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follow up earthquake increases mobile
traffic the earthquake that hit cairo in late august may have stirred people’s fears more than it shook the ground beneath their feet. both of egypt’s mobile-phone operators recorded a significant increase in mobile traffic in greater cairo in the two hours following the august 24 earthquake. hitting cairo at 11:00pm, the earthquake measured 4.4 on the richter scale, according to the national research institute for astronomy & geophysics (nriag). according to al gomhouriya of august 25, cairo’s phone system was overloaded for around 90 minutes following the quake. but officials at vodafone and mobinil said their networks were able to handle upsurges in phone use. “there is, in the design, allowance for increases in traffic,” said vodafone’s marketing director hatem dowidar. “if it reaches congestion levels, people will have to try more than once but it doesn’t affect the availability of mobile service.” mobinil director of marketing ken campbell also noted the increase in mobile traffic following the quake, and said the network witnessed no problems. both companies declined to release details on how much traffic had increased. the heaviest congestion was recorded in the area between khanka and abu zaabal, to the east of cairo near the epicenter of the earthquake, which was 34km northeast of helwan, according to nriag. officials at the mobile networks said that an earlier, smaller earthquake during the first week of august had not led to a significant rise in phone traffic. august’s earthquakes caused little damage to buildings, even
in areas of old cairo where decrepit structures stand precariously
on the verge of collapse. but according to local seismic experts,
buildings across cairo fall well below reasonable safety standards,
so people’s fears about building collapses – as suggested
by the august 24 spike in mobile traffic in helwan – were justified. the 10-volume building code, he explained, may be extensive, but engineers rarely follow its stipulations. “the geophysical, geological and geo-technical studies for project sites mentioned within that decree are neglected in practice,” el hakim said. aside from loose enforcement, however, the code “does not contain sound rules to build structures resistant to earthquakes.” a more comprehensive code “must be issued as law as soon as possible,” he said. the infamous 1992 dahshour earthquake, measuring 5.9 on the richter scale, caused over 200 buildings in cairo to collapse. the united nations department of humanitarian affairs at the time estimated the death toll from the earthquake at 552, with almost 10,000 people injured – the result of over 5,000 houses being destroyed and 11,000 more damaged. the ministry of housing in 1992 estimated that 96 percent of buildings in cairo and 85 percent of buildings in giza violated local building codes. following the latest earthquake, the ministry said that 2 million buildings in egypt, including 180,000 in cairo, were on the brink of collapse, al-ahram weekly reported at the end of august. but while the cairo governorate has set up committees to address the issue, el hakim said that the road to meeting safety standards would be a long one. scientists and engineers in egypt have been creating earthquake-hazard maps for years - but to no avail, he said. as early as 1988, the egyptian society for earthquake engineering completed a seismic zoning map, which included comprehensive recommendations for earthquake-resistant building designs in egypt. “hazard maps must be done as fast as we can to reduce earthquake losses in our country,” el hakim said. daliah merzaban iraqi exporters visit egypt showing off everything from television sets and irons to crafts, leather goods and honey, 36 iraqi exporters were in cairo for a 10-day trade fair at the international exhibition grounds in nasr city beginning september 12. a steady stream of egyptians funneled through the metal detector at the entrance to look for deals and novelty items. buyers mobbed two stalls selling leather goods, where men and women alike were grabbing belts, leather-bound qurans, shoes and jackets. the trade fair was held in conjunction with the visit of iraq’s trade minister to cairo for the arab league’s economic forum. iraqi flags hung high on the walls and flower arrangements placed around the spacious exhibition hall gave the trade show an unusual, festive air. posters of a younger-looking saddam hussein, either holding a sword or a defiant fist, confirmed the political nature of the exporters’ visit. with us military action against it looming, iraq is working hard to break its isolation and build relations with other arab countries. through trade promotion, trade minister mohamed mahdi saleh said, iraq hopes to sway arab countries to oppose a us-led assault. wearing a designer suit and speaking perfect english, saleh spoke frankly about iraq’s strategy to build opposition to a us invasion through economic trade. “the political dimension in this regard is that his excellency president saddam hussein has given priority to arab countries to trade with iraq,” he said. “my agenda,” saleh added, “is to attend the arab league economic conference and to discuss with our colleagues in egypt bilateral economic and trade relations – to review our past experience, to evaluate what we have done and to move forward with more expansion.” since 2000, iraq has signed – though not implemented – 11 free-trade agreements with arab countries. egypt, syria, tunisia, algeria, yemen, sudan, lebanon, qatar, oman, the uae and libya have all sealed such agreements with the sanction-battered rogue state. “iraq is now one of the main players working to achieve an arab common market,” saleh said. arab countries conduct $26 billion of trade with iraq annually under the un oil-for-food program. egyptian trade with iraq has jumped in the past two years, from $1 billion in 2000 to a current value of $4 billion, according to official iraqi figures. egypt is now iraq’s second-largest trade partner, behind russia. such figures could add weight to arab governments’ inevitable moral qualms about endorsing a us-led invasion of iraq. in meetings in washington last year, us officials questioned egyptian business delegates about their country’s recently signed trade agreement with iraq. while arab countries were criticized for allegedly trying to circumvent the sanctions on iraq, there was tacit acceptance in state department circles that egypt could provide an important channel of communications with the pariah regime. according to an early announcement by the iraqi news agency arbil, the cairo trade fair was originally scheduled to start september 11. iraqi officials in cairo confirmed that the start date had been postponed but declined to give any reason. tariq hassan-gordon cnn irks arabs
too cable news network (cnn) has lost a few viewers in the middle east lately. while israeli viewers, who often accuse the station of being too pro-palestinian, will soon see the station deleted from their cable-television services, arab viewers might also express their dissatisfaction by boycotting the us-based news giant. trouble started for cnn with a comment made by the network’s founder, ted turner, in britain’s guardian newspaper in june. “the israelis, they’ve got the most powerful military machines in the world. the palestinians have nothing,” turner said. “so who are the terrorists? i would make a case that both sides are engaged in terrorism.” the comment elicited outrage from israeli viewers of the station. despite cnn’s efforts to detach itself from turner’s opinions, israeli cable companies responded by cutting cnn out of their satellite-television subscription packages. associated press reported on august 2 that israeli cable companies – which reach 1.1 million television viewers in israel – would no longer carry cnn broadcasts, starting this november. only the satellite station yes, with 310,000 subscribers, will continue to broadcast cnn to israeli viewers. the result will be a 78-percent drop in cnn’s potential viewer base in the country. even yes announced shortly after the publication of turner’s controversial comment that it would open a slot for cnn’s rival, fox tv. pro-israeli groups in the united states have pursued
subscription and ad boycotts of major us publications – including
the washington post, los angeles times and new york times –
accusing the papers of presenting a disproportionate number of pro-palestinian
articles and editorial opinions. cnn’s coverage of the conflict has been slammed by arab intellectuals and laypeople alike, who argue that the station could leave uninformed viewers with the impression that palestinians alone are responsible for the bloodbath in their country. cnn, these critics say, always portrays palestinians as attacking first, thus prompting justified israeli retaliation. “the arab nation owns a powerful weapon in the
numerous arab subscribers to these newspapers and networks,”
al shorbagy told al-ahram. “if cnn has moved with all its power
to avoid losing 1.4 million israeli subscribers, what about the
millions of arab [subscribers] across the arab world?” not all arab media experts see boycotts as the best way to voice criticism. “instead of a boycott, we should contact the media and present our case by sending letters to newspapers, responding to the accusations and correcting any misinformation,” said sonia dabbous, assistant editor-in-chief of the egyptian weekly akhbar al youm. media activist ali abunimah – co-founder of us-based website electronic intifada, which provides a pro-palestinian perspective on us media coverage – also disfavors subscription boycotts. commenting on a cnn series in june that profiled israeli victims of palestinian attacks, the website reported that cnn’s “blatant omission of palestinians is a clear indication that cnn accepts israel’s arguments that palestinians killed... by heavily armed israeli occupation troops are neither innocent nor ‘victims of terror.’” abunimah, who regularly writes letters-to-the-editor in us papers, said using coercion to force journalists to change the way they report would be counterproductive. “boycotts make people less engaged, and we need them to be more engaged, to interact directly and to challenge with words and facts those sources they disagree with,” he said. he added, however, that advertising boycotts “are
a totally legitimate way to respond” to coverage that advertisers
regard as unsatisfactory. eman wahby real-estate financing council
formed after years of wrangling, mortgages should finally be available to homebuyers in 2003, minister of housing mohamed ibrahim soleiman said last month. soleiman announced the formation of an administrative council responsible for overseeing the smooth implementation of the mortgage law by next year. mortgages have been legal in egypt since may 2001, when the people’s assembly passed the real estate finance law. but more than one year later, the institutional mechanisms necessary to make mortgages available to the public have yet to be put in place. members of the council will include capital market authority chairman abdel hamid ibrahim, central bank of egypt deputy governor diaa el din abd rabbu and other experts chosen by the minister. the administrative council is part of the mortgage law authority, the government-appointed body overseeing all aspects of the law’s implementation. three companies – the national bank of egypt, the housing & development bank and another financial institution – have already been granted licenses for mortgage lending, mortgage law authority head ali shaker was quoted as saying in al alam al youm of september 16. samir farag, vice president of real-estate consultancy coldwell banker middle east, explained that the new council would be responsible for choosing experts to assess properties and determine their value - an essential component to being able to provide mortgages. cairo university law professor samiha el-ayouby expressed confidence about the effectiveness of the mortgage law once it is put into practice. “the government listened to all the suggestions made by experts, and that is why it took them some time,” she said. “but what will make this law really succeed is the evaluation system, by which experts are chosen to decide how much a building or land costs.” berween shoreh will the real businessmen
please stand up? the ambiguity of the term “businessman” – which is applied equally to a host of diverse jobs – has prompted local business professionals to call for the term to be expunged for good from national identity cards. the standard egyptian bita’a (identity card) lists the holder’s profession, and thousands of dog-eared cards carry the offending appellation. as of 1994, the ministry of interior stopped using the term on id cards, opting instead to describe each person’s role more specifically. but most people issued cards before this date have not bothered replacing their old id cards, prompting khaled abou ismail, head of the federation of chambers of commerce (fcc), to ask the ministry to call in and replace all the old cards. “the word ‘businessman’ has been greatly misused by some people,” abou ismail said. while big businessmen are sometimes the object of popular suspicion,
smaller businessmen can be just as mistrusted, if they are taken
seriously at all. according to abou ismail, some 1.5 million traders
working in the informal economy have been calling themselves businessmen,
at the expense of 3.5 million legally registered traders. identity
cards should specify a particular job, he said. fcc member abdel fattah metwally, however, doubted that eliminating the term from id cards would do much good. “nobody really asks to see your identity card to see whether you are a businessman or not,” he said.
marsa alam bot takes off less than a year after opening egypt’s first private airport, officials at marsa alam international airport are ready to expand its facilities. ceo of the marsa alam project james pringle said that the volume of passengers coming through the airport since it opened for business last november had exceeded initial forecasts by 33 percent. the airport, pringle said, now receives at least three flights per day, and a total 25 flights per week – higher than initial expectations, which had the airport catering two flights per day by the end of the first year. located in southeastern egypt near the red sea, the airport was built to serve port ghalib, an up-and-coming coastal resort area not far from aswan. “in the environment where the tourism industry has been well-shaken in the region... we’re delighted,” pringle said at a press conference at the mediterranean travel fair on september 17. port ghalib is being developed by the m.a. kharafi group, the same kuwaiti company that built the airport. the airport’s impressive initial arrival figures have prompted the kharafi group – which was granted a 40-year concession in 1997 to build egypt’s first international private airport on a build-operate-transfer (bot) basis – to think about immediate expansion. some $135 million has been pumped into the marsa alam project so far. currently, the airport is able to handle a maximum of 400 passengers – or two to three planes – in one hour. pringle said this capacity would be doubled with the addition of an arrival hall and expansion of the departure hall. “we did not expect to be looking at expanding the airport at least for the first five years,” he said. most of the tourists to the area in the first year have come from italy, germany and switzerland, flying with such airlines as germany’s condor and switzerland’s crossair. but egyptian carriers may soon be flying domestic passengers into the airport. pringle said that, as of the end of september, marsa alam was in “critical negotiations” with egyptair and another airline to provide domestic service into the resort area before the end of the year. pringle implied that negotiating with egyptair was less than straightforward. “the trouble with state-owned airlines is that i don’t think they’ve ever been in a situation of dealing with a private airport in their own country,” he said, explaining that such airlines are not accustomed to the higher level of service and operating cost at marsa alam, which follows international – not national – standards of quality. still, he expressed optimism that the problems would soon be ironed out. “within a month or two, we will have domestic airline service to marsa alam,” he said. signing contracts with more airlines will also be vital for opening up traffic from other parts of the arab world. despite the flood of tourists from the gulf countries into egypt in the summer, marsa alam was able to attract only a “very limited” number of gulf arab tourists, pringle said. “it is very, very important for our airport to attract flights from the gulf,” he added. “we will be heavily marketed in the area.” daliah merzaban us president finally gets
fast track on july 27, us president george w. bush finally acquired the right to unilaterally negotiate and sign international trade agreements without prior congressional approval – a feat his predecessor bill clinton was never able to achieve. the bill squeaked through the senate with 215 in favor versus 212 against. trade promotion authority, or “fast track,” will only allow congress to register its opinion on the president’s proposed trade deals via a simple yes-or-no referendum, without such deals being subjected to bothersome congressional amendments. senate finance committee chairman max baucus, the democrat who negotiated the deal, described it as “the most historic trade legislation ever passed by congress.” clinton’s strenuous efforts to achieve fast track were thwarted by the opposition of labor unions, who objected that past trade agreements had eliminated us jobs in favor of overseas labor. “for nearly 10 years, america has lacked trade promotion authority and the ability to fully take advantage of trade opportunities,” bush stated. “i commend the house and senate conferees for their leadership in reaching a landmark agreement on trade promotion authority, which will open markets, expand opportunity and create jobs for american workers and farmers.” will the us president’s new trade authority bring egypt any
closer to a long-awaited free trade agreement (fta) with the united
states? according to a source at the us embassy in cairo, “fast
track, obviously, gives more authority to the president to negotiate
trade deals, so – at the very least – i think it’s
safe to say that the new legislation won’t hurt egypt’s
chances at an fta.”
oriental weavers sews up
polypropylene market with durable, relatively inexpensive synthetic fibers gaining floor space in the domestic and foreign markets, oriental weavers and a set of chemically inclined partners launched a venture to produce petrochemicals in egypt to feed into its carpet-weaving operations. fifteen months after the opening of egypt’s first polypropylene-manufacturing plant, the oriental petrochemicals company (opc) commands 75 percent of the domestic market for the chemical – used in manufacturing carpets, packaging films, woven bags and garden furniture. the plant, set up in june 2001, is located in the northwest gulf of suez, with easy access to brand-new port facilities. oriental weavers is the venture’s largest shareholder, with a 22-percent stake, and also one of the plant’s main customers, purchasing 30-percent of its polypropylene production. oriental weavers investor relations director farida khamis said that producing polypropylene in egypt improved oriental group’s overall production efficiency and lowered its foreign-exchange operating costs. before setting up opc, the group imported all its polypropylene,
mainly from saudi arabia. saudi arabia also subsidizes its manufacturers through tax incentives and allows them to borrow up to 50 percent of their investment costs as long-term, interest-free soft loans, raafat said. “we’ve seen some unfair competition, and we’ve seen dumping,” he continued, adding that opc moved quickly to file a complaint with the ministry of foreign trade’s antidumping advisory committee, whose investigation is ongoing. nonetheless, opc has been able to rapidly stitch up the fledgling egyptian polypropylene market through the advantage of dealing in local currency. according to raafat, the arrival of a local producer on the scene created severe turbulence for the established importers. “we came, and the security and the stability they had in the market evaporated,” he said. hamdy abdel aziz, information manager at egyptian general petroleum corporation (egpc), said the egyptian government planned to invest heavily in the petrochemical industry, adding that egypt’s 55 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves should be able to reel in $7 billion per year. “we have put together a master plan to develop a petrochemical industry, with investments to reach roughly $10 billion over the next 20 years. this includes 25 new manufacturing plants,” abdel aziz said. the industry, whose growth is overseen by the state-owned holding
company for petrochemicals, is expected to generate 100,000 jobs
over the next 20 years. raafat referred to current domestic demand
for 220,000 tons of polypropylene per year, with an annual growth
rate of 8 to 10 percent. “by mid-2004,” he said, “demand
should be around 320,000 or 340,000 tons.” prior to opening the gulf of suez polypropylene plant, oriental group established local facilities for spinning and dyeing yarn and for the production of synthetic fabrics like nylon and polyester. next, opc plans to construct a $230 million propane dehydrogenation plant to produce 350,000 tons a year of propylene – the raw material for polypropylene that opc currently imports. the propane feedstock for this plant would come from a natural-gas liquefaction facility in the port said area, scheduled to open in the summer of 2003. while opc focuses on the domestic market, 10 percent of its polypropylene production is exported to middle eastern, european and african countries. raafat said the company hopes to increase its exports to 25 percent, with a primary focus on the european union, where opc enjoys an exemption from customs duties, and turkey, where local demand for the chemical is particularly high.
aid threat more bark than
bite the battle of words between washington and cairo since prominent
egyptian democracy and human-rights advocate saad eddin ibrahim
was sent back to jail on july 29 has proven to be little more than
hype. despite agitation in the western media following the state
security court ruling, an informed source close to usaid claimed
that egypt’s share of economic aid from the united states would
not decrease as a result of the american university in cairo (auc)
sociologist’s conviction. while ibrahim, who holds dual egyptian-american citizenship, has become something of a cause célèbre for us newspaper columnists, the egyptian press has – unfortunately for him – come to regard the outcome of his case as a question of national sovereignty rather than human rights. a chorus of critics, from opposition and independent as well as government newspapers, has vocally denounced the us threat. news reports in both countries made it clear that egypt’s annual usaid package of about $2 billion, provided since the signing of the camp david accords in 1978, would not be touched. there was speculation, however, that egypt would lose an additional $130 million in us assistance that it had requested earlier this year, amid expectations that the us congress would approve an increase of $200 million in aid to israel. egypt’s aid allotment has customarily been maintained at two-thirds of the amount given to israel. but according to the us embassy source, neither israel nor egypt is due to receive any additional aid. the us administration’s threat would only have substance, therefore, if egypt applied for additional aid in the future. the embassy source added, however, that both egypt and israel are trying to distance themselves from usaid, with plans to cut the annual amounts they receive by 10 percent or more in the next five years. usaid economic assistance to egypt is decreasing by $40 million each year, as al-ahram reminded its readers on august 23. egyptian council for foreign affairs chairman mohamed ibrahim shaker emphasized that egypt is actively pursuing plans “to find other ways to begin living without this american aid,” al-ahram said. shaker decried america’s “pressure weapon” following the ibrahim verdict as a threat to foreign relations between the united states and one of its key regional allies. “if the stability of egypt and the region are important for the american administration, even annotating [diplomatic correspondence] with such a threat is unacceptable,” shaker said. bush’s statement was also followed immediately by a series of drier articles in egypt’s state newspapers attesting to the improving health of the country’s economy, with the implication that egypt was not dependent on usaid anyway. “american aid was of great importance initially, in the 1970s and 1980s, when it helped lay the foundations for several important projects,” cairo university economics professor samiha fawzy told al-ahram. “but the statistics indicate that the importance of this aid is decreasing.” she added that more usaid funds now went to research and training initiatives than to large-scale infrastructure development. ibrahim has appealed his conviction to the court of cassation. his family has expressed concern that us interference might jeopardize his chances in further hearings of his case.
arab-americans speak at
league the status of civil rights of arabs living in the united states made its way onto the agenda of an early september meeting of the council of arab foreign ministers at the arab league in cairo. in what some arab-american organizations dubbed “a historic meeting,” arab civil society groups from the united states were invited, for the first time, to attend the opening session of the two-day meeting. arab-american leaders underlined the need for better communication between the united states and the arab world. “between arabs and americans, there is no hate or clash, but there is a lot of misunderstanding,” said nasser beydoun, director of the americas arab chamber of commerce, which aims to promote trade between american companies and arab markets. the president of the american-arab anti-discrimination committee (adc), ziad asali, said that arab-americans have a crucial role to play in “improving relations between the united states and arab world – which would serve the interests of both sides.” arab american institute (aai) president james zogby, leader of the community’s other main advocacy group, proposed the establishment of a broad arab lobby in the united states, afp reported on september 4. with complaints of discrimination and hate crimes against arabs in the united states escalating after the attacks of september 11, 2001, arab-american organizations have had to defend the rights of us arab communities while dealing with us government requests for cooperation. asali’s adc and the american civil liberties union led a coalition that sued the us government to release details about the people it had detained, most of whom were arab, since the launch of its “war on terrorism.” the coalition “took three major airlines to court, charging them with racial profiling,” the san francisco bay guardian reported on september 11. but many arabs in the us have accused the adc of neglecting their rights in favor of “kowtowing to the bush administration,” the newspaper continued. the adc came under fire for discouraging its members from publicly opposing us military actions, and for urging arab-americans to cooperate fully with the federal bureau of investigation (fbi). hisham youssef, spokesman for arab league secretary-general amr moussa, said the visitors had “emphasized that they are americans living in a democracy and that they want to work within the system, since this can help them achieve what they want.” youssef added that “all the ministers agreed” that this would be a constructive way to raise awareness of arab issues in the united states. youssef said arab-americans would be consulted on the agenda for a special arab league meeting in detroit, michigan in may 2003. the meeting, he said, would focus on how to promote stronger understanding between the united states and the arab world, as well as on how to advance economic cooperation between the two sides. although the arab-american leaders appeared only as one element of a longer meeting of the council, saudi arabia’s foreign minister, prince saud al faysal, expressed his pleasure with the league “especially for inviting arab-american groups.” the second day of the foreign ministers’ meeting concluded with resolutions opposing the use of military force against iraq, emphasizing the unity and territorial integrity of sudan and expressing support for the palestinians in the face of israeli aggression.
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