Newsreel

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Mubarak and Al-Assad

PRESIDENT Hosni Mubarak paid a brief visit to Damascus on Tuesday for talks with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad amid growing international pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon. The unannounced trip came after the two leaders spoke by telephone on Monday.

Other topics on the agenda of the breakfast meeting included next week's Arab summit in Algeria.

Mubarak was accompanied by Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit and Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman.

Following the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri on 14 February, the Lebanese opposition has held numerous demonstrations protesting against Syria's 15-year presence. In response to the protests and growing international calls to leave Lebanon, Al-Assad pledged a two-stage pullout in compliance with the Taif accord signed between Syria and Lebanon in 1989. UN Resolution 1559, co-sponsored by the US and France, also calls on Syria to exit Lebanon.

Damascus has begun pulling back part of its 14,000 troops in Lebanon to the eastern Bekaa Valley. An undisclosed number of troops have already moved from northern Lebanon to Syria since the redeployment began.

Elections delayed

BAR ASSOCIATION elections for the syndicate's chairman and its 24 council members will be held again on 19 March, reports Mona El-Nahhas.

The elections were held on Saturday and although the turnout was relatively high -- 61,400 voters at 472 electoral committees in Cairo and the governorates -- the legal quorum necessary for holding a general assembly was insufficient.

According to the judicial committee charged with supervising professional syndicate elections, 74,000 lawyers, representing 50 per cent of the general assembly's 148,000 syndicate members, should have attended.

Law 100 of 1993 governing elections at professional syndicates stipulates that 50 per cent of the general assembly members should cast their votes on the day of the elections, otherwise the elections will be re-run a week later.

Six candidates are running for the chairmanship and 274 are vying for the 24 council seats. Among the candidates battling for syndicate chairman is Nasserist lawyer and current chairman Sameh Ashour, and pro-government lawyer Ragaai Attiya who is supported by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. Ashour has pledged to offer more services for lawyers; Attiya has promised to upgrade the level of the profession.

Since the last elections in 2001, the syndicate has split into two camps, the Nasserist chairman and the Islamist-dominated council, a division which many say has led to a decline in the syndicate's performance.

On Saturday, the headquarters of the Bar Association saw renewed heated debate between supporters of the two sides as electoral lists were being distributed among voters.

Results of next week's elections are expected to help determine the future shape of the Nasserist-Islamist struggle.

Russian caller

EGYPT's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit met Sunday with Igor Ivanov, former Russian foreign minister and current secretary- general of the Russian Security Council, reports Magda El- Ghitany.

Both officials discussed bilateral relations as well as several regional issues including the Arab-Israeli conflict, the current situation in Lebanon and Syria, and recent developments in Iraq.

Ivanov, on a one-day visit to Egypt, "condemned" the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, saying "terrorism is an international phenomenon" that requires "collective efforts" to end it.

Abul-Gheit agreed, adding, "Egypt has suffered, like many other countries," from terrorism, which is why it has been confronting this phenomenon both on the local and international levels.

Ivanov said he welcomed the current talks between Iran and the European troika on Iran's nuclear programme, noting that Iranian- Russian nuclear cooperation was meant only for "peaceful purposes" and lies in the framework of Russia's "international obligations".

Back to Tel Aviv

MOHAMED Assem arrived in Tel Aviv on Sunday as Egypt's newest ambassador to Israel. Assem, 60, is Egypt's first ambassador to Israel in five years after former ambassador Mohamed Bassiouni was recalled to protest against Israeli violence against the Palestinians.

Assem is the third Egyptian ambassador to Israel following Saad Mortada and Bassiouni. He was ambassador to Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan.

The decision to return an ambassador to Israel was announced following last month's Sharm El-Sheikh summit.

No N-ties with Iraq

FOREIGN Minister Ahmed-Abul Gheit has denied US reports alleging Egyptian nuclear assistance to Iraq in the 1980s. Abul-Gheit told a press conference on Sunday that Egypt had never established any external ties "with any country as far as nuclear relations are concerned". He cited a recent report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that says, "[Egypt's] internal nuclear knowledge has always been used for peaceful, [local] activities" such as generating electricity and for medical treatment.

'Free them'

DOZENS of women in Arish took to the streets after Friday prayers demanding the release of their relatives rounded up after the October bombings in the Red Sea resort of Taba, reports Mustafa El- Menshawy.

The protesters shouted slogans criticising the government for the continued detention and alleged torture of an estimated 2,400 local residents being held allegedly without charge on suspicion of involvement in the Taba blasts which killed 34 and injured 10.

"No Constitution without freedom" and "free them" shouted the women in anger.

Police used batons to disperse the crowd, injuring dozens, and arrested nine members of the group, the Popular Committee for the Defence of North Sinai Citizens' Rights.

All those arrested were released a few hours later. Two lawyers who took part in the protests lodged complaints with a police station after suffering minor injuries.

"We were held for a few hours when police attempted to disperse the crowd by force at the beginning of the demonstration," Ashraf Ayoub, one of the activists arrested by police, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "But the protesters were defiant, insisting on shouting slogans until 4.30pm despite police harassment.

"People are determined to protest every Friday until their relatives are released," Ayoub said.

The demonstration was the second consecutive protest on a Friday by the families of the detainees who say their relatives are innocent.

Nine people allegedly responsible for the Taba blasts have either been arrested or killed in clashes with the police. All are from North Sinai. However, local and international human rights, including the US-based Human Rights Watch, claim that 2,400 people are still in detention without charge and that some of them have been tortured.

The Ministry of Interior has refused to comment on the torture allegations or contest the number of detainees.

Alexandria's terminal facilities

THE PORT of Alexandria is soon set to receive two modern container terminal facilities. A new company, Alexandria International Container Terminals (AICT), was recently formed explicitly for that purpose. Established with an investment of LE500 million, the company is jointly owned by the Alexandria Port Authority (APA), Hutchison Port Holding (HPH), Arab World for Port Development and Saudi Al-Balagha Group. AICT will be developing two general cargo terminals into modern container terminal facilities.

AICT has the right to operate these terminals for 25 years, one in Alexandria and the other in Dekheila. HPH is the largest port investor, developer and operator in the world. Both terminals will strengthen HPH's network presence in the Mediterranean.

The company currently operates 219 berths in 35 ports all over the world. "Due to Egypt's political and economic stability, the Egyptian government's policy is to attract foreign direct investment by partnership with multinational companies," said Mohamed Youssef, chairman of APA. He added that the terminals will benefit from the transfer of terminal management expertise and best practices.

John Meredith, managing director of HPH, said the Egyptian government's commitment to the modernisation of port facilities is timely, given the growth in international maritime trade.