Newsreel

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Border anger

HAMAS has expressed frustration over the continued economic siege imposed on Gaza and threatened to storm the Egyptian and Israeli borders if the two countries failed to end the blockade on the narrow, suffocated and economically strangled Strip.

The threat, made by senior Hamas leader Khalil Al-Haya, came two months after the group blew open the Egyptian borders with Gaza to relieve an international blockade.

"The situation is no longer bearable," Al-Haya said on Tuesday. "All options are open to breach this border. Not only the Egyptian border, but other borders as well," he said, in clear reference to Israel.

Israel and Egypt sealed their borders with the coastal strip, home to 1.4 million Gazans, last June in the wake of the Hamas take-over. Since then, and with the exception of the massive breakout of Palestinians into Egyptian territories in January, few people or goods are allowed in or out of the area, causing economic hardships and widespread shortages of basic goods, fuel and electricity.

Israel conditions easing the blockade with reaching a truce with Hamas. Egyptian mediators who have been for months trying to strike a ceasefire deal between the two sides are still hopeful of a breakthrough. They blame the delay on "a consequential disagreement" between Hamas and Israel on whether the West Bank will be included in the accord.

Meanwhile, Cairo is becoming sensitive to the Hamas threats, beefing up security measures on the borders. It has also been sending the Hamas leadership in Gaza and in exile in Damascus warnings over the consequences of any attempt to re-storm Egyptian territories.

On a parallel track, Egyptian authorities are negotiating a deal with Israel, Hamas and the European Union to allow for a codified re-operation of the Rafah crossing point, closed almost permanently since last June. A deal is handicapped by Israeli insistence to remote-monitor the crossing as was the case when the Strip was under the control of the toppled Palestinian Authority, and the rejection of Hamas to acquiesce to the demand.

Egyptian-Saudi summit

KING Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was scheduled to hold talks with President Hosni Mubarak yesterday afternoon in Sharm El-Sheikh. The Egyptian-Saudi summit, sources say, was expected to focus on two main issues: developments, or the lack thereof, in securing Lebanese political reconciliation to allow for the long overdue election of a president, and proposals forwarded by Algeria and Kuwait for rapprochement between Cairo and Riyadh on the one hand and Damascus on the other.

Mediterranean waves

FRENCH presidential special envoy Henri Guaino was in Cairo this week for talks with Egyptian and Arab League officials on a proposed French summit due to take place on 13 and 14 July to launch "The Union for the Mediterranean", an initiative by Paris that aims to be the heart and engine of a new cooperation umbrella between the members of the European Union and countries to the south and east of the Mediterranean, along with the European Commission and the Arab League.

Following his talks in Cairo, Guaino told reporters that he reviewed with his interlocutors the details of the French demarche which has the full support of the European Union. He added that the July meeting in Paris, for which the Elysee would promptly issue the invitations, is set to launch a set of development projects that all participating countries and organisations would agree to. Sustainable development issues, he said, would be the focus.

European liaisons

SEVERAL European leaders visited Egypt for talks this week on boosting economic ties and enhancing political cooperation on issues of common interest, especially peace and security around the Mediterranean. Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi held talks with President Hosni Mubarak and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Victor Yuchenko, president of the Ukraine, was also expected to meet with Mubarak yesterday afternoon. According to official statements made following the meetings, the scope of private sector-based cooperation between the European states and Arab countries, especially Egypt, is set to expand and diversify. Cooperation among governments on issues of energy, especially the peaceful use of nuclear energy, is also set to advance.

Stranded in Saudi Arabia

THE FATE of over 500 Egyptians detained by the Saudi authorities on charges of illegal residence in the kingdom is being examined by Cairo and Riyadh. According to a complaint by the Saudi authorities, the people in question violated their work and visit permits and have been unable to pay either the stipulated fines or to pay their way back home.

According to a statement issued by Ambassador Hicham El-Naqib, head of the Foreign Ministry's External Relations Department , the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah is currently negotiating an arrangement with Saudi authorities to facilitate the release of the overstayers who would then be brought back to Egypt.

Canal cameras

IN THE AFTERMATH of the killing of an Egyptian fisherman by a US Navy chartered ship, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has begun fixing surveillance cameras to monitor traffic through the strategic waterway. The cameras, in addition to a radar system already deployed all along the path of the canal, "will provide for closer surveillance of the canal and a better view" of maritime traffic, Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, official spokesman of the SCA, said. The cameras will start working as soon as the installing procedures are completed. According to Abdel-Wahab, the cameras will enable all authorities concerned to monitor any incident that might occur in the canal in the future.

Mohamed Afifi, 26, was killed when the Global Patriot transport ship chartered by the US Navy and loaded with military equipment, fired at a small boat trying to sell merchandise, as claimed by the US Embassy, while waiting to transit the Suez Canal.

US President George Bush called President Hosni Mubarak to express regret over the incident in which two other Egyptians were injured.

The Suez Canal, which opened in 1869, is Egypt's third largest source of revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers. Currently about 7.5 per cent of global trade passes through the waterway. The canal is also a key supply line for the US military in the Gulf, in particular Kuwait and Iraq.

Bird flu death

A 19-YEAR-old man died from avian influenza on Saturday, bringing the death toll of the virus in Egypt to 21, writes Reem Leila. Mohamed Hassan, from the Beheira governorate in northern Cairo, was admitted to the Alexandria Fever Hospital suffering from respiratory and pneumonia problems on 3 April after coming into direct contact with infected birds, and did not respond to treatment with Tamiflu, stated Abdel-Rahman Shahin, the official spokesman of the Ministry of Health and Population.

Hassan brings Egypt's bird flu cases to 48. The deadly H5N1 virus has devastated chicken populations around the world, but has yet to spread among humans, despite fears the virus might mutate into something more virulent.

The virus is typically contracted by those involved in the care and slaughter of poultry, which is a common trend in Egypt, especially in rural areas. Egypt's last fatality was on 4 March when a woman from Fayoum governorate in southern Cairo contracted the disease.

Egypt, which is a major route for migratory birds and home to nearly a billion chickens according to the WHO, has the most human cases of the disease in the world after Indonesia and Vietnam.