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Tackling education

MRS SUZANNE Mubarak emphasised the importance of linking education to Egyptian society's needs during a speech she delivered as part of the celebration held to commemorate the German University in Cairo's (GUC) first anniversary .

At Sunday's event, Mrs Mubarak also shed light on the need to focus on the quality of educational institutions so that students could compete in the international arena. She praised Egyptian-German relations, calling the GUC an example of the ongoing cooperation between the two countries.

German Ambassador to Egypt Martin Kobler and Ashraf Mansour, the head of GUC's Board of Trustees, also spoke at the event.

On the same day, Mrs Mubarak met the executive director of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Antonio Maria Costa, to discuss efforts to curb drug trafficking and addiction. Costa presented Mrs Mubarak a shield in appreciation for her efforts in the social domain, and especially in child protection and women rights.

Rejected again

THE POLITICAL Parties Committee -- a quasi- governmental body responsible for licensing political parties -- rejected applications by both the Islamist-oriented party, Al-Wasat Al-Gedid (New Centre), and the pan-Arab Al-Karama Al-Arabiya (Arab Dignity) party.

The committee, whose members include Shura Council Speaker Safwat El-Sherif, Interior Minister Habib El-Adli and Justice Minister Mahmoud Abul- Leil, did not explain why it rejected the two applications.

For the founders of the would-be Al-Wasat Party, it was the third failed attempt at obtaining legitimacy. The previous two attempts, in 1997 and 1998, were categorically rejected by the same committee, which said, on both occasions, that the party's platform was "not unique".

Since its creation in 1977, the Political Parties Committee has not approved the establishment of a single political party. The parties already in existence were either legalised before its establishment or won court orders that sanctioned their activity.

The parties have 30 days to appeal the committee's decision.

Abul-Ela Madi, a former secretary-general of the Engineers' Syndicate and a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded Al-Wasat. MP Hamdin El-Sabahi, a former member of the Nasserist Party, founded Al-Karama Al-Arabiya. Madi was in the US when the committee issued its decision and was thus unavailable for comment.

Observers said the ruling indicated that the reform-oriented discourse adopted by the National Democratic Party (NDP) over the past two years had yet to be implemented on the ground.

NGO reform

THREE non-governmental organisations involved in human rights work have formed an alliance. The new alliance includes the Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP), the Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners (HRAAP), and the Group for Democratic Development (GDD).

A press conference was held on Tuesday at the ACIJLP's headquarters to announce the joint initiative, preparation for which took nearly three months.

The groups announced that they had produced an initiative for democracy and reform. While declining to reveal the initiative's details, HRAAP head Mohamed Zarei' described it as being based on strong foundations.

The alliance does not intend to submit the initiative to the National Council for Human Rights, which Zarei' called a consultative body with no actual authority. "It started to work a year ago, and has not changed anything," he said.

Zarei' also invited all NGOs involved in human rights work to join the alliance.

Egyptians deported

MALTESE authorities have deported 16 Egyptians who attempted to enter the Mediterranean island illegally, sources at Cairo airport said.

The group, escorted by eight Maltese security officers, was brought back to Cairo on a Maltese airliner. Egyptian security authorities are now investigating the case.

Last week, Italian authorities deported 50 Egyptians who were arrested while attempting to enter the country illegally from Libya.

Bringing Al-Muez back

A HIGH-PROFILE meeting headed by President Hosni Mubarak was held to gauge the progress that has been made on the implementation of the Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project aimed at developing the city's antique quarter into an open-air museum, reports Nevine El-Aref.

During the meeting (the fourth to be headed by President Mubarak since the Culture Ministry project was launched in 1999), directives were given to all the concerned ministries -- culture, tourism, housing, transportation, and development -- as well as the Cairo governor to cooperate and resolve any unsettled issues, so that the project could finally see the light.

Mubarak said any attempt to develop the area must take its inhabitants into consideration, by providing them with better facilities and services, and raising their awareness of the importance of tourism in an area saturated with splendid Islamic monuments.

After the meeting Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said the government would be going ahead with its plans to remove Al-Azhar bridge.

Ayman Abdel-Moneim, head of the Historic Cairo Rehabilitation Project, was pleased that the implementation of the project now looked to be on the fast track. He told Al-Ahram Weekly that a wide scale survey would be aimed at locating every historic building on the area's Al-Muez Street, in an attempt to draw up an accurate map of the entire street. Afterwards, the area's poor drainage system would be replaced, ever-expanding haphazard housing would be stopped, and garbage dumps would be removed from the area.

"Due to haphazard housing, the historical city has lost 40 per cent of its original architecture," said Abdel-Moneim. "Al-Muez Street is now enclosed in a jungle of concrete."

The project not only aims at restoring Islamic monuments; it also involves rehabilitating unused monuments. Sabil Mohamed Ali in the Al-Nahassin area, for instance, has been transformed into a Museum for Islamic Tapestry, while Sabil Al-Selehdar will become historic Cairo's cultural centre, from where visitors can use a high tech network to virtually visit every site in the area.

The antique city's old gates -- Bab Al-Fetouh and Bab Al-Nasr -- will be transferred into a mediaeval weapons museum.