February 2002 Issue No.573 |
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A proto-Arab market
IN THREE days of meetings of the 11th joint higher committee for Egyptian-Syrian relations which started on Sunday, the two countries signed numerous agreements, protocols and memoranda of understanding aimed at bolstering economic relations between them. Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and his Syrian counterpart, Mohamed Mustafa Miro, agreed to enhance cooperation in the fields of trade, electricity, environment, civil aviation, agriculture, health and transport.On Monday Miro met President Hosni Mubarak and delivered a message from Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Mubarak returned a message in kind through Miro. Speaking to Ebeid and Miro, Mubarak said that all obstacles should be removed for strengthening economic ties. He also said that cooperation between the two countries should be considered a basis for an Arab common market.
War on hunger
LAST week, reports Fatemah Farag, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) 22nd Regional Conference for Africa ended its session in Cairo with a call on the leaders of the world to mobilise political will and monetary resources needed to reduce by half the number of hungry people in the world by 2015. The Cairo conference brought together agricultural ministers and delegates from 45 African countries within the framework of preparations for the World Food Summit entitled: Five Years Later, to be held in Rome next June. In 1996, leaders pledged to halve the number of hungry people in the developing world to 400 million by 2015. It is universally acknowledged, however, that, at the current rate of progress, this goal will not be met. "The world still has some 815 million people suffering from chronic malnutrition, including 777 million in the developing countries," Jaques Diouf, FAO's director general, told reporters in Cairo. He added, "The summit in June will be called upon to identify and adopt concrete measures...It is imperative to reinforce the political will at the highest level and to mobilise the necessary financial resources." The delegates further underlined the need for reform and harmonisation of African economic policies, at a time when several African countries are suffering serious economic difficulties. According to FAO, "Africa is the only region in the developing world where per capita food supply has fallen for the last four years, exposing vast sectors of the population to food insecurity and malnutrition."For further information on the conference access: www.fao.org
Globalisation unease
MILITARY commanders, politicians and economists met in Cairo on Saturday to discuss means to confront globalisation's perceived undesirable effects on the Arab world. At the seminar, organised by the National Defence College of Nasser's Higher Military Academy, Major-General Ahmed Fakhr, the seminar chairman, said Arabs should work hard to coordinate their efforts through a comprehensive strategy that balances territorial and international interests.Eight papers were discussed during two main sessions, dealing with the economic, political, social and security effects of globalisation and suggesting a formula for a joint Arab modernisation project. "To cope with the new international realities means to modernise our armed forces and build our military and defence capabilities," military expert Abdel-Rahman Rushdi El-Hawari said.
Continuing censure
THE HARSH prison sentences handed down by a Cairo state security court against 23 Egyptian men for "habitual debauchery" with other men continue to arouse censure in Western countries. French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement on 9 February that he had expressed concern to President Hosni Mubarak during his visit to Paris about the sentences. Chirac said he did not want to interfere, but that he hoped "those decisions might be overturned."Though homosexuality is not explicitly criminalised in the Egyptian penal code, a wide range of laws covering obscenity, prostitution and debauchery were brought to bear in the unprecedented case.
On 14 November 2001, a state security court sentenced 23 men to jail terms of one to five years, while 29 others were acquitted. The men were charged with habitual debauchery and contempt of religion after police arrested them in a raid on the Queen Boat restaurant. The defendants were tried on the basis of Article 98F of the Penal Code (dealing with contempt of religion) and Article 90 of Law 10 of 1961, which covers prostitution. While state security court rulings cannot be appealed, a clemency plea can be submitted to the president.
Eight men were arrested last month for homosexual behaviour. Their detention was extended for 45 days last week pending investigation.
Last week, US Rep Barney Frank, an openly gay lawmaker, denounced Egypt's treatment of homosexuals and declined an invitation to an Egyptian government-sponsored forum on cross- cultural understanding.
Moreover, French composer and musician, Jean-Michel Jarre, sent Mubarak an open letter, signed by 6,000 people, including several celebrities, protesting the imprisonment of gays. Actress Catherine Deneuve, Eric Cantona, former Manchester United football star, and French television presenter and film director Frederic Mitterand, nephew of the late French president, were among those who signed the petition.
Film director Youssef Chahine told news agencies that although he was not aware of the letter, having been busy with his latest film at the time, he supported it. "They did the right thing," he said.
Compiled by Shaden Shehab
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