21 - 27 February 2002
Issue No.574
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 21 - 27 February 2002 Issue No.574 |
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Fair chance for all
MRS SUZANNE Mubarak presented the 2001 prizes for her annual Children's Literature Awards last Saturday. The prizes, privately funded by Mrs Mubarak herself, are being awarded for the 10th consecutive year in recognition of works in the fields of children's books' illustrations, books for pre-schoolers, children's software and Internet sites and professional children's literature -- writing, illustration and publishing.
Mrs Mubarak said the awards had presented Egypt with many talents in writing and illustration for children's books.
"Over the years, we have been able to entrench a number of concepts and values that children's literature in Egypt has been based upon," Mrs Mubarak said. "We all know now that we are partners in building the future and that we should all act together to make our dreams for our children come true."
Mrs Mubarak said that "writing for children is a responsibility, publishing for children is a mission and creativity for children is one of the most lofty values our society can uphold."
"Today," Mrs Mubarak said, "we are embarking on a new stage of work on the regional Arab level through the founding of the first specialised Arab council for children's books -- a dream come true for many of us."
"I am very pleased with the participation of all the Arab nations and the positive response we have received from the élite group of Arab public figures who have agreed to join in our efforts," she added.
Finally, Mrs Mubarak expressed her belief that creativity should not be hindered by financial concerns. "It is our duty to provide a fair chance to all those who are capable of distinction," she said.
Wet initiatives
LAST WEEK, the ministers responsible for water in the Nile Basin countries converged on Cairo to discuss cooperation in managing and developing the resources of the Nile.
Most of the cooperation will take place in the context of the Nile Basin Initiative -- a World Bank cooperative programme to address poverty, environmental degradation and instability in the Nile Basin. The initiative was first proposed by Egypt in 1997.
Last June, the International Consortium for Cooperation on the Nile (ICCON) met in Geneva, bringing together the international donor community and NGOs in support of the initiative. The gathering succeeded in raising an initial package of $140 million. The recent Cairo meeting went on to establish the legal framework that will be responsible for managing the initial fund.
The consortium is led by the Nile Council of Ministers, which includes the ministers responsible for water in all 10 countries bound together by the mighty river: Burundi, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Supporters of the Nile Basin Initiative hail it as a new development paradigm in regional cooperation that could help address many of the challenges of the basin. It is an example of how international waters can become catalysts for cooperation, development and stability, they say.
Promise postponed
THE SUPREME Military Court has adjourned the trial of 94 suspected Islamist militants -- including seven people still at large -- to 2 March.
The 94 are charged with plotting to assassinate top government officials, intellectuals and artists. The defendants -- members of a previously unknown group named Al-Waed ("The Promise") -- are also charged with attempting to smuggle weapons to Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. Further, it is alleged that they provided military training to young men with the aim of later sending them to fight against Russian troops in Chechnya.
The defendants include three nationals from Daghestan in Russia and three Egyptians who hold dual nationality.
The huge team of lawyers representing the defendants, most of whom were arrested in May, have asked the chief military judge to give them more time to conclude their cases. The court's next session in early March is likely to mark the conclusion of the trial before the judges set a date for passing sentence.
The defendants' lawyers said they hoped there would be no death sentences in the case and claimed there was not enough evidence to convict their clients. The lawyers also argued that 94 were victims of the ongoing US war against terror following the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
Flying message of hope
A MESSAGE from Sweden has led to optimism in Egypt's ailing tourism industry this week, reports Rehab Saad.
Egypt's Minister of Tourism, Mamdouh El-Beltagui, recently received a report from the Egyptian tourism office in Stockholm saying that there would be an increasing movement of tourists from Stockholm to Egypt in the coming period.
Increasing demand among Swedes to have Egypt as their holiday destination has led tour operators in Stockholm to increase the number of weekly charter trips to Egypt from eight to eleven. The extra flights come in addition to EgyptAir's regular service and other international flights. Furthermore, the possibility of adding an additional flight from Oslo to Sharm El-Sheikh by the end of March is being investigated.
By mid-October, it is expected that there will be 28 weekly flights between the countries.
El-Beltagui also received another report from the Egyptian tourism office in France. Air France, the report said, had decided to return to its pre-11 September volumes of flights to Egypt starting in April. The French charter company Air Master will also be increasing its weekly trips from three to eight because of growing demand.
Sex and education
EDUCATIONAL and rehabilitation facilities available for children with "special needs" are hard to come by in Egypt. And then, usually at a very high cost, which most families cannot meet. That cost became squalidly prohibitive in the case of one such school, when the fee demanded by the school administrator, Samir Abdel-Fattah Wahdan, included sexual favours from the children's mothers.
Last week Wahdan was sentenced to 12 years in jail with hard labour by the Cairo Criminal Court, for demanding sexual favours from three mothers in return for enrolling their children as "special needs children" at at the school.
The 54-year-old Wahdan, director of the Gamal Abdel-Nasser National School, was turned down by the women, who reported him to the police.
The court ordered Wahdan to pay a fine of LE109,000 and dismissed him from his job.
A killer rumour
A TAXI driver kidnaps, robs, rapes, kills women and then cuts their bodies into pieces, puts the parts in several plastic bags and scatters them around Heliopolis and Nasr City.
This horror story has been spreading like wildfire amongst Cairenes over the past two weeks. Fortunately, it appears to be nothing more than a rumour. The Interior Ministry has issued a statement, published in most newspapers, which says the "rumours of a serial killer raping and killing women are completely groundless."
Compiled by Shaden Shehab
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