Newsreel

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Deadly holy trip

MORE than 1,350 Egyptian pilgrims escaped death when their cruiser collided with a cargo ship at the entrance to the Suez Canal late on Monday, Amirah Ibrahim reports.

Eighty-eight people were injured in the stampede to flee the Salam 95, which began sinking after it was struck about 15 miles off Port Tawfiq, at the canal's southern entrance. One passenger died in the stampede while an elderly woman was found dead in her cabin.

The Egyptian ship set sail from the Saudi Arabian Red Sea port of Jeddah and was on its way to the port of Suez. All but five of its passengers were Egyptians returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

"We had just finished our iftar and most pilgrims went to perform prayers. Suddenly we thought the ship had hit ground. We thought we were going to die. We all started to recite the last prayers," one of the survivors told Al-Ahram Weekly.

"Most of the injuries were the result of the panic that ensued," Health Minister Mohamed Awad Tageddin told Egyptian television.

The cargo vessel was entering the Red Sea after crossing the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean when it rammed into the Egyptian ship, gouging a 16-foot hole in its side that allowed sea water to flood the engine room.

At least 12 rescue boats transferred the bulk of the passengers, 1,350 pilgrims and 120 sailors. The Salam 95 sank three hours later.

The accident did not affect the 120-mile Suez Canal, which is a passage for about 7.5 per cent of world sea trade.

Local prosecution authorities launched an investigation on Tuesday into the accident. Transport Minister Essam Sherif told reporters that a probe "had immediately been launched into the incident".

Cyprus state radio said there were no casualties among the Cypriot-flagged ship's Indian crew and the vessel was believed to have sustained only light damage. "The Egyptian cruiser had sank completely, thus investigators will not allow the Cypriot ship to depart Suez Port until the investigation is complete," a source with the prosecution said.

Contesting report

FOREIGN Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit has sent a message to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to contest what he said were the partial views in the recent briefing by Alvaro de Soto, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East. "We expressed the Egyptian reservations and we asked that the UN special coordinator take into consideration the Palestinian point of view regarding the developments on the ground in the occupied territories," Abul-Gheit said on Monday.

In his monthly briefing presented to the UN Security Council in late September, De Soto sent strong signals, some in direct language, that the Palestinians were not acting promptly to quell the violence that he said has forced Israel to build the wall of separation.

Mofaz to visit

ISRAELI Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz is expected to visit Cairo later in the month for talks with high-ranking Egyptian officials on the administration of the Rafah border point. Being the Palestinians' link from Gaza to Egypt, the Rafah border point has more often than not been closed by Israel since its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in August. However, recent Palestinian-Egyptian-Israeli talks have helped forge an agreement on ways to operate in accordance with the interests of all parties concerned.

While in Cairo, Mofaz is also expected to be pressed by Egyptian officials to put an end to Israeli military attacks against Palestinian targets in Gaza.

Support for Moussa

CAIRO voiced support this week for the mission undertaken by Arab League Secretary- General Amr Moussa to Baghdad in pursuance of an all-inclusive Iraqi reconciliation process. Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit said Moussa was going to Iraq on a mission on behalf of Arab capitals to encourage all Iraqi powers to come together for talks to seek the best interests of their country. He added, "We therefore call upon all parties to participate in the dialogue" that the Arab League secretary- general is attempting to initiate.

Abul-Gheit said that Egypt will be closely watching the outcome of the referendum on the Iraqi constitution with the hope that Iraq "will overcome the hard times, very hard times, it has been passing through".

Election blogger

KAMAL Khalil, the veteran socialist activist and icon sloganeer of the Egyptian movement for change, Kifaya, is trying his luck in the upcoming parliamentary elections and is running in the Imbaba constituency. His blog, kamalkhaleel.blogspirit.com, is perhaps the first to be designed for election campaigning. His latest post addressed to the people of Imbaba is a reminder of his 30 years of activism to support workers and farmers' rights and resisting normalisation with the "Zionists and Americans".

"My last slogan," he says, "was 'down with Hosni Mubarak who has ruled us illegally for 24 years'". All Egyptian prisons have come to know me, he said, "as I paid the price for a decent life for our children, a life void of corruption and stealing, a life without the tycoons of the National Democratic Party and the slaughterhouses of police stations."

Khalil has called for an election march to be held today in Imbaba from Kitkat Square to the Imbaba Tunnel Square.

Bird flu prevention

EGYPT has taken strict measures to contain the increasing threat of bird flu, Minister of Environmental Affairs Maged George has announced.

"The ministry has taken more than 500 blood samples from migrant birds flying across Egypt to make sure they are not carrying the disease," George said. None of the samples tested positive.

Egypt has been launching systemic campaigns in areas where migrant birds gather, usually from September to March, the minister added. "The ministry has banned the hunting of migrant birds this season for fear of the transfer of the disease to people," he said.

All bird hunting licenses for the year 2005- 2006 have been cancelled as a precautionary measure.