Al-Ahram Weekly | Egypt

		29 August - 4 Sept. 2002 Issue No. 601 Home news	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

US envoy in region
ON A TOUR of the region, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Satterfield was in Cairo on Monday for talks with Egyptian officials. Satterfield's itinerary also included Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Syria, where he is to discuss ways to exit the current 23-month-long crisis in the peace process.
During separate talks with Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and President Hosni Mubarak's chief political adviser, Osama El-Baz, Satterfield discussed the need for Palestinians and Israelis to return to the negotiating table, and security arrangements between the two parties. Satterfield's agenda during his tour also focussed on ways Washington might work with countries in the region, the Palestinians, Israelis and the world community to "move forward on a path that restores calm and that can resume a political process".
Satterfield's efforts are guided by President George W Bush's call for the establishment of a Palestinian state and the ouster of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. Satterfield is reported to be pushing for a new constitution for the Palestinian Authority (PA) under which Arafat would be relegated to a ceremonial role as president, with a prime minister wielding the real power.
Maher issued a statement after meeting with Satterfield, calling on the US to intervene to stop "Israeli aggressions" against the Palestinians, because these policies were "obstacles to any real effort to reach a compromise that would guarantee the rights of the Palestinians and security for all".
Satterfield told reporters in Cairo that the US considers Egypt to be a "strategic" partner, despite recent tensions over Washington's decision to block new aid to Cairo following the sentencing of sociologist Saadeddin Ibrahim to seven years in prison. He emphasised to Egyptian officials "the importance the US attaches to the strong partnership with Egypt". Satterfield noted that ties between the two countries "have a very specific importance, with respect to our common goal of achieving an end to this terrible conflict between Palestinians and Israelis".
Corruption galore
A TOP aide to the minister of agriculture was arrested on 23 August on charges of dereliction of duty and accepting bribes, along with four other persons. Youssef Abdel-Rahman, the under-secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, had been under surveillance for 18 months by the Administrative Monitoring Authority under suspicion of corruption. Abdel-Rahman, who also chairs the Agricultural Development and Credit Bank, is believed to have tampered with tenders in return for bribes and forged approval papers for the importation of banned pesticides. Other charges include profiteering, personal enrichment and the importation of unusable products.
The five suspects, one of them a Syrian national, were detained for 15 days pending investigation. The arrests are the latest in a corruption crackdown which has ensnared dozens of officials, including former ministers and governors.

Mad shooter
ON 22 AUGUST pedestrians in downtown Cairo were thrown into panic when a man started shooting randomly, injuring a police officer and a conscript. A police officer whose suspicions were raised when he saw Mohamed Zein walking back and forth with a bag in his hand in front of Banque Misr headquarters on Mohamed Farid St, approached Zein.
As the officer was checking his identification, Zein pulled out a gun and began firing randomly in an effort to escape. Zein did flee, but he had left his identification card with the officer which led to his arrest two days later.
During interrogation, Zein said that he had a date with his friend's wife with whom he was having an affair and that he had planned to threaten her with the gun in an effort to get her to elope with him. But when the police officer stopped Zein and asked for his ID, the man became afraid that the gun would be discovered and, in a panic, he began shooting randomly in an effort to escape. Zein injured a student when the latter attempted to apprehend him.
Doctors in trouble
FOLLOWING a series of arrests of doctors in the last few months, an orthopaedic specialist was charged this week with performing illegal abortions and filming gynaecological operations with a view to blackmail.
Doctor Abdel-Mohsen Abdel-Halim, a nurse and two anaesthetists who helped him, were referred to Cairo's criminal court.
They were arrested on 4 August, after the accidental discovery of foetuses he kept in glass jars, one of them seven months old.
The foetuses were discovered when the cleaners were disposing the jars in a dump. A nearby pharmacy subsequently reported the discovery to the police.
The trail led back to the clinic where police also found a video camera with tapes of the doctor performing hymen reconstruction operations on unmarried women.
Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel-Wahed said the films were made with the obvious intent of blackmail, as women in Egypt and the Muslim world, in general, are expected to remain virgins until marriage.
A number of fake doctors were discovered recently with some of the impostors holding only high school certificates. Moreover, two dentists are facing trial, one for allegedly luring girls into engaging in indecent acts, the other for videotaping his female patients nude while they were anaesthetised.

Lion mischief
A CIRCUS lion has mauled its trainer in the north- eastern town of Al-Arish, severely wounding the man's right hand. Mohamed Salah Hassan El-Helw, 32, had just finished feeding the animal named "Mahrous", meaning protected from the evil eye, when it lashed out at him as he played with it. The trainer was taken to hospital in Cairo. Several similar incidents have happened to the Helw family, many of whom are lion trainers.
By Shaden Shehab

Send a letter to the Editor Recommend this page

ARCHIVES
Letter from the Editor
Editorial Board
Subscription
Advertise!

WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly
Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time
weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg

Al-Ahram Organisation