Newsreel
Prioritising reform
THE BIBLIOTHECA Alexandrina's Director Ismail Serageldin announced that a declaration of an initiative based on the Arab and Egyptian perspective concerning the priorities of Arab reform is set to be submitted by the end of a two-day conference organised by the Bibliotheca next month.
Serageldin pointed out that only Arabs whose patriotism is unquestionable will be involved in drawing up the draft of the initiative. The purpose of the draft will be to layout an understanding of what should come first on the agenda of reform in the Arab World. The initiative, explained Serageddin, will be announced at the end of conference held from 12 to 14 March and will be submitted to the Arab League.
The conference will combine the efforts of the Arab Academy of Science and Technology, the Arab Business Council, the Arab Women's Organisation, the Economic Research Forum and the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in coordination with the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The conference will also set up a follow-up mechanism to the gathering's outcome as well as a way to study the most successful examples of development among Arab countries at another conference to be held in either October or November.
Fischer's not the EU's
A EUROPEAN Parliament member recently denied that Joschka Fischer's proposal for a new transatlantic initiative for the Middle East is a European initiative. "Fischer is the foreign minister of Germany and not the EU," said Sami Nair, who recently headed an EU parliament delegation to Cairo. "For the time being this is not considered a European initiative," he said during a press conference, explaining that so far the content of the initiative is not known. Nair stressed that any initiative should emerge from the Arab world itself.
Joschka Fischer had unveiled a proposal for peace in the region during his speech at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month.
Nair heads the delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries and the Gulf states which took part at the seventh inter-parliamentary meeting between the European Parliament and the Egyptian Parliament. During their week-long stay the delegation met with a number of key Egyptian figures and officials including Egypt's First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, Speaker of the People's Assembly Ahmed Fathy Sorour, Chairman of the Shura Council Mustafa Kamal Helmy and Minister of Social Affairs Amina El-Guindy. They also met with members of the newly established Egyptian Council for Human Rights, NGOs and businessmen.
Prior to the conference Nair highlighted the importance of Egypt in the Arab world. He noted that Egypt's relations with the EU extend beyond the economic and commercial exchange into politics and culture. Egypt had signed an association agreement with the EU in the summer of 2001. The Egyptian Parliament and all EU member countries, with the exception of Austria, have so far ratified that agreement. The agreement cannot go into force until all EU members ratify it. Earlier this year an interim agreement was signed by the EU trade commissioner and the Egyptian minister of trade, thereby activating the commercial aspect of the association agreement. The EU is Egypt's biggest trading partner.
Bomb hoax
ON TUESDAY an EgyptAir carrier flying from Abu Dhabi to Cairo was forced to make an emergency landing in Kuwait following a false bomb threat. The aircraft's 160 passengers and their luggage were searched but nothing was found. Minutes after flight 915 had taken off, Abu Dhabi Airport authorities received an anonymous phone call claiming that there were explosives on board. The captain was instructed to land at the nearest airport. However, the threat was cleared and five hours later the journey to Egypt was resumed.
At Cairo International Airport, security officials detained one of the passengers who had argued with an EgyptAir employee in Abu Dhabi over excess baggage. Although the man was later released, Egyptian authorities have notified their counterparts in the United Arab Emirates that they must investigate the possibility that some of the suspect's relatives residing there were behind the false threat.
According to a security official at Cairo Airport, although it is not uncommon to receive bomb threats they cannot be ignored. The official further explained that on some occasions when passengers miss their flight ,"they resort to such false threats in the hope that the flight will be stopped and they might have a chance to board."
Fishing crew released
TWENTY-THREE Egyptian crew members of a ship seized a month ago by Somali gunmen following a financial dispute between the ship's owners and a Somali company were released on Monday. The men were released in the port of Beravo, nearly 150 kilometres south of Mogadishu, following negotiations brokered by Somalia's transitional government. The Egyptian-owned vessel and its 24-member crew were seized by gunmen employed by the Somali fishing firm Raas after the company accused the ship's owners of breaking their contract with the firm.
One member of the crew has remained on the ship, which is still being held by Raas. According to the company's chairman the ship will not be released until its owners have paid Raas compensation. However he declined to say how much compensation the company is after and said he did not know the name of the ship. No further details on the nature of the dispute are known.
Foreign fishing companies have to negotiate deals with Somali businessmen before entering the country's waters. The waters off Somalia's coast are notorious for piracy, and international maritime authorities warn ships of venturing near them.
Suing Boeing
ON SATURDAY a US-based law firm said it was representing the families of 10 victims of a plane crash last month in Egypt in a suit against Boeing, the maker of the aircraft. The suit will be filed against the US aviation giant Boeing and the US International Lease and Finance Corporation, which owned and was leasing the Boeing 7737-300 to Flash Airlines. The plane crashed off the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on 3 January, minutes after it took off to Paris, killing all 148 passengers on board, most of whom French tourists.
According to one of the attorneys in charge of the case, the lawsuit will be filed in a Chicago court within a week. The lawyer added that the plaintiffs in the case accuse Boeing of letting the 737 fly despite being fully aware of the plane's technical problems and of failing to repair them within a set time frame. Reportedly, the International Lease and Finance Corporation is suspected of having hired the plane out in "successive leases with an ever-decreasing regard for the state of the plane".
The International Lease and Finance Corporation leases planes to airlines across the world, including the Egyptian charter company Flash Airlines.
