A summary of news related to Egypt.
Egypt to float anti-terror plan at UN meet
CAIRO - Egypt will propose a global anti-terror plan during a special meeting of the United Nations in mid-September, the foreign ministry said on September 2. Foreign minister Ahmed Abul Gheit wrote to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to ask him to include the issue in the gathering's agenda, a statement said. The plan "proposes holding a special session of the general assembly to discuss means of coordinating international efforts against terrorism", the statement said. According to diplomatic sources the plan also proposes the creation of a new UN anti-terror body.
Egypt judges say poll transparency cannot be guaranteed
CAIRO - Egypt's judges warned on September 2 that the transparency of the September 7 presidential elections could not be guaranteed unless they have complete independence to fulfill their task of supervising the polls. However, cassation court Judge Mahmoud Makki, speaking amid widespread voter threats to boycott the polls, said that the judges' syndicate would probably relent on its threat not to monitor the vote.
The judges will "carry out their duty and oversee the vote" but "we will announce at the syndicate's general assembly that we will distance ourselves from the polls' results as long as our demands are not honored", he said. "We will tell the whole world that Egypt's judges will try to prevent vote rigging with all their might but that they won't vouch 100 percent for the election's transparency," he added.
Sudan's Kiir holds Egypt talks
CAIRO - Sudan's new first Vice-President Salva Kiir held talks on September 1 with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, on his first visit abroad since succeeding the late John Garang. Their talks focused on ongoing efforts to end the 30-month-old civil war in Darfur and the implementation of the north-south peace deal between Kiir's former rebel movement and Khartoum. "We have to solve the problem of armed groups," Kiir told reporters, in reference to Darfur rebel groups who are still frequently clashing with government troops in western Sudan. Kiir wrapped up his Cairo visit after also meeting Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
Egypt, Israel sign Gaza border deployment deal
CAIRO - Egypt and Israel signed an historic deal on September 1 for the deployment of Egyptian border guards to patrol Gaza's southern border, a major step toward Israel's complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territory. "The agreement was signed," an official said. The deal, which has taken months to negotiate, will see 750 lightly armed officers fan out to stop weapons being smuggled into the Gaza Strip, when Israeli soldiers are recalled from the territory after a 38-year occupation.
The official said that the deal was signed during a closed ceremony on a military base near Cairo by two generals whom he did not identify. Israeli media had reported earlier that Israel Ziv, chief of operations at general staff, would be the signatory for the Israeli side. The Egyptian foreign ministry refused to comment on the signing.
Several wounded in Sinai clashes
CAIRO - Several people were wounded when clashes broke out during a vast Egyptian police sweep of the Sinai Peninsula, a security official said on September 1. "Two policemen and an undetermined number of suspects were wounded [on the night of August 31] during an exchange of automatic gunfire in Jabal Halal," the official said on condition of anonymity. "The suspects managed to flee," he said, adding that the security forces that launched the assault were tightening the noose around suspected hideouts to cut the gunmen's supply lines. He explained that the bedouin gunmen had found refuge in caves in remote mountainous areas of Jabal Halal, some 40 miles south of the Mediterranean town of Arish.
China licenses Egypt manufacturer to build fighter-jet
BEIJING - China has issued a license to an Egyptian airplane maker to assemble the Chinese-made K-8E fighter jet trainer, as part of a $345-million Egyptian purchase of 80 of the planes, state press said on August 30. The license was granted to Egypt's A.O.I Aircraft Factory by the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation, the Xinhua news agency reported. In 1999 Egypt signed a deal to buy 80 of the jets and its production line, the report said. The K-8E aircraft is designed for training missions such as acrobatic, night and spin flights as well as for armament operation training, Xinhua said.
Egypt says wrapping up probe into Sharm attacks
CAIRO - Egyptian interior minister Habib Al Adli said on August 30 that the investigation into last month's deadly Sharm El Sheikh bomb attacks had been completed. "Security services have managed to gather all necessary details about the attacks and identified the perpetrators," he said during the last cabinet meeting before the September 7 presidential elections. Adli added, however, that the search continued for more suspects in northern Sinai's Jabal Halal area.
Egypt's Nur cries foul over banned TV campaign clip
CAIRO - Egypt's presidential electoral commission has banned leading opposition candidate Ayman Al Nur's campaign television spot on the grounds that the theme song had been plagiarized, Nur's spokeswoman said on August 30. Gamila Ismail branded the move "one of the dirtiest tricks of the campaign" for the September 7 presidential poll and blamed President Hosni Mubarak's camp, alleged by the opposition to hold sway over the electoral commission. "We can't start our television campaign because the committee says it has received a complaint from someone who claims property of the song. We are in deep trouble now because the song can be heard throughout the clip," she said.
The song was commissioned by Nur's Ghad party to a young Nubian singer called Khaled Youssef but the commission alleges that it draws heavily on another song by poet Kawthar Mustafa used in a film by the famed Youssef Chahine.
Egypt committed to end occupation of Palestinian land
GAZA CITY - A senior Egyptian envoy told the Palestinian parliament on August 30 that Cairo would work "hand in hand" with the Palestinians for an end to Israel's occupation of all territory seized in 1967. "I have the pleasure of being with you to convey the congratulations of President [Hosni] Mubarak and his commitment that we stay hand in hand with you until all Palestinian territory, in the West Bank and as well as Gaza, is liberated," Egypt's head of intelligence Omar Suleiman said. He was addressing Palestinian MPs on Mubarak's behalf during a visit to Gaza aimed at shoring up a de facto Palestinian militant truce and discussing border crossings after Israel's pullout from Gaza.
US presses Egypt to allow in election monitors
WASHINGTON - The US on August 29 pressed Egypt to allow independent observers to monitor next week's presidential elections but played down opposition complaints of unfair coverage by the country's media. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack sidestepped any judgment on the reelection bid by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. But he kept up the US call for independent observers to follow the September 7 vote pitting Mubarak against nine challengers in the country's first multi-candidate presidential ballot.
"It [observers] is something that is commonly done. It certainly allows the world to get an independent picture of the electoral process and any issues that might arise during the electoral process," he said. "This is something that we encourage around the world and we urge the Egyptian government to agree to let in election observers," McCormack told reporters.
Egypt, US to hold joint war games in September
CAIRO - The US military is to take part in the "Bright Star" joint military exercises in Egypt in September, military sources said on August 29. They said that the maneuvers would start early September and last about a month in the northeastern region of Alamein, involving naval, air and ground forces. A source at the US embassy in Cairo confirmed that American troops would take part but declined to give details. Thirteen countries are due to take part, including Britain, France, Germany and Italy, according to Rose Al Youssef newspaper, with Jordan and Pakistan participating for the first time.
Corruption scandal hits Mubarak crony
CAIRO - A corruption scandal on August 29 hit Egypt's best-known media tycoon, also a long-time confidant of President Hosni Mubarak. The Al Osbou weekly newspaper revealed that Ibrahim Nafie, the former chairman of the Al Ahram press group, was on a 3-million-Egyptian-pound ($500,000) salary and received millions more in hidden benefits. The newspaper alleged that Nafie - who remained at the helm of Egypt's top-selling daily for 26 years - also cut himself a daily commission of 83,000 pounds on the group's distribution and advertising receipts.
Before being replaced in July Nafie siphoned 400 million pounds from the group's assets into his own accounts, the newspaper charged, alleging that banking and state institutions turned a blind eye. Al Osbou also charged that Nafie threw extravagant birthday parties in his private home every year and expensed them to the newspaper's account, totaling some 250,000 pounds.
Egypt paper decries reporter's detention
CAIRO - Egypt's Al Ahram daily on August 28 denounced the brief detention of its reporter in Iraq by US forces as "provocative". The mass-circulation paper said that its reporter in Baghdad, Mohammed Al Anwar, was detained on August 27 by US troops and forced to stand on a street wall for one hour along with other Iraqis. It said that although Anwar showed the troops his press credentials, they continued to detain him as they thoroughly searched his car. The official paper described the behavior of the US forces with its reporter and other journalists in Iraq as "unacceptable".
Egypt arrests 300 Sinai bombing suspects
CAIRO - Egypt's security forces have arrested more than 300 people in connection with a spate of deadly bombings that has rocked the Sinai Peninsula over the past year, a security official said on August 29. "Some 300 suspects have been arrested in the Jabal Halal area [in central Sinai] and another 43 people, among them presumed terrorists, drugs dealers and ex-convicts were nabbed while hiding in the mountains," he said.
Around 4,000 members of the Egyptian security forces and 200 criminal investigators and sappers are taking part in a massive hunt for suspects in the barren Sinai Peninsula. Deminers use robots to find and neutralize homemade explosives concealed in Jabal Halal's sandy mountains after two police officers were killed in blasts last week.
Egypt trial witnesses blame security lapses for Taba bombing
ISMAILIYA, Egypt - Failure to provide adequate security was largely to blame for deadly bombings in Sinai resorts last year, witnesses testified on August 28, as the trial of two suspects in the attacks resumed. The suspects, Mohammed Gaiez Al Sabah and Mohammed Rubaa Addallah, are charged with carrying out the bombings that killed at least 34 people at the Hilton hotel in Taba and two other Sinai resorts on October 7, 2004.
Zakaria Mokhtar Abdel Aziz, deputy director for security at the Hilton, told the court that the hotel had only a handful of security guards and that it had no policy of searching vehicles at the time of the attacks. The duty of the guards, he said, was limited to registering license numbers of vehicles entering the hotel complex. Abdel Aziz said that the hotel had installed seven closed circuit cameras at the entrance and near the swimming pool, but added that the CCTVs were rarely manned and not equipped to record images.
Egyptian medics reverse pay cuts after threatening suicide
CAIRO - Four Egyptian medics obtained the reversal of cuts to their salaries after four hours of negotiations with the health ministry from the top of a central Cairo antenna from which they threatened to jump on August 27. "We want the manager to resign and we want our money back," Said Mahmoud Ismail Hamam, who came down before his three colleagues to voice his demands in front of the cameras. He said that their salaries had been cut from 300 Egyptian pounds ($50) to 100 pounds following a decision by their emergency center's manager.
The four climbed more than 100 feet to the top of a telecommunications antenna, threatening to jump if the decision was not reversed. Officials from their medical center using loudspeakers tried to talk them out of jumping and the breakthrough came when a health ministry official arrived on the scene to announce that their manager Said Ismail had been fired.
Egypt proposes privatizing government media
CAIRO - Egypt plans to restructure its government-run audiovisual services into a network resembling the British Broadcasting Corp. President Hosni Mubarak said that officials would introduce enabling legislation so that the government's audio-visual assets could be privatized, along the lines of the BBC, the Kuwait News Agency said on August 26. The announcement has sparked a lively debate about the shape of the restructured media assets.
Hamdi Hassan, dean of the faculty of information at the Egypt International University, said that the media should not remain under the control of the government in a system of diverse political parties. He also called for privatization of some of the television channels and the formation of a special panel to propose new regulations for the privatized media.
Egypt Briefs
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