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Nuclear pressure

GOVERNMENT sources have acknowledged that Egypt is coming under increasing pressure to sign up with the additional protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that allows the world nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the right to conduct unannounced inspections of national nuclear facilities.

A signatory of the NPT since the late 1960s, Egypt in the mid-1990s gave its stamp of approval to the indefinite renewal of the NPT. Egypt, however, rejected demands made to sign the additional protocol that was added to the treaty in the wake of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s. Egyptian officials insist that in view of the exemption of Israel from the NPT, Cairo cannot take upon itself any further commitments.

However, this month, with Egypt's public declaration to opt for a nuclear reactor, the pressure has been felt. European officials visiting Cairo last week renewed the demand. Egypt, according to government sources, is not planning on any immediate change of plans -- at least not yet.

The fact that Egypt is planning to go for a turn-key reactor to be built by international companies and to buy rather than produce nuclear fuel is unlikely to spare it from increased pressure to sign the NPT additional protocol.

Sources suspect that Egypt would also be requested by Western capitals that might build the reactor to agree to conditions related to Cairo's scrapping of any plans to enrich uranium or to reprocess nuclear fuel. NPT regulations do not put any prohibition on either of these steps. However, accessing such steps entails possession of fairly advanced nuclear technology that some world capitals would like to have exclusively. Government officials say that no decision has been taken on this front either.

Meanwhile, officials say that the government is in direct contact with the IAEA over Egypt's plans to build a nuclear reactor for peaceful uses. The objective of these contacts, they say, is to affirm the peaceful intentions of the nation's nuclear programme.

According to these officials, Cairo has requested the IAEA's views on Egypt's plans to pursue nuclear technology. The IAEA was still studying the feasibility of the project when Egypt went public with its plans to build the reactor. "This does not mean that we will forgo the consultancy of the IAEA but it does mean that we decided that for us, a nuclear reactor is a feasible project that we want to pursue," one government official said.

New parliament problems

THE PEOPLE's Assembly opened its third parliamentary session yesterday with the Muslim Brotherhood apparently planning to stir up the pot, reports Gamal Essam El-Din.

In a procedural meeting, Ahmed Fathi Sorour was re- elected parliamentary speaker for the 18th time, making him the longest serving speaker in Egypt's parliamentary history. Sorour's two deputies, Abdel-Aziz Mustafa and Zeinab Radwan were also re-elected. Sorour and his two deputies belong to the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

Sorour and his deputies, however, faced some competition from the parliamentary bloc of the Brotherhood. In coordination with independent and leftist deputies, the bloc fielded Sobhi Saleh against Sorour, and Saad Aboud and Ali Fath El-Bab against Mustafa and Radwan. Elections for 76 posts in 19 committees will be held today. The NDP plans to monopolise all posts, making use of its majority in the assembly.

The bloc plans to make some noise in the coming session. It aims to strongly object to several laws dealing with local administration and fighting terrorism. The Brotherhood believes that these two laws, which were adopted by the NDP congress, will serve the interests of the ruling party in terms of tightening its grip on city councils and stifling political opposition. The Brotherhood bloc also objects to amending the assembly's internal regulations, fearing that this will strip deputies of adequately supervising the performance of the government.

For their part, leftist deputies plan to raise several questions on corruption, labour strikes and the deterioration in public services, particularly drinking water. Gamal Zahran, an independent MP and a professor of political science and economics at Suez University, told Al-Ahram Weekly that leftist deputies aim to focus on poor and limited-income classes who were affected greatly by the lack of water in the summer. "We also aim to open the issue of privatisation of banks, especially Banque du Caire, because this represents much danger to a very strategic sector," said Zahran.

In yesterday's session, two deputies were barred from attending; Talaat El-Sadat, cousin of former president Anwar El-Sadat, and Alameddin El-Sakhawi, a Brotherhood MP. The assembly's Ethics Committee charged El-Sadat and El-Sakhawi with insulting the assembly and decided to strip them of attending 10 parliamentary meetings.

Despite the fact that yesterday was the beginning of the assembly's third parliamentary session, elections have still to be held in six districts to fill 12 seats. The elections of these districts were postponed in 2005 because of legal disputes.

Welcome to the US

THE US welcomes legitimate travellers as a means of maintaining proper relations with Egypt. That was the message Maura Harty, assistant secretary at the Bureau of Consular Affairs conveyed during her visit this week to Cairo, reports Mohamed El-Sayed.

Since 9/11, there have been reports that obtaining a visa to travel to the US had become exceptionally difficult. "One of the reasons why we want so strongly to see Egyptian students travel to study in the US is that it's a national security issue for us," Harty said. "We issued 2,000 student visas for Egyptians last year to study in the US, which represents a 14 per cent increase than last year," she pointed out.

An international education week will be observed in Egypt and around the world starting 12 November until 16 November to encourage more students to travel and study in the States, Harty added. "During that week, we will present some information about educational opportunities in the US. I have discussed with the consular office here how to offer more information about [American] scholarships available here in Egypt," she added.

Asked about the facilities provided to Egyptian students and travellers wishing to go to the US, Harty said, "we spent millions of dollars to automate as much of the services we offer as possible in order that applicants obtain a visa from the American Embassy in Cairo in not more than two or three days." She said that there are in America now "foreign students more than at any time before. And the number of visa applicants now is almost the same as it was before 9/11."

More milk

LACK of subsidised children's powdered milk had become a nagging problem for many people during the past few days, Reem Leila reports. The milk had been missing from grocery shelves and drug stores for over two weeks, after which the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) intervened by flooding Egypt's 33,000 pharmacies with extra boxes of powdered milk to be sold for LE3 each. According to Abdel-Rahman Shahin, official MOHP spokesman, the ministry decided to increase the amount in the market from nine million boxes to 12 million at a cost of LE120 million.

Buyers seeking powdered milk in drug stores had at times been told there wasn't any, only for the pharmacy owner to sell the milk at higher prices to customers wanting the product for pastry-making, resulting in a severe drop in the market. Shahin stated that measures have been taken to control the flow. "Parents are to submit their child's birth certificate while buying the subsidised boxes in order to be permitted to have the required amount," he said. Babies one day old to six months are to have health cards on which the quantity that suits their needs based on the child's age group is to be registered on the card in order to avoid tampering.

The MOHP has launched an awareness campaign to encourage mothers to breast-feed their children. "The MOHP has piled a strategic stock sufficient for the next three months. There are plans to increase the stock to six months," added Shahin.