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Connecting for peace

AN APPEAL to end the Israeli siege on Gaza and revive the call for Middle East peace was issued this week by Egyptian and international peace volunteers and activists. The appeal was issued by a round table hosted Sunday by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak and attended by board members of the Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement and AFS International, a worldwide-linked NGO that operates inter-cultural programmes.

Participants voiced concern over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and argued the need for prompt peaceful mediation.

In a keynote address, Mrs Mubarak acknowledged that while peace and security can mean different things to different people, there was never an excuse to violate the rights of others in the name of pursuing one's own rights. The task to promote and establish peace, Mrs Mubarak said, is never easy -- the Middle East is no exception. However, she added, dialogue could always provide an answer for the toughest questions concerning peace.

The round table participants underlined the need for coordination of efforts of all NGOs across the world -- and across all cultural borders -- to promote the cause of peace.

Mrs Mubarak also underlined the need for wider participation of women in the peace-making process, including the Middle East.

Bird flu lessens

EGYPT's Supreme National Committee for Combating Bird Flu (SNCCBF) has announced that infection rates among poultry in farms and homes had dropped sharply since the second week of January, reports Reem Leila. The announcement, made 24 January, said the decrease was largely due to a public awareness campaign and the intensification of vaccination initiatives. Last week, Cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi said epidemiological surveillance had been completed in the governorates of Daqahliya, Beheira, Giza, Fayoum and Gharbiya. Surveillance will be completed in the remaining governorates within the next few months.

In stepping up its public awareness campaign on bird flu, the government is cooperating with the World Health Organisation (WHO). Zuhair Hallaj, the WHO country representative, said that although the media campaign had been slow the past year, positive steps had been taken in the past few days to improve communication strategy. "Efforts now focus on persuading people not to handle live birds and to go to hospital early when suspecting bird flu infection to decrease the probability of future fatalities," Hallaj said.

Abdel-Nasser Hussein, head of the disease surveillance unit at the Ministry of Health, said he was satisfied that the current campaign was working well and that the government had been successful in responding to the current bird flu outbreak in Egypt. The government will set up new poultry slaughterhouses in Cairo and other governorates for LE50 million.

The SNCCBF bird flu committee is focussing on five measures to curb the spread of the virus: active surveillance; public awareness campaigns; support of public health teams in hospitals; stockpiling of the treatment drug Tamiflu, anti-viral medications and vaccination equipment; and the setting up of a telephone hotline to answer public inquiries.

Between Nubia's cataracts

THE PROCEEDINGS of the international gathering held at Warsaw University in 2006 are now available, writes Jill Kamil.

When books are published, not all reach the proper outlets, so they are sometimes difficult to evaluate, let alone trace. The 11th International Conference of Nubian Studies held at Warsaw University in the fall of 2006 was attended by more than 200 researchers from around the world. More than 150 papers cast light on the most important archaeological sites under excavation in the last 10 years. Yet how many -- outside the organisers and participants -- know that the proceedings have now been published under the title Between the Cataracts ?

Significant discoveries have been made in Nubia in recent years, and the organisers of the conference were anxious to bring together papers that would present an overview of current archaeological research. The largest group concerned rescue operations in the area of the Fourth Nile Cataract, at such places like Nabta Playa, Kerma--Doukki Gel, Naga, Banganarti and Dongola. The scope of the papers was enormous, ranging from prehistoric rock art to mediaeval wall paintings and from the Palaeolithic period to the times of the Funj Sultanate of Sinnar.

Between the Cataracts presents an insightful overview of the progress in current knowledge of Ancient Nubia's past. It is published in two parts: the main papers, which comprise those written by leading scholars on Nubian studies; and the session papers, a record of two panel discussions on the languages of Nubia, the iconography of rulers, and religious ceremonies inside sacral buildings.