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Palestinian dialogue

FOREIGN Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit met yesterday with his Palestinian counterpart Nasser Al-Qidwa, Magda El-Ghitany reports. The officials discussed the current Palestinian situation and an Egyptian- Palestinian joint committee scheduled to meet in May.

Abul-Gheit and Al-Qidwa also discussed next Tuesday's inter-Palestinian dialogue to be held in Egypt. Abul-Gheit told Al-Ahram Weekly at a press conference after the talks that the expected dialogue "aims at achieving overall Palestinian harmony" between the various factions to enable the Palestinian side at the end of the day to "reach an agreement regarding how to deal with the Israeli side".

Al-Qidwa agreed that the coming dialogue, which will discuss ways of cementing a ceasefire agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis and an Israeli withdrawal from a number of Palestinian cities, will also focus on possible ways to "expand Palestinian participation as far as the political sphere is concerned" to help reach "a general national stance" regarding crucial Palestinian issues. Both officials stressed the importance of Israel abiding by international law and to stop "building further settlements".

Rights recognised

DURING the first Arab World Human Rights' Councils and Organisations conference held in Cairo last week, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit highlighted Egypt's respect for human rights, which he said had been reflected in various recent ways, reports Magda El-Ghitany. Abul-Gheit's comments were made in a speech given on his behalf by Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmed Fathallah.

The three-day conference, which began on Sunday, stressed the importance of protecting and ensuring human rights, and called on "all Arab states that do not have national councils of human rights to establish them in order to facilitate joint Arab efforts".

Abul-Gheit said that Egypt had "taken serious steps... to spread the culture of human rights, and to ensure the respect of these rights by all of society". The examples included establishing the National Council of Human Rights and a parliamentary human rights committee, as well as steps that were taken to enhance women's and children's rights.

The foreign minister also noted that Egypt "rejects, as a matter of principle, the politicisation of human rights' issues, as well as the use of double standards" on other issues, all of which has led to "more clashes between civilisations".

Abul-Gheit argued that Egypt has always said that, "foreign occupation represents the biggest violation of human rights, which is why [Egypt] has always called upon the international community to end such phenomena," and why "Egypt will continue to exert its efforts till the Iraqi and the Palestinian people can have a free, independent, and safe tomorrow."

Organised by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, the Arab League and the UN, the conference included participants from 19 Arab states, as well as a number of Arab and other ambassadors.

Back from Addis

FOREIGN Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit was back in Cairo on Tuesday after a 48 hour trip to the Ethiopian capital to attend the extraordinary session of the African Union's (AU) foreign ministers' executive council. The AU foreign ministers mainly discussed UN Security Council reform in light of proposals approved last February at a limited AU ministerial committee in Swaziland.

The African officials, who also discussed organisational issues related to the union's budget and the contributions made to it by African states, agreed that it would be better for African countries to have two permanent seats and five or six non permanent ones in the Security Council, rather than just two rotating seats.

Mystery unravelled

THE PATRIARCH of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III, thanked the Hudson County Prosecutor and the US investigation team for their efforts in unravelling the mystery surrounding the January slaying of an Egyptian Christian family in New Jersey.

"The motive for killing the Armanious family was robbery," the prosecutor said, refuting rumours that the crime had religious motives. The killing had resulted in weeks of tension between Christians and Muslims in New Jersey.

"The arrest of the two criminals was welcomed by members of the Egyptian community in the US, both Christians and Muslims," said Maged Riyad, the church's official spokesman, on Sunday.

Price on trash

IN A FINAL bid to save Cairo's waste management project from failure, the Shura Council has amended the garbage fees collection law, reports Dena Rashed.

Three months after the Supreme Administrative Court ruled against the inclusion of garbage collection fees on electricity bills in the governorates of Giza and Cairo, the Shura Council has decided to establish a more stable method.

The original, highly controversial system -- whereby the fees were added to customers' electricity bills -- was initially devised by the government as a way of paying for the services of the private waste management companies that have been serving the Alexandria, Giza and Cairo governorates. Instead, the Shura Council decided to amend 1967's Law 38, which regulates local councils' rights to impose cleanliness fees on tenants, as an alternate means of providing the project with a viable source of financing.

Law 38 stipulated that the fees collected for this purpose would not exceed two per cent of a dwelling's rental rate. The amendments passed by the Shura Council now require residents in each governorate's capital cities to pay fees ranging from LE1 to LE10 per apartment; other residents in the governorate would pay between LE1 and LE4. The sum for shops and commercial units would range from LE10 to LE30.

Each governorate's local council will determine the exact fees and means of collection.