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No conditions

THE ISSUE of US aid to Egypt resurfaced this week when Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awwad emphasised that Cairo rejected any conditions being placed on monies received. Speaking to quash reports in some newspapers that the US Senate had ratified new aid allocations he pointed out that what happened was simply the approval, according to due process, of allocations made by the previous administration.

Last October US Congress approved $1.5 billion in military, and $200 million in civilian, aid to Egypt for fiscal year 2008-2009. The figure represented a 12 per cent reduction on the previous year.

In 1998 Egypt and the US agreed to reduce civilian aid to Egypt by $40 million a year over a 10-year period, meaning aid should have fallen from $815 to $415 million in 2008. Washington subsequently reduced civilian aid from $415 million to $200 million without consulting Egypt.

The reduced figure was a reflection of strained US-Egyptian relations. Many Congress members have tried to condition military and civilian assistance to Egypt on improvements in Cairo's democratisation and human rights record and security cooperation with Israel.

The package of $1.3 billion in military aid has remained untouched despite Congressional attempts to reduce it. In December 2007, for the first time in more than 30 years, Congress enacted legislation withholding $100 million in US military assistance. In March 2008, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice waived the reduction as part of an agreement by Cairo to intensify security operations along the border with the Gaza Strip.

Press changes

THE SHURA Council on Wednesday endorsed changes in the posts of chief editors at the state-owned newspapers. The new chief editors include Tareq Hassan of Al-Ahram Al-Masaai replacing Mursi Atallah, who is Al-Ahram's board chairman. Hamdi Rizq of Al-Musawwar magazine replaces Abdel-Qader Shoheib, chairman of the board at Dar Al-Hilal.

Essam Abdel-Moneim takes charge of Al-Ahram Al-Riyadi, replacing Ibrahim Hegazi, while Anwar El-Hawari of Al-Ahram Al-Iqtesadi takes over from Essam Rifaat.

Changes in the posts of board chairmen are due next July. They normally take place every four years, whereas chief editors are subject to change every three years.

Bahaais win

THE SUPREME Administrative Court on Monday backed a previous ruling passed by the Administrative Court which said that Bahaais can leave blank the religious classification space on official documents including identity cards and birth certificates. Following a first degree ruling last year, the Supreme Administrative Court last week allowed Bahaais to get proper official identity documents.

"The ruling is a major victory for all Egyptians fighting for a state where all citizens enjoy equal rights regardless of their religion or beliefs," said Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), whose organisation represented Bahaais in court. Bahgat called upon the government to implement the ruling which is final and cannot be contested.

Crew back home

THE 25 EGYPTIAN crewmen of the cargo ship Blue Star, that was hijacked in January by Somali pirates, returned to Cairo on Sunday. The crew were released on 4 March in return for a $1 million ransom, which was dropped from a helicopter.

Upon their arrival, the crewmen recounted to the media their ordeal, which lasted for more than two months.

Blue Star, carrying fertilisers from Egypt's port of Suez to Mozambique, fell prey to Somali pirates on 1 January when it was just 35 kilometres from the Yemeni port of Aden.

Seven pirates armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were threatening to destroy the ship. They opened fire at the vessel, and one of the bullets hit the captain's cabin.

The Blue Star crew gave themselves up when they saw the pirates holding RPG launchers and threatening "to blow up the ship".

After about 10 minutes of constant shooting, the pirates climbed onto the ship, and sailed to Somali waters.

Support for Nour

LAWYERS belonging to the Ghad Party held a press conference on Tuesday at the downtown headquarters of the Ghad in the wake of party founder Ayman Nour being stripped of his membership from the Bar Association.

The judicial committee currently running affairs at the Bar took the step as part of a process of sorting out voters' lists. Nour, who was released from jail last month, is a member of both the Press Syndicate and the Bar Association.

Against TB

AS PART of the one million man march, newly-appointed Minister of Family and Population Mushira Khattab led an anti-tuberculosis walk on Saturday which started from Mohamed Ali Mosque to the Citadel in Old Cairo. The minister was accompanied by her family members, state officials and a group of actors and actresses.

The march was organised by the Ministry of Health's national programme for combating tuberculosis in cooperation with the UN.

"By 2015, we will manage to get rid totally of such a disease," Khattab said, noting that children in Egypt suffer from malnutrition that makes them subject to tuberculosis.

Several marches across Egypt were also launched for the same purpose.

Trafficking trial

THE SOUTHERN Cairo Criminal Court opened the first hearing in the trial of a gang charged with child trafficking. In court, the suspects, who include an orphanage manager, businesswoman and an obstetrician, denied the charges.

The general prosecutor has demanded the "harshest penalty" be imposed on the 11 suspects, three of whom fled the country.

The gang is accused of facilitating the trafficking of newborns and forging official documents, including birth certificates and passports.

Compiled by Mona El-Nahhas