ahmadinejad arrives in Cairo

Daily NEWS
EGyPT
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
n e wSta n D p r i c e
l e 4. 00
Issue No. 2127
w w w.thedailynewsegypt.com
Egypt’s Only Daily Independent Newspaper In English
pHotoJournaliSt SabrY’S militarY
trial poStponeD
Female genital mutilation: a
bitter experience
tHe bootcamp: baSic to brutal
FitneSS, all in one place
Military trial of Mohamed Sabry
postponed from today to 12
February
Women share their painful and
lasting experiences with female
circumcision in Egypt
The BootCamp is one of the few
sources that will provide you
with localised information
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8
ahmadinejad arrives in Cairo
MahMoud ahMadinejad becoMes first iranian head of state to visit egypt since 1979
by basil el-Dabh
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday
ahead of the Organisation of Islamic
Cooperation’s (OIC) 12th session.
Ahmadinejad’s visit marks the first
time an Iranian head of state has
visited Egypt since the 1979 Iranian
Revolution.
After President Mohamed Morsi
received his Iranian counterpart at
the airport, Ahmadinejad met with
Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahmed
el-Tayeb, a historic visit given the
current sectarian divide between
Shi’as and Sunnis.
El-Tayeb asked Ahmadinejad to
have fatwas issued from religious
institutions in Iran against insulting historic Sunni figures such as
Al-Sayyeda Aisha, Abo Bakr, Omar,
and Othman. He also called on the
Iranian leader to guarantee Sunnis
a handout picture released by the iranian presidency shows egyptian president mohamed morsi (r) meeting with his
iranian counterpart mahmoud ahmadinejad in cairo on tuesday
The minister’s comment
was made during a meeting
of the committee tasked to
draft the Information Act
A coalition of Islamist parties blames NSF for violence and demands legislative measures regulating demonstrations
by basil el-Dabh
AFP Photo
by luiz Sanchez
minister of Justice ahmed mekki
Bahgat posted on his Twitter that
what he had heard from Mekki in
relation to the rights of citizens and
media freedoms was “far worse” than
anything he had ever heard from the
Mubarak-era minister, Mufid Shehab.
Rizk explained that they had been
invited to participate in the committee working on the drafting of the
Information Act and were happy to
receive the invitation.
The meeting began at 10:30. Rizk said
the talks held were not clear in reason or
purpose, and that the minister had spoken at length about how the media lies
and justifying the protest law that is still
in the works.“The minister kept talking
about how there is no systematic torture at this time,which is infuriating given
the events of the past week,” she added.
“We are not here to listen to his
lectures,” Rizk said, adding that if it was
a call for political discussion, it should
have been a two-way conversation.
“We are here to discuss the law, not
to listen to the minister talk about how
good the current government is and
the value of the Muslim family.”
“It felt to me that what was happening
was so distant from reality,” Rizk said,adding that people are entitled to their points
of view,“but facts are unquestionable”.
A coalition of Islamist groups have
called on General Prosecutor Tala’at
Abdallah to hold opposition parties
accountable for clashes that have
spread around Cairo and other cities over the past weeks, saying they
were responsible for acts of vandalism and violence.
The group also demanded that
media outlets refrain from promoting violence, accusing many channels
of focusing too much on the violence
in order to to expose the economy
to more vulnerability: “Those behind
the violence do not care about the
suffering of the people, especially the
working class.”
7.2919
7.6576
6.7019
6.732
9.3944
Egypt suffered $1.4bn in losses in its
dollar reserves in January, according
to Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) data,
which puts Egypt’s current level of
reserves at $13.6bn.
Part of this loss came in the form
of a $619m payment to the Paris
Club as the first installment of Egypt’s
yearly debt payment.
The factor perhaps contributing
most to these losses, which totaled
9% of the country’s foreign currency reserves, was the penetration of
the Central Bank into Egypt’s exchange market over the last two
months at an estimated cost of
more than $1 bn.
Daily Change
EGX 30
EGX 70
482.79
0.24%
815.69
0.38%
6,704.64
0.65%
10.4559
10.9803
1.778
1.7988
EGX 20
to oust the prosecutor general, referring to Abdallah as someone who
was working for the greater interest
of the country.
Nasr Abdel Salam, head of the
Building and Development Party
(BDP), said that the National Salvation Front (NSF) was made up of
power-hungry figures who resorted
to violence whenever the results of
the ballot box did not coincide with
their agenda.
Salam claimed that the Islamist
trend in Egypt has the backing of the
majority and that the NSF misled a
relatively small group of people to resort to violence. The minority must
learn to recognise the will of the majority, he continued.
He also criticised the media for focusing on the Hamada Saber incident
and the death of Mohamed El-Gendy,
while many Muslim Brotherhood
members and Islamists had died in
the past at the hands of police, but
without such media coverage.
The coalition also rejected calls
both for the dismissal of the prosecutor general and for early presidential
elections, believing the latter would
bring “chaos” to the country.
The influential Salafi Al-Nour Party
was absent from the press conference.
Al-Nour had met with the NSF last
week and agreed on the dismissal of the
prosecutor general and the formation
of a new unified government to oversee
upcoming parliamentary elections.
The loss is a result of debt owed to Paris Club member states
Closing
5,795.57
EGX 100
The coalition also called for just
trials prosecuting those who instigated sexual assault and rape in Tahrir Square.
The group also demanded that the
Shura Council expedite efforts to
pass measures to ensure that demonstrations remain peaceful and do
not block traffic, including through
Tahrir Square.
The coalition called on the Ministry of Interior to investigate and
prompt legal action against rioters who committed vandalism and
destruction of property near the
presidential palace over the last
two weeks.
Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)
member Farid Ismail dismissed calls
Egypt loses $1.4bn in foreign currency reserves
Egyptian Stock Exchange
8.9458
summit being the first Egyptian
head of state to visit Iran since
the 1979 revolution. Relations between the two countries had been
strained due to a number of factors, including Egypt’s participation
in the Camp David Accords.
Speaking to reporters before his
departure from Tehran, Ahmadinejad told reporters that he looked
forward to expanding relations between the two countries. He added that he believed his visit would
“definitely affect” the ties between
the two nations and that he would
seek to lay the groundwork for increased cooperation.
As world leaders continued arriving to Cairo ahead of the OIC summit, Morsi also met with President
of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas and Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to discuss a
wide range of regional issues.
Early presidential elections would bring
chaos, say islamists
Minister of justice denies systematic
torture by Ministry of interior
A discussion held between the committee drafting the Information Act and a
number of human rights activists and
university professors has broken down
on Tuesday after the Minister of Justice
Ahmed Mekki consistently defended
the Ministry of Interior’s actions.
Mekki attended the meeting along
with the head of the history department
at the American University in Cairo
(AUC) Khaled Fahmy, associate dean of
AUC’s business school Nagla Rizk, human rights researcher Amr Gharbeia
and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal
Rights’ (EIPR) director Hossam Bahgat.
All four members withdrew from
the meeting after Mekki refused to
acknowledge any form of systematic
torture from the Ministry of Interior.
The meeting was held to discuss
the latest draft law surrounding freedom of information which, according
to an official statement released by
Fahmy, was not brought to the fore.
According to Fahmy, the minister
said that the media has been mostly
misleading. He also said any reform
within the interior ministry should be
done internally, at which point Fahmy
questioned whether the minister really
believes that a ministry which “kills and
tortures will voluntarily change their
style”. If so, Fahmy added,“why not undertake even a single serious restructuring project over the past two years?”
Fahmy pointed out in his statement
that there has not been a single punishment handed out to officers in relation to cases of murder or torture.
in Iran their full rights as citizens
and asked Ahmadinejad’s government to seek ending the bloodshed
in Syria
In a press conference following
his meeting with the grand imam,
Ahmadinejad stressed that Iran and
Egypt both hold prominent positions in global affairs and that he
would continue bilateral talks to
strengthen relations between the
two countries.
Central Security Forces bolstered
security around Sayeda Zeinab
mosque, as the Iranian president
was scheduled to visit the mosque
following his visit with el-Tayeb.
The Salafi Calling publicly denounced Ahmadinejad’s visit to Cairo
and called on Morsi to prohibit the
Iranian president from visiting any
Egyptian mosques or Tahrir Square.
Morsi visited Tehran last August
for the Non-Aligned Movement
0.81%
Officials from the bank said that
currency auctions also put pressure
on the country’s foreign currency
reserves in January.
Hani Ganina, president of the
Pharos Company’s research branch,
said that the bank had perhaps also
used its reserves to pay for debt in
dollars incurred by Egypt’s Public Petroleum Authority. He stated that he
did not possess any data that confirmed this.
He added that daily tenders for
the central bank also contributed to
the decrease in reserves. He went on
to say that he expected the pound to
stabilise within the next two months.
Commentary
Hellyer writes:
Egypt is not Somalia. Nevertheless, it is also not Switzerland. In
Switzerland, the state’s institutions
were not built on the bedrock of
fear, as they were during the former
regime in Egypt.
page 5
These losses have made it difficult
for the government to cover the cost
of imports using its foreign currency
reserves. Egypt imports $5bn worth
of products every month, and if imports remain at this rate, the country’s
current reserves will be sufficient to
cover only 2.7 months of imports.
Ahmed al-Khowli, president of
the Treasury Department for the
Housing and Development bank, attributed the country’s decrease in
reserves to new methods used by
the bank to trade in dollars.
Payment installments of foreign
debt, combined with decreased levels of tourism and widespread politi-
Female genital
mutilation:
a bitter experience
by Sarah el masry
On the day of the International Day of
Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, the Daily News Egypt
brings you the traumatic experience of
Om Hossam and her daughter.
cal instability, have also contributed
to the weakening of Egypt’s foreign
currency reserves.
He added that a large part of Egypt’s
reserves have been drained due to
the importing of food supplies such as
wheat from foreign countries.
He went on to say that securing
Egypt’s pending International Monetary Fund loan will help to stabilise
the country, restore confidence in
the market, and provide incentives
for investors. He added that Egypt’s
current level of reserves was dangerously low and that immediate measures needed to be taken in order to
prevent further losses.
2
Daily news egypt WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
www.thedailynewsegypt.com
Morsi: there is no alternative to dialogue Minister of culture
President MohaMed Morsi will attend the next session of a
national dialogue next week
By Hend Kortam
Speculation that ‘stripped man’ incident prompted the decision
By Fady Salah
AFP Photo
President Mohamed Morsi is expected to attend the next session
of a national dialogue, scheduled for
next week.
The presidency said it is contacting
national groups to widen participation in the dialogue, due to take place
after the end of the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit
hosted in Cairo.
Morsi said the agenda for the dialogue is open to any national cause
that political and societal groups
would like to discuss.
“This stems from everyone’s belief
that there is no alternative to dialogue
to guarantee the path towards democratic transition and that it [dialogue]
is the only way to bring closer the
various diverse political visions,” the
presidency said in a statement on
Monday night.
On Sunday 27 January, amid nationwide unrest, the president called for
national dialogue on state television.
This was the second televised national call for dialogue. The first came in
December following deadly violence
outside the presidential palace.
Like the first round of dialogue,
the most recent round has been re-
officially resigns,
Qandil yet to decide
Morsi heads a previous round of dialogues
jected by the opposition including
the National Salvation Front (NSF),
the country’s largest opposition
group. Despite having described
the call for dialogue as a show, NSF
leader Mohamed ElBaradei said a
few days later that there is a need
for an emergency national meeting,
adding that national dialogue re-
quires meeting the NSF’s previous
demands.
However, after months of polarisation, Al-Azhar has managed to bring
opposition figures like Hamdeen
Sabahy to agree with Freedom and
Justice Party (FJP) representatives
on a document drafted by Al-Azhar
in cooperation with various political
groups. The 10-point plan drafted by
the nation’s highest Islamic authority
denounces violence and calls for a
shift towards peaceful protests.
The presidency said it appreciates
the principles and values proposed
in Al-Azhar’s initiative, adding that
it looks forward to seeing political
groups committing to the initiative.
Minister of Culture Mohamed Saber
Arab officially resigned from his post
on Sunday.
The resignation was submitted
to Prime Minister Hesham Qandil,
who is yet to make a decision on
the matter.
State-owned Al-Ahram reported
that Qandil met Saber Arab on Monday, in an attempt to convince him
to withdraw his resignation. However, Arab insisted on his decision,
and thanked Qandil and the other
cabinet members for their support
in the past.
It is as yet unconfirmed why Saber
Arab put forward his resignation, but
some media reports have speculated
that the now infamous incident involving Hamada Saber last Friday was
what pushed him to do so.
Alaa El-Hadedy, spokesperson
for the cabinet, denied these media claims and asserted that Qandil
is yet to decided on Saber Arab’s
resignation.
Al-Ahram also reported that Saber
Arab did not go to his ministerial of-
fice on Monday, adding that his latest
official decision had been to extend
the Cairo International Book Fair until 9 February instead of 5 February.
Hossam Nassar, former undersecretary for the Ministry of
Culture, claimed that Saber Arab
has cooperated with the Muslim
Brotherhood to extend their influence into the Ministry of Culture,
adding that he is now trying to leave
because he recognised the failure
of the government. “Try again, Mr
Saber Arab,” he said. “History will
remember that you cooperated
with fascists.”
Former minister of culture
Gaber Asfour praised Saber Arab’s
decision on Monday during a show
aired on the Sada El-Balad TV channel. Asfour explained that the decision is what any patriotic person
should do during the current critical period.
Notably, Asfour was appointed as
a minister of culture on 29 January
2011, before he resigned on 9 February for objecting to the policies of
the cabinet, led by Ahmed Shafiq at
that time.
ahram gifts court session resumes
photojournalist sabry’s military trial postponed
Prosecution ends travel bans of defendants who paid back gifts they received from Al-Ahram
The military trial of photojournalist Mohamed Sabry is postponed from today to 12 February
Public prosecutors have decided on
Tuesday to unfreeze funds belonging
to 13 former regime officials whom
allegedly received them as a gift from
the Al-Ahram newspaper.
Twenty-six former regime officials
are being tried for receiving illegal gifts
from the chairmen of the board of directors of the state-owned Al-Ahram
institution.The defendants include former President Hosni Mubarak, his wife,
their two children and their wives.
During the case’s second session
at the Cairo Criminal Court, public
funds prosecutor Mohamed Al-Naggar stated that 13 defendants have
paid the worth of gifts they are accused of having received, reported
state-owned Al-Ahram.
The 13 defendants include former
Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, former
Peoples’ Assembly Speaker Ahmed
Fathi Sorour, former Parliamentary
Affairs Minister Mofeed Shehab, former Minister of Health Hatem Al-
Gabaly, former Minister of Interior
Habib Al-Adly and parliament Secretary General Sami Mahran.
The names of the 13 defendants have
been taken off the travel ban lists, and
the freeze on their funds has been lifted.
Sorour’s lawyer had claimed the
former speaker of parliament had actually made a museum out of these
gifts and did not use them himself.
Al-Naggar stated during Tuesday’s
session that Mubarak’s sons Gamal
and Alaa granted the public prosecution permission to withdraw the sum
of money they are accused of having
received in the form of gifts, alongside that of their parents and their
wives, reported Al-Ahram.The sum of
money is worth EGP 18m. Prosecutors are awaiting verification of Gamal
Mubarak’s signature on the permission before withdrawing the funds.
The case was postponed until the
Mubarak family pays back their share
of the gifts, reported Al-Ahram.
Former chairmen of the board of directors of Al-Ahram institution Ibrahim
Nafie, Morsi Attallah, Abdel Moneim
Sa’eed and Salah Al-Ghamry are all accused of illegally using public money.The
four chairmen have distributed among
high ranking officials gifts worth EGP
187m, said Al-Naggar.Al-Ahram reported only EGP 27m have been returned
to the state treasury thus far.
Until now,former presidential chief of
staff Zakariya Azmy and former Finance
Minister Youssef Boutros Ghaly haven’t
paid back any amount of the sum demanded of them. Former Shura Council
head SafwatAl-Sherif only returned EGP
250,000 of the sum demanded of him.
The public funds prosecution’s
report stated that former Al-Ahram
chairman Ibrahim Nafie had started
the tradition of giving expensive gifts
to high ranking officials back in 1984,
and his successors continued it up
until the revolution in January 2011.
Al-Ahram has been facing financial
difficulties for the past eight years and
currently owes EGP 1.6bn in taxes.
Additional repor ting by Ahmed
Aboul Enein
Minister of finance accused of
plagiarism
Economic researcher accuses minister of using his research to advance his career and
boost Muslim Brotherhood popularity
By Rana Muhammad Taha
Economic researcher Ahmed AlSayed Al-Naggar on Monday accused
Minister of Finance Al-Morsi Hegazy
of using parts of his research and presenting them as his own.
Al-Naggar, head of the economic
unit at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, stated that
Hegazy submitted a research paper entitled “Social and economic justice and
the phenomenon of marginalisation in
Egyptian society” to the annual conference of the Economic Research Association in December 2011. He added
that the research used parts of his own
research paper, entitled “The realities
of impoverishment and marginalisation
in Egypt and the means of resolving
them”.Al-Naggar said he had published
the research in 2006 in a report called
“Strategic Economic Tendencies”.
He presented documents supporting his allegations in an interview on
the independent Al-Qahera Wal Nas
television channel on Monday.
“I didn’t intend to reveal the theft,
believing that the important thing
Finance Minister Al-Morsi Hegazy
was for my ideas to provide economic solutions for the people,”
Al-Naggar said in a statement. “Yet,
when Hegazy hijacked my research
and used it to reap electoral votes for
the Muslim Brotherhood, I couldn’t
remain silent.”
A Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)
spokesperson denied allegations that
Hegazy is a Muslim Brotherhood
member, reported Reuters.
Al-Naggar also accused the min-
ister of abusing his research to get
ahead in the workplace without citing Al-Naggar as the main source of
his ideas.
“If the minister of finance doesn’t
resign or get sacked tomorrow, I shall
file a lawsuit documenting this theft,”
Al-Naggar said on Monday.
The Ministry of Finance is yet to respond to Al-Naggar’s allegations. The
ministry’s media office said Hegazy
will release a statement soon.
By Hend Kortam
The verdict of the military trial of Mohamed Sabry, a photojournalist and TV
producer who was arrested in January,
was postponed to 12 February.
The court postponed the verdict to hear the statements of the
“operations division”, No Military
Trials for Civilians said. The group
believes that the military judiciary
is stalling, as it did during the trials
of the people of Qorsaya and Sherif
Al-Hossary.
Sinai-based Sabry is being tried in a
military court Ismailia.
He was arrested while reporting on the reaction of the people
of Sinai to a decision made by the
Minister of Defence, Abdul Fatah
Al-Sisi. The minister’s decision
places restrictions on land ownership in Sinai.
Many residents are have expressed
dissatisfaction with the law.
Sabry was arrested after filming
near the Rafah border. He is being
Kafr al-shiekh
governor attacked
By Salma Hegab
Kafr Al-Shiekh Governor Saad Al
Hossini was allegedly attacked by four
masked armed men on his way to a
meeting in the governorate of Gharbia with the ministers of environmental affairs and high education. In
addition to the governor’s car, the assailants also took the security guard’s
weapon and their mobile phones.
A statement posted on the governorate’s media commission Facebook
page said that three similar cases took
place in the same area two weeks ago.
Media advisor to the Kafr AlSheikh governorate Ayman Hegazy
stated that the governor was not
harmed, and that the car was later recovered. One of Al Hossini’s friends
called the governor’s personal phone
only to be answered by one of the
alleged perpetrators.
The perpetrator claimed they did
not specifically target the governor, and
that the car is located in Ezbet Al-Settin.
Ahmed Shawky, a representative of
6 April Movement in Kafr Al-Shiekh,
criticised the governor, stating: “You
stripped Egypt in front of the world,
so now that you have been stripped,
it’s a lesson that should be considered.”
Shawky claimsAl Hossini was stripped
by the robbers during the incident, but
Hegazy strongly denied the claim.
No Military Trials /
By Rana Muhammad Taha
Mohamed Sabry
tried for entering and filming a prohibited military zone.
Sabry is also an activist and a
member of the No Military Trials for Civilians group. His arrest
comes less than a month after his
wedding in December. After re-
maining in custody for several days,
Sabry was released on 9 January but
his trial continued.
Egypt’s recently passed constitution allows military trials for civilians
if they commit crimes that harm the
armed forces.
BBC explains nsF
survey controversy
The survey only asked for opinions regarding the NSF’s
demands, the BBC says
By Fady Salah
The BBC Arabic TV channel denied
on Monday that the live survey they
held on 1 February regarding the
National Salvation Front (NSF) had
asked questions regarding their popularity in Egypt.
The channel, which belongs to
the BBC International Broadcasting
Network, issued a press release on
Monday describing Egyptian media
reports which claimed the survey
had dealt with the NSF’s popularity,
as “inaccurate”.
Media reports claimed the BBC
conducted a survey on the NSF’s
popularity, adding that the results suggested 82% of Egyptians disliked the
NSF, and believed the front does not
represent them.
However, the press release
explained that the survey conducted on the Noqtet Hiwar TV
show dealt with the question of
whether the NSF demands represent Egyptians or not, adding
that the results were drawn only
from programme audiences, who
responded to the question online
and through phone calls.
Notably, most of the survey’s responses rejected the NSF’s demands.
The BBC asserted that the results
of the survey are by no means a comprehensive measurement of public
opinion, as they represent the opinions only of those who watched the
show and participated in the survey.
The survey is also open to participants from across the world who can
submit their answers more than once,
according to the release.
“We always explain to our audience that our surveys represent
only a sample of opinions of those
who watch the show,” said Mahmoud El-Kasas, chief editor of Noqtet Hiwar TV show.
Khaled Dawoud, media spokesperson for the NSF, claimed that the
survey is not truly representative of
Egyptian citizens, adding that he believes the NSF is gaining more popularity in the streets while the Muslim
Brotherhood are losing the people’s
support because of their failed leadership of Egypt thus far.
Daily news egypt
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
3
www.thedailynewsegypt.com
26 injured after violence erupts in tanta
Protests over the death of mohamed el-gendy took Place in delta governorate on monday
Protesters in Tanta clash with the police
Released detainees in Alexandria and
representatives of those still in custody will
testify on violations which occurred during the
imprisonment of those arrested since 20 January
By Emily Crane
Activist groups and political parties have
called a press conference in Alexandria
on Tuesday evening to address human
rights violations committed against detainees arrested since 20 January.
Released detainees, family members, and lawyers of those still in
custody will be present to testify regarding human rights violations that
took place while the detainees were
in custody, said Haithem Elhariri of
the Al-Dostour Party. These violations include beating, threatening to
rape or otherwise physically harm,
and sexually harassing detainees and
detaining minors, said Evronia Azer,
a member of activist group No Military Trials.
Earlier on Tuesday, Azer estimated
the total number of detainees remaining in custody to be as high as
55. However, around midday, several
detainees were released, bringing the
total number down to 35. Around 20
of these are under the age of 18, ac-
cording to Mohammed Hafez, a human rights lawyer in Alexandria.
Among these is Mahmoud Adel
Mohammed Hussein, a 14-year-old
boy with cancer who has been refused treatment. Hafez is serving as
his lawyer and will represent him at
the press conference. Hafez is also
representing 14-year-old Abdurahman Ramadan Mohammed.
“The charges against the detainees
vary from case to case,” said Azer,“but
they include blocking traffic,threatening
the general security of the city, insulting
the police, and violent behavior.”
Hafez maintains that the two boys
are not guilty of any of these charges
and hopes they will be brought to trial
within 15 days.
The press conference is being hosted by the People’s Committee for the
Defense of the Revolution. Several
other activist organizations and political parties will be present, including
members of the Kifaya movement, the
Lazem movement, the Revolutionary
Socialists, and the Al-Dostour Party.
prosecutor general renews
calls for expatriation of
Mubarak assets
Mubarak-era assets in Switzerland are frozen pending
new law allowing for expatriation of funds
By Luiz Sanchez
In an attempt to pressure the Swiss
government into returning frozen assets belonging to former president
Hosni Mubarak, Prosecutor General
Talaat Abdallah posted a poll on his
Facebook page asking Egyptians if
they felt Switzerland should comply
with requests to repatriate the funds.
The poll consisted of three answers to the question of whether or
not Egyptians agree to the drafting of
a law allowing for the return of such
assets to Egypt: ‘Yes’, ‘No’, and ‘I don’t
know’. Over 13,000 participants, an
overwhelming majority, voted ‘Yes.’
In a later statement Abdallah explained the aim of the poll was to put
pressure on the Swiss government in
speeding up the drafting process of
the new law, known as the Mubarak
Law, which was initially put forward by
Switzerland last week.
Switzerland holds an estimated
700m Swiss francs, nearly $770m, of
Mubarak’s assets. One of the conditions placed on the recovery of the
funds is the cessation of violence and
a recovery of stability.
Switzerland was the first country
in the world to freeze Mubarak’s as-
sets, doing so within a few hours of
his announcement to step down on
11 February 2011.They were also the
first country to do the same for Libya
and Tunisia in 2011. Switzerland has
been a haven for money laundering
for many years, due largely to the fact
that strict privacy laws in the Swiss
banking sector make it difficult for investigators to trace money to these
accounts. Nevertheless Switzerland
has waged a campaign against international economic crime and boasts
the highest amount of expatriated
funds, over 1.8bn Swiss francs, since
the campaign began in 2001.
Last month the Swiss ambassador
Dominik Furgler and Egypt’s Minister
of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf El-Sayed El-Araby signed
an agreement which would allow for
30m Swiss francs in aid to be delivered
to Egypt in allotted blocks until 2016.
With Egypt’s economy in freefall,
much of the promised aid from Europe, the US and Islamic banks has
yet to be delivered. Investors have
repeatedly said they are awaiting
political stability in Egypt before any
aid deliveries or investments can be
made, further complicating Egypt’s
economic situation.
no deaths. Five people are being
treated at Tanta University Hospital.
Al-Ahram reported that a protester
hit in the eye by a rubber bullet was
among the injured.
Molda said the clashes lasted for
seven hours and a security truck was
burnt by protesters. He claimed that
internationally-prohibited gas bombs
were used during clashes.
28-year-old Mohamed El-Gendy
was a member of the Popular Current and a founding member of the
Al-Dostour Party.
El-Gendy’s alleged torture was reported by several human rights organisations. He was found unconscious at
Al-Helal Hospital in downtown Cairo
onThursday and died early on Monday.
political groups fight for justice for el-gendy
A memorial service will be held for Mohamed El-Gendy on Tuesday
By Hend Kortam
A memorial service will be held for
Mohamed El-Gendy in his hometown
of Tanta on Tuesday evening.
The Al-Dostour Party will be taking part in the service.
In addition to the popular funeral
procession held for El-Gendy and
Amr Sa’ad Abdel Reheem, another
protester killed in Downtown Cairo,
a few dozen activists held a silent vigil
for El-Gendy on Monday evening in
Damanhour. They demanded retribution for El-Gendy and announced
solidarity with his family.
Clashes erupted outside the governorate building in Gharbeya on Monday as a parallel funeral was being held
for El-Gendy in Tanta.
On Monday night, the Strong Egypt
Party released a statement that started by saying that real stability will not
be achieved unless serious investigations into violations against Egyptian
citizens lead to the punishment of the
perpetrators.
“The blood of Egyptians and their dig-
Mohamed El-Gendy before his death on Monday
nity are the responsibility of the president,” the party said. It added that there
is no point in holding dialogue if serious
investigations are not opened up.
El-Gendy was a member of the
Popular Current. HebaYassin, the media spokesperson for the group, said
a legal team is already fighting to get
justice for El-Gendy.
El-Gendy was also one of the
founding members of the Al-Dostour
Party. Maha Mekawy, another founding member of the party, said party
leaders have not yet announced legal
procedures the party will be taking.
Head of Al-Dsotour Party and
prominent figure in the National Salvation Front (NSF) Mohamed ElBaradei
stated on Twitter: “Youth still tortured
and killed in quest for human dignity.Regime oblivious to violence begets violence and brutality is sure to backfire.”
El-Gendy disappeared on 27 January and was found at Al-Helal Hospital
in Downtown Cairo on Thursday in a
coma. He had suffered a brain haemorrhage and a broken and bruised skull.
He was kept in the Intensive Care Unit
until his death on Monday.
The Al-Dostour Party said the way
El-Gendy and others have died reveals
the state and Ministry of Interior’s abusive methods: “Torturing and liquidating political opponents is a clear methodology,” the party said. It claims signs
of brutal torture were found on his
body and holds President Mohamed
Morsi responsible for his death.
Claims that he died in a car accident were denied by the prosecution,
state-run Al-Ahram reported, adding
that investigations are still ongoing
and that the prosecution is waiting
for the forensic autopsy report.
Missing injured protesters found in hospitals
Two protesters injured during the latest clashes were admitted to governmental hospitals as ‘anonymous’
after disappearing from clashes
By Rana Muhammad Taha
The Hesham Mubarak Law Centre’s
(HMLC) emergency room reviewed
two cases where protesters disappeared during clashes in Cairo only
to be later found in governmental
hospitals.
Amr Imam, lawyer at the HMLC,
stated that Omar Mahmoud was
found in Al-Helal Hospital four days
after his disappearance. He was admitted into the hospital under the
name ‘anonymous’.
“He disappeared on 27 January night
from Qasr Al-Nil Bridge,” Imam said.
“His friends saw him get shot at with
birdshot before he disappeared.”
He added that the centre and Mahmoud’s friends and family searched
for him extensively but to no avail.
Witnesses told them they had seen
Mahmoud in Qasr Al-Nil Police Station, but the police station denied this.
Mahmoud was suffering from a
wound on the left side of his head,
sustained from a birdshot, Imam said.
The HMLC filed a report to the prosecutor general on Tuesday holding the
Ministry of Interior and the Central
Security Forces leader responsible
for Mahmoud’s injury and demanding
an investigation into the incident.
Mustafa Al-Sayed disappeared after being wounded in the right eye
by birdshot during the presidential
palace clashes on Friday, Imam stated.
He was found the following day in AlDemerdash Hospital, also admitted
under the name ‘anonymous’.
Al-Sayed claimed he was ‘kidnapped’, said Imam, stating that after
being shot during the clashes by security forces, he was dragged to an
unknown location. Al-Sayed said he
was kept there for hours.
Al-Sayed also claimed his captors
forced him to stamp his fingerprints
on documents he could not identify.
Imam said the condition of Al-Sayed’s
injured eye was critical and he’s likely to
lose eyesight. His sister filed a report
regarding the incident at the Heliopolis
Misdemeanor Court on Monday.
“We’re holding both the Ministry of
Health as well as the Ministry of Interior responsible for such incidents,”
Imam said. He stated that the Ministry
of Health’s complicity in those incidents is what led to the final outcome.
Al-Dostour Party and Popular Current member Mohamed Al-Gendy
also disappeared on Qasr Al-Nil
Bridge on 27 January and was found
at Al-Helal Hospital on Thursday in
a coma. He died on Monday. Claims
that he died in a car accident were
refuted by the prosecution, state-run
Al-Ahram reported. The Al-Dostour
Party claimed signs of brutal torture
were found on his body.
Additional reporting by Hend Kortam
egyptian women march to condemn stripped man incident
The women proceeded to the High Court of Justice chanting ‘Egyptian men should not be stripped’
A women’s march organised by independent women’s group Baheya
Ya Masr took place on Tuesday at
5pm, beginning at Talaat Harb Street
and continuing to the Egyptian High
Court of Justice.
The march comes in response to
the now-infamous incident involving
Hamada Saber, who was captured
on camera naked being beaten and
dragged across the ground by Central
Security Forces last Friday.
On the march’s Facebook event
page, a statement condemned human
rights violations against both genders,
and said that women had always suffered from brutality and sexual harassment and the struggle for human
dignity and rights continues.
Menna Essam, a Baheya Ya Masr
activist, said that the organisers ex-
pected a high turnout after the call
for the march was “well received” on
social networks. The march included
a relatively large number of male
protesters who were responsible for
safeguarding women against harassment or attack. Several prominent
women’s rights activists participated
in Tuesday’s march, including Bothaina
Kamel and Actor Khaled El-Nabawi.
Women protesters chanted against
President Mohamed Morsi, the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Ministry of Interior.
They held banners featuring several
protesters who were recently killed
or tortured in clashes across Egypt.
Protesters demanded that Morsi’s
rule be overthrown, and demanded
justice for those who were recently
beaten, tortured, or killed.
Ahmed El-Malky
alex detainees to
testify on human
rights violations
ate Building to demand the identification of the police soldiers who
detained El Gendy.
Protesters chanted slogans against
the police and the government, according to eyewitnesses. Clashes began at around 5pm when the police
started firing tear gas to disperse the
crowds,said Moqawma Movement activist Islam Molda.
Angry protesters threw Molotov
cocktails at the Tanta Police Station,
causing clashes with police forces.
Clashes continued until Monday
evening.
The deputy spokesperson for the
Health Ministry stated that of the 26
injured, 10 were police officers. The
spokesperson said that there were
Public domain
Protests over the death of activist
Mohamed El-Gendy, reportedly tortured to death by police, led to violent
clashes in Tanta on Monday.
Some protesters attempted to
storm the Tanta Police Station and
the Gharbiya Security Directorate
on Monday evening. 26 people were
injured, according to state-owned AlAhram. Security forces have detained
nine people allegedly paid to protest.
Hundreds took part in the funeral
prayers for El-Gendy on Monday afternoon in Tahrir Square. The family
then transported El-Gendy’s body
to Tanta for burial. Protesters in
Tanta went to Gharbeya Governor-
Public domain
By Salma Hegab
Women demonstrate in Talaat Harb square in support of Hamada Saber
who was stripped and beaten by the police days ago
4
in-Focus
Daily news egypt WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
www.thedailynewsegypt.com
Female genital mutilation: a bitter experience
Today marks the International Day of
ZeroTolerance to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, a practice that affects
nearly 140 million girls and women
worldwide, the majority in Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). In November 2012,
the UN General Assembly adopted a
resolution on female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). The resolution
declared a global ban on the practice,
enthroning years of concerted efforts
by civil society organisations. While
the UN resolution is not legally binding, it puts international and political
pressure on governments to take the
necessary steps to end the practice;
Egypt included.
After years of women’s rights advocacy and awareness against FGM/C
(interchangeable with “female circumcision”) in Egypt, there was a remarkable drop in the prevalence rate
of the practice from 97% to 91.1%
among women aged 15-49, according
to the Demographic Health Survey
carried out by the United Nations
Population Fund in 2008.
Today, civil society organisations
are still working to end the practice
in Egypt. Activists complain that political support for the cause has been
virtually non-existent since the 25
January Revolution. For the Ministry
of Health, raising awareness about the
issue is clearly no longer a priority.
These concerns were reinvigorated in April 2012 when the residents of
a village in Minya reported a medical
convoy organised by the ruling Freedom and Justice party (FJP) for conducting FGM/C on female residents in
the area. The FJP denied the accusation since there was no evidence, but
according to a brochure published by
state-run Al-Ahram, the convoy did
promote FGM/C surgeries for low
prices. Additionally, a former Salafi
parliamentarian submitted a draft law
to the 2012 parliament before its dissolution to legalise the practice.
Despite the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) rejecting a lawsuit
calling for nullifying Law 242 which
criminalises FGM/C, the calls for legalising female circumcision continue.
Calls for and against the practice
continue to shape mainstream public
opinion. Nevertheless, the prevalence
of FGM/C stems primarily from inherited social traditions, local culture
and norms, and religious misconceptions.The reality of local communities
in Egypt reflects just that.
FGM/C in Egypt
Civil society organisation such as the Episcopal Institution in Masaken al-Gomhuria offers lectures to women and girls to raise awareness about FGM
buy their baladi bread, fuul and falafel
for breakfast.
Heading towards a group of buildings called Masaken Al Gomhuria, the
entrance is marked by some homeless
dogs sleeping under traditional boatshaped swings to stay dry. Despite
the bleak environment, colourful paper decorations from previous feasts
hung between the rows of buildings
give the area the authentic flavour of
a Cairo neighbourhood.
The Episcopal Institution for Care
and Social Services, a community
organisation for the area residents,
is housed in the first-floor flat of a
nearby dilapidated four-story building. The community centre offers a
range of services from literary classes
to lectures about reproductive health,
catering to both women and girls.
Today, 15 to 20 women from different age groups ranging from late 20s
to 50s were sitting inside the centre,
chatting about their daily chores for
a typical Friday. What was not mentioned in this back and forth banter
was their shared purpose for meeting
with each other today: their experiences with FGM/C.
At first, the women were reserved
about sharing their stories, but Om
Mohamed seemed forthcoming.
“The details are carved in my
memory. I do not remember how old
I was exactly, but I remember what
happened to me after. I started bleeding intensely and the midwife had to
use ice and cotton with oil to stop the
bleeding. It did stop, but it was a painful
process that I still vividly remember,”
she says.
While Om Mohamed seemed indifferent to her FGM/C trauma, her
face cringed and sharpened whenever
she mentioned specific details, as if remembering the pain.
Om Mohamed has two daughters.
She believes that one of them might
need tahara, (“purity”, the common
name for FGM/C in Egypt). “I’ll visit
a doctor to ask first before I do anything, because we knew from many
lectures we attended here (at the institution) that this practice is no longer good, even our daughters learn
that in school nowadays and if we said
yes to it, they tell us ‘no it’s haram,
religiously forbidden,’” she says.
Om David, an Egyptian Christian,
is also circumcised, but unlike Om
Mohamed, she experienced minimal
complications. Om David believes
the practice is becoming less common because awareness is currently
on the rise. “Our daughters are the
ones who tell us ‘no’. Plus, we learnt
that the chastity of a girl is not related to tahara; it’s related to the way
you’ve been raised, your environment
and your home. So many girls are circumcised, yet their behaviour is out
of control.”
According to the WHO, FGM/C
covers all procedures resulting in “the
partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to
the female genital organs for cultural
or other non-medical reasons.”
The WHO classified four types
of FGM/C:
“The first is clitoridectomy where
the clitoris (the most sensitive part
of the female genital that leads to
sexual gratification) is partially or
totally removed. In some rare cases
only the prepuce, the hood of the
clitoris is removed. The second is
excision which includes partial or
total removal of the clitoris and the
labia minora, with or without excision of the labia majora (the labia are
“the lips” surrounding the vagina).
The third is infibulations (commonly
known as the Sudanese circumcision) where the vaginal opening is
narrowed through creating a covering seal. The fourth type is unclas-
AFP Photo / Safin Hamed
Friday 10am. Exiting Ezbet El Nakhl
metro station and walking towards
one of Cairo’s oldest neighbourhoods,Ain Shams. Despite the muddy
streets and pavements, the naturally
formed ponds from a rainy day, and
the absence of street gutters or
drains, the neighbourhood is already
vibrant. Men in kaftans and women in
black glittery galabeyas queued up to
By the Episcopal Institution at Masaken al-Gomhuria
By Sarah El Masry
The Demographic Health Survey in 2008 showed a drop from 97 to 91.1% in the prevalence rate of FGM/C among
women aged 15-49 in Egypt
sified because it includes all other
harmful procedures to the female
genitalia for non-medical purposes
like pricking, piercing, incising, scraping and cauterising the genital area.”
“The first and second types are the
most prevalent here in Egypt,while the
third is prevalent in Sudan and other
African countries,” notes Mawaheb
El-Mouelhy, a reproductive health and
population specialist.
Snapshot of bitter reality
Like Om Mohamed, Om Hossam
had a bloody experience with FGM/C
after which her married life was affected. However, this did not keep her
from passing on the tradition. She circumcised two of her three daughters.
“We grew up with that tradition, and
my husband also wanted them [the
daughters] circumcised.”
She narrates one of her daughters’
experiences: “My daughter was circumcised by a doctor who was one of
our relatives. Although she [the doctor] refused at the beginning, fearing
the penalty, I insisted and she gave in
in the end.”
The daughter, 13 years old at that
time, bled from the afternoon to
the evening.
“After a couple of hours, she went
to the bathroom and that’s when I saw
her standing in a pool of blood. I was
horrified by the scene and trembled.
I tried to help her, but I was afraid to
take her to the hospital because that
would have jeopardised the doctor
who I promised confidentiality,” she
says remorsefully.
“My situation was very hard. I
wanted to save my daughter but at
the same time, going to the hospital
would have got the doctor, her father
and myself arrested. So I called the
doctor back and she agreed to come
to examine my daughter.
“My daughter’s face went yellow
from losing so much blood and I
thought for a second that I lost her
when she fainted,” she says.
Zeinab Heada is a gynaecologist
and a senior technical adviser for
reproductive health at Care International in Egypt. She explains why
Om Hossam’s daughter experienced
intense bleeding.
“The clitoris is the primary erogenous zone in the female genital area.
It’s full of muscles, nerves, blood vessels, some arteries and veins. Therefore, any cut could lead to bleeding to
death. In an unsanitised environment,
stopping the bleeding using stitches
or bandages could result in the cut becoming infected. Mistakes down there
could be irreparable,” she clarifies.
“We don’t have circumcision for
girls in medicine. We don’t have it in
our curriculum, nor did we receive
medical training for it.When the midwife, or whoever cuts the clitoris,
the length is totally subjective, and
because there are no surgical instruments for the procedure, unlike male
circumcision, she uses razors, which
is disastrous,” Heada adds.
Om Hossam regrets her decision
regarding her two daughters. She
hopes their circumcisions do not af-
fect their future the way she was affected by hers.
“To some extent, I’m cold in my intimate relationship with my husband.
If I were to stay a year without it, I
wouldn’t ask. But desire drops by age
and changing daily problems, so this is
not the focus anyway,” she says.
Pitfalls of FGM/C
Most women in the group were
satisfied in their intimate relationships
with their husbands.They agreed with
Om Hossam that with age, sexual desire decreases, at least for them, and
other issues come to the forefront
like bringing up children, earning a living and marrying their children.
In El-Mouelhy’s study “Female
Sexuality and FGM/C in Egypt,”
several focus groups of Muslim
and Christian women and men in
Minya in Upper Egypt declared that
FGM/C did not impact their sex
lives. Younger men, however, disagreed, saying “it influences sexual
responsiveness”. Ironically, these
men were also afraid that uncircumcised women would be too active.
Heada explains that the surgery has
ramifications: “Psychologically, young
girls could be subjected to traumatic
experiences especially if they had
complications. Sexually, if the clitoris
was wholly removed this would prevent women from experiencing sexual pleasure or having sexual desire in
the first place. Reproductively, during
delivery, women may suffer as a result
of the deformities in their vaginas.”
Om Hossam shares the blame with
her husband for circumcising her
daughters. She says: “He also wanted
it. He thinks it’s religiously good and
he cited one hadith about it once.”
A religious controversy?
Om Hossam’s husband believes
female circumcision is part of Islam’s
teachings. He is like many others confused between the opinions of religious scholars on the issue.
Ahmed Ragab, a professor of reproductive health at Al-Azhar University, attempts to clear any confusion about FGM/C from an Islamic
point of view: “the practice takes
place in 28 African countries and
some Asian countries. As for Islamic
countries, the practice only exists in
Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Djiboutii, Iraq
and some parts of Yemen. The rest
of Islamic countries rarely exercise
the practice.”
He further explains:“Religiously, it’s
known by any student studying fiqh,
Islamic jurisprudence, that we depend on the Quran, the sunnah (the
Prophet’s sayings and actions), ijma’
(consensus), qiyas (deductive analogy). In all four sources, there isn’t any
mention for mandating circumcision
for women.”
“However, the controversy comes
from the opinions of some scholars
who deem female circumcision permissible, jaaez, since there isn’t any ban
on it and others who call it an honouring practice, makrama, citing three hadiths, used to justify khafad (the Islamic
term for female circumcision).
“Nevertheless, these hadiths are
weak and not supported by Quranic
verses or even ijma’ from imams,”
he adds.
Ragab goes on interpreting the
core value of Islamic jurisprudence.
He says: “it aims primarily to bring
benefits to worshipers and keep away
corruptive deeds. So when an actions
results in harming health, it is only
logical that it would be forbidden.”
Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, the
former Grand Mufti of Egypt, has
repeatedly said that “there is no legitimate document mandating the
practice for girls”.
Sheikh Ali Gomaa, the current
Grand Mufti of Egypt, has also said:
“the more medicine advances, the
more we’ve been led to understand
how harmful the practice is for females and there has been a consensus
among doctors about it.”
Though mainstream Islamic scholarship deems the practice forbidden
in Islam, sheikhs of the Shafi’i school of
fiqh believe in the correctness and the
strength of the hadiths. They would
forbid all types of FGM/C except for
the first type. They believe that hoodectomy (removing the hood of the
clitoris) is in line with what the hadiths
say regarding female circumcision, not
calling it mutilation.
Moving forward
It is important to point out that
culture and tradition, not religion, is
the primary motive for carrying out
FGM/C. In Egypt, both Christians and
Muslims are circumcised.The women
at the Episcopal Institution in Masaken Al Gomhuria are a stark example.
Half of them are Christians and everyone in the group except one young
woman was circumcised.
Om Hossam justifies circumcising
her daughters by saying that bringing up teenagers is a “hard mission”.
She says that teenage girls become
stubborn and out of control and that
pressure from other girls could lead
them down the wrong path. They interact with people from higher social
classes and they want to dress and
wear make-up like them.
“Tahara is a way to ease their wild
behaviour. There is the internet and
the computer and girls talk with each
other so you won’t know what they
see, do or discover.We teach them to
conserve the honour of their family,
mother and father,” she asserts.
Randa Aboul Seood is the head of
the NGO Coalition against FGM/C
which aims at unifying efforts with
other NGOs to combat the practice.
The coalition works on unifying the
messages and narratives regarding
FMG/C to have a stronger impact
on society.
Aboul Seood says the coalition
is currently targeting schools, saying education has proved to be the
best way to raise awareness about
FGM/C: “We are reaching out to
schools located in poor and slum
areas where the quality and level of
education is already low. We have
been working in 30 schools and the
results have been promising.”
She says: “The parents are responsive to the different NGOs carrying out the program. We believe
that if people were taught correctly
they will naturally reject FGM/C as
a practice, but our biggest hurdle is
political support.”
Aboul Seood is, like other FGM/C
activists, waiting for the results of
the upcoming Demographic and
Health Survey scheduled in 2014
to evaluate the status of FGM/C
since 2008. They are concerned
that with the lack of political support, the prevalence of FGM/C may
be rising again.
As for Om Hossam, she pledged she
would not repeat the same mistake for
her third daughter:“I learnt the lesson
the hard way, even though her father
still wants her circumcised like the rest
of her sisters, I won’t allow it even if we
ended up being divorced.”
After a moment of silence among
the women, Om Mohamed courteously asked to be excused. The rest
followed too, eager to leave and buy
baladi bread before their husbands
finished the Friday prayers.
Disclaimer: Commentaries published
by Daily News Egypt do not reflect the
position of the paper,but the independent
opinions of their authors.
commentary
Daily news egypt
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
5
www.thedailynewsegypt.com
commentaries debate opposition,
egypt is not somalia
violence and corruption
Writers across Egyptian newspapers have explored an assortment
of topics. Some of them dissected the deteriorating level of human
rights in Egypt, especially after the recent clip of torture showing a
man being beaten and dragged by security forces. Other writers condemned the opposition and their failing attempt to establish popularity on the ground.
The crisis of the opposition
Amr Al-Shobaki
Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper
Al-Shobaki argues that the second
battle of Itihadiya- clashes that occurred in front of the presidential
palace last Friday- falls under the
responsibility of President Mohamed Morsi’s policies and group,
whereas the opposition has paid
the dearest price. Some believe
that the more radical and violent
the reaction is to protest, the probability of the ouster of Morsi grows.
Al-Shobaki refutes this hypothesis.
He believes that the main attention should focus on rebuilding a
political system or group that will
be able to fill the vacuum of the
Muslim Brotherhood once they fall.
The secular opposition has lost a
lot even before the 25 January Revolution. Its members have always
been keeping an eye on its leaders
and active members and did not pay
similar attention to social mobilisation and establishing a wide circle of
supporters on the ground. However,
the writer states that the virtual
success of the opposition, which is
represented in the National Salvation Front, appears in the 37% of
voters who chose to vote no for
the recently passed constitution.
Their minimal success was apparent
when they managed to gather protesters in several city centres and
chant against the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood and their rule. AlShobaki finally warns the opposition
from losing their popularity in the
street, believing that those in power
will not be easily replaced and will
not resolve the crisis.
Why are they afraid from free media?
Emad Al-Din Hussein
Al-Shorouk newspaper
Thanks to the camera that caught
Hamada Saber being beaten and
dragged by security forces in front
of Itihadiya, Egyptians can see the
extent of corruption inside the Ministry of Interior. Hussein asks why
authorities fear free media. If the
media wasn’t active enough, Egyptians would not have known about
Emad Al-Kabir, a microbus driver
who was sodomised by police officers inside a police station, Sayed
Belal, a salafist who was found dead,
and, last but not least, Saber, who
was abused by security forces. The
writer believes that without free
media, Saber would have probably
been taken to a cell or a police station where he would receive another dose of beatings and sexual
abuse. His family, instead of refuting
his denials, would have been convinced by authorities that Saber
died in clashes between protesters
and security forces.
Highlighting the importance of
free media, the writer believes that
unveiling incidents of violence like
that of Saber will push every police
officer to think twice before beating
a citizen or abusing a protester. Although many media channels exaggerate while transferring their messages, this does not mean that media
should be treated as a single entity in
one basket.The writer concludes his
column by saluting the cameraman
who captured the images of Saber
being beaten, stating that free media
is one of the shields that protect
Egypt from corruption and authoritarianism.
The violence of Egyptians against
Egypt
Motaz Billah Abdel Fattah
Al-Watan newspaper
Abdel Fattah recalls an incident
when he witnessed a girl being
raped by a group of youths in the
street. Her screams reminded him
of the several incidents where human rights were violated in Egypt.
Hamada Saber, the Egyptian who
was beaten and dragged by security
forces in front of the presidential
palace, is the freshest example of
violence used against citizens and
protesters.
The writer argues that the new
minister of interior tends to imitate the regime-era ministry of
Habib Al-Adly. Comparing him
to the former ministers of interior during Morsi’s era, Mohamed
Ibrahim, the current minister of interior, has brought Egypt back to
the dark years of Mubarak, when
the basic human rights of Egyptians
were severely violated. Now, the
abuse is becoming more public.
With the same mentality, the interior ministry uses tear gas and gun
shots at protesters as a defense
mechanism. A violent action will
never lead but to a violent reaction. In some cases, the reaction
could even be more aggressive.Abdel Fattah condemns the level of
chaos Egypt has reached and calls
upon Egyptians stop the violence
against the country.
(it isn’t switzerland, either)
The last two weeks were not a huge
surprise. For some, it seems that the
last couple of weeks were the result
of a strategy by forces opposed to
the presidency of Mohamed Morsi—that the violence was planned,
arranged, and implemented. There
is a corresponding logic to that line
of thought—that had the violence
not been planned, it would not have
happened.
That is an attractive line of thought,
but that narrative does not nearly do
justice to the injustice that has been
taking place in Egypt over the past
two weeks. From the outset, if we
are to be accurate, and our analysis
is to be useful, the narrative has to
begin much earlier than the last two
weeks. Indeed, it begins years, if not
decades, ago.
In a fully functioning state, the use
of legitimate violence is reserved
for the state and its delegated institutions.This is the difference between a country like Switzerland,
and a country like Somalia. In one, if
a group or individual uses violence,
the state intervenes on behalf of
the citizenry to declare plainly and
clearly that only the state can do so.
Where vigilante violence, let alone
criminal violence, occurs without
challenge, the state has broken
down.
It ought to be clear—Egypt is
not Somalia. Nevertheless, it is also
not Switzerland. In Switzerland, the
state’s institutions were not built
on the bedrock of fear, as they were
during the former regime in Egypt.
Rather, the state benefited from
respect of the citizenry, where the
broad, overwhelming majority of
individuals believed that the state’s
institutions were their institutions,
and not the tools of a coercive elite,
designed to impose their will upon
everyone else.
In Egypt today, the state’s institutions are different from what
they were under Hosni Mubarak.
While fear remains, the critical
‘curtain of fear’ has been ripped
to shreds. People are still afraid
to a large degree—witness, for example, how a man beaten by the
state’s police force a few days ago,
denied it in court, out of fear. Yet,
fear of the state no longer plays
the same role it once did.
Many will speak favourably of
this—and they are right to do so.
Fear is not only an immoral and unethical way to maintain a society, it
is an unsustainable one. A strong
society is one where citizens feel
their rights are protected—from
and by each other, as well as from
and by the state.
A strong society
is one where
citizens feel
their rights are
protected—from
and by each other,
as well as from
and by the state.
But Egyptians have not yet substituted fear for something else in
their state institutions. Respect
did not suddenly replace fear in
those institutions. Respect did not
suddenly become the predominant instinct inside the Ministry
of Interior—whether inwardly,
among its own officials, or from
the citizenry toward its officials. In
the past, Egyptians feared the police—and hence they did as they
were told, even while their rights
were infringed upon. Today, they
do not fear the police to the same
degree at all—but they also do not
respect the police. That means
that there are cracks in the structure of Egypt’s state. These cracks
aren’t causing the entire structure
to break down and fall into widescale anarchy and chaos, but they
are serious deficiencies and flaws.
When the state is thus challenged by a crisis or a set of unusual circumstances, it does so from a
point of weakness.The real source
of a strong state is the respect that
the citizenry has towards its institutions. When that respect was
almost absent to begin with, having
been substituted with fear, it is a
weak state indeed. Imagine, then,
H A HEllyEr
when you have a state whose institutions are not feared, nor respected, but actually disrespected,
because the institutions invite
such disrespect when they do not
uphold the rights of the Egyptian
citizen, as the Ministry of Interior
has done.
You then imagine, quite well, the
Egyptian state.
The question becomes, then:
Who is responsible for instilling
respect in those institutions? The
answer can only be: those who
are in power. Those in power,
who legitimately hold the reins
as per the election results, must
implement reforms and restructure those parts of the state that
can and need to be restructured.
There is no-one else who can do
that. If, on the other hand, those
in power not only fail to carry
out such reforms—but make the
problems worse by prioritising
their partisan share of the state?
They can only be described as having failed their mandate—and in a
time of revolution, they can only
be described as having failed their
mandate exponentially more.
Dr H A Hellyer, a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution,
is a Cairo-based specialist on Arab
affairs, and relations between the
Muslim world and the west. Fellow
at ISPU, he was previously senior
practice consultant at Gallup, and
senior research fellow at Warwick
University. Find him online @
hahellyer and www.hahellyer.com .
six pieces, looking for an author
Far from violence, clashes and
clouds of tear gas, from press releases and accusations, we are
called to escape the chaos of our
country and pick up the scattered
pieces that once formed a picture
of Egypt.This picture, as it currently
exists under the Muslim Brotherhood, is in the process of being created, but we will never be able to
see it materialise unless we work to
organise the fragments. I leave it to
you, dear reader, to pick up these
pieces and organise them in any way
you see fit, perhaps in the same way
the famous Italian fantasy fiction
author Luigi Pirandello, who wrote
the well-known play “Six personalities looking for one author”.
The first piece of our puzzle: As
the country focuses on the state of
Egypt Air and how it has downgraded the quality of services provided
to its customers, Ahmed Fahmy,
president of the Shura Council, has
made known his opposition to a
film shown on an Egypt Air flight
that he deemed crude and inappropriate. Fahmy personally saw the
film while on a flight and was so
offended that he forced the crew on
board to immediately stop showing it. This despite the fact that the
film had already been approved by
the country’s regulatory agencies
and chosen for display by Egypt Air
because of its agreeable, conservative nature. When speaking of the
incident, the company’s spokesman
said that the film had been stopped
for the remainder of the flight for
all passengers aboard, while a statement released by the company said
that it had only done so for the
flight’s business class, where Fahmy
was seated. Other sources claimed
that the film was no longer shown
on any Egypt Air flights.
The second piece: Al-Ahram recently published a story entitled
“Farmers will be given soft loans
enabling them to be able to afford to marry three women” on
its front page. The Farm Credit
and Development Bank recently
announced in a press conference,
attended by the minister of agriculture, that they had decided to grant
the loans to promote the practice
of polygamy in order to put an end
to the problem of spinsterhood,
with interest paid on the second
wife being just 6% and interest on
the third wife going up to 15%!
Third: Commenting on the recent train crashes that have left
Daily
news
egypt
Editor
Maher Hamoud
Rana Allam
Chairman
Mostafa Sakr
dozens of Egyptians dead, Shaykh
Nasir Fareed Wasil, previous
Grand Mufti of Al-Azhar, stated
that according to the Shari’a, the
maximum level of indemnity that
could be paid to the families of
victims was either 200 camels,
or 1,000 gold dinars. This form of
compensation, he said, could and
should apply to any other accident
that has recently occurred.
Fourth: In pursuance of those
plotting against the Muslim Brotherhood and Islam, authorities recently happened across a pigeon
with what appeared to be a strange
letter tied around its leg. Although
many poked fun at the issue, AlAhram published an article stating
that a group of fourth year students from the college of Shari’a
law at the Asyut branch of AlAzhar University found a pigeon,
“with a piece of cloth wrapped
around its ankle. Upon opening the
cloth, they found a strange strip of
metal with unintelligible signs and
writing on it. One of the students,
when asked what was done with
the pigeon said, ‘we killed it.’”.
So: for anyone seeking to foil the
plots of those conspiring against
the Muslim Brotherhood, killing
Chief Editor
Saad Zaghloul
Deputy Editor
Laurence Underhill
strange-looking pigeons is clearly
an easy, efficient way of doing so.
Fifth: While rates of sexual harassment and rape throughout
Egypt have increased, Al-Ahram
decided recently to put on its front
page a story about how Hamas has
launched a campaign in the Gaza
Strip to “solidify values and virtue”
in order to “combat the spread of
Western style dress in the strip,
particularly beach shorts, tight fitting women’s clothes, and foreign
haircuts”. Adel al-Howr, director
of the Gaza Strip’s Endowments
Agency, was quoted as saying: “the
campaign will begin by educating
our youth and strengthening efforts to increase awareness. So far,
no end date has been determined
for this campaign.” He further went
on to say that “Imams in mosques
throughout all Gaza, particularly
on Fridays, will be tasked with explaining the significance of this campaign”. He added that “the parents
of the Gaza Strip’s youth welcome
this campaign”. When does Al-Ahram plan on launching similar campaigns in Egypt? And what is meant
by the word “parents”?!
Sixth: The debate surrounding
the constitution, and the extent of
Politics Editor Sara Abou Bakr
Arts & Culture Editor Adel Heine
its legitimacy, is not yet over, as it
has not only been subject to criticism by Egypt’s liberals but also its
Salafis. Many Salafi sheikhs who advised their followers to vote ‘Yes’
on the constitution, only did so as
part of what they considered to be
the first step in implementing an
even stricter form of Shari’a law.
One sheikh, whose video recently
went viral on YouTube, claimed that
after passing the constitution, the
nation’s Salafis would take to court
those clauses of the constitution
that they felt violated Shari’a law.
Egypt’s Administrative Court has
already had cases brought before
it regarding Law 212 of the Penal
Code, and Law 271 passed by the
minister of health in 2007 criminalising female circumcision, with the
prosecution claiming that these
laws violated Shari’a. Fortunately,
the court refused to hear the case,
claiming that none of the women associated with the prosecution were
actually in danger of being victims
of circumcision or had solicited the
help of doctors to perform such an
operation.
What we are discussing today is
not violence, death and injury, martyrdom, harassment or rape, but
Art Director
Abdel-Azim Saafan
FAri D Z A Hr A n
rather the issues of the day that the
Muslim Brotherhood has chosen to
concern themselves with. This includes the banning of films previously
deemed appropriate by regulators,
female circumcision, the proliferation
of polygamy, launching campaigns to
spread values and virtue, and pursuing those who seek to get in the way
of or overthrow the Brotherhood’s
plan for cultural revival. In order to
ward off the dangers associated with
this last issue, this of course requires
that Egyptians take up pigeon hunting,
and keep an eye out for any bird with
a strange cloth around its leg. Watch
out for those strange signs, Oh Egypt!
Farid Zahran is a publisher and
writer. He is the co-founder of the
Egyptian Social Democratic Party
Sales and Marketing Director
Ramy Kamal
Circulation Manager
Sally Kandil
Published by Business News for Press, and
Distribution under License from the Supreme
Council of Journalism
12 Haroon St., Dokki, Cairo, Egypt
Tel: +202 37486853 | Fax: +202 37486936
info@thedailynewsegypt.com
6
Business
Daily news egypt WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
www.thedailynewsegypt.com
Contractors, developers strike deals
with foreign investors
By Hamada Ismail and
Ahmed Samir
tion of Egyptian businessmen will
soon depart for Turkey and Qatar,
and that during the trip, his delegation would seek to land contracts
for projects both in and outside
Egypt.
Abadi said that his company was
on the verge of striking a deal with
a large multinational contracting
conglomerate that hoped to set up
a branch in Egypt. He discussed other plans to co-operate with Saudi
companies in constructing a new
university.
He added that his company
planned to undergo a number of
projects throughout the Arab world
and would be teaming up with Qatari contracting companies to help
build the country’s 2022 World Cup
stadium.
He reinforced the need to attract
foreign investment in order to renew confidence in Egypt’s economy
after two years of negative growth
in the country’s contract sector.
Abadi went on to point out that
many of these international contracting companies now employ
modern technology that would have
a positive effect on the environment,
and that using such technology in
Egypt would help spur growth and
development.
On a related note, Tariq Shakri,
president of the board of directors
for the Arab Group for Real Estate
Investment, further emphasised the
importance of foreign investment
in helping to restore confidence in
Egypt’s economy, particularly in its
construction and real-estate development sectors.
He added that his company was
keen on using the latest technology
in its construction projects, and that
it is planning to import cement from
the United States, in addition to establishing a brick factory in Egypt
with the help of a number of foreign
companies.
Shakri added, however, that the
success of Egyptian companies in
striking deals with foreign institutions was contingent upon political
stability within the country, in addition to putting an end to bureaucratic restraints and passing appropriate laws governing businesses, all
of which would coalesce to form a
positive environment for investors.
Sayf Farag, an urban economics
expert, was keen to point out however that foreign investment could
and should not serve as a complete
substitute for local investment in
Egypt’s real estate market, and it is
for this reason that foreign investors should not be blamed if they decide to take their money elsewhere.
He added that at the moment
the Egyptian market suffered from
AFP Photo
A number of Egyptian contractors
and businessmen looking to strike
deals with foreign companies for the
rights to a number of foreign and local projects, recently accompanied
President Mohamed Morsi on a
number of trips to foreign countries
in order to help boost Egypt’s competitiveness in the world market.
Businessmen from 12 construction companies recently accompanied Morsi to Italy, China and Germany, including the Balboa Group
for Real Estate and Tourist Investment, Onspect, al-Rawda, the Egyptian Gulf, Misr, Redcon, Al-Baron,
Concorde, Al-Awael, in addition to
GCC Italy, Orascom and the Arab
Group.
A number of officials from the
Al-Boursa company, said that the
slowdown in domestic business has
forced companies to seek out foreign investors to do business in the
local market and invest in Egypt’s
construction sector.This is especially true considering that the Egyptian
government has recently authorised
a number of joint private-public sector development projects.
Tariq al-Gamal, president of the
board of directors of the Radcon
construction company, said that the
sector had recently attracted large
amounts of foreign investment, particularly from Germany.
He added that the coming months
would witness a large number of
collaborations between Egyptian
and foreign companies, especially
those from Germany, which plan to
undertake a number of large projects in Egypt’s tourism sector.
Many German investors have expressed their enthusiasm in working with their Egyptian counterparts
on government-sponsored projects.
President Morsi’s recent trip to
Germany helped spur many of these
deals, which many hope will benefit
Egypt’s economy.
Ahmed Amr, executive director of the Hashemite Mechanical
Engineering Company, said that a
number of Egyptian contracting
companies were seeking to work
with their foreign counterparts in
order to be able to better compete
for the acquisition of large-scale
development contracts. Egyptian
companies have recently found it
hard to compete by themselves in
the world market, particularly after
the political and economic instability that gripped Egypt following the
25 January Revolution.
Muhammad Abadi, managing director of the al-Mamari Contracting
Company, said that he and a delega-
Businessmen from 12 construction companies recently accompanied President Morsi on a number of trips to foreign countries
Daily EGX30 index performance
Company
Name
Commercial Bank
NSGB
Ezz Steel
ELSWEDY ELECTRIC
MRRIDIVE
AIC Contracting
Amer Group Holding
EK Holding
EFG-Hermes
Pioneers Holding
Citadel Capital
Raya Holding
Telecom Egypt
Orascom Telecom Media And Technology
Orascom Telecom
Sidi Kerir Petrochemicals
Egyptian Financial and Industrial
AMOC
Juhayna Food Industries
Orascom Construction Industries (OCI)
Delta Construction & Rebuilding
Modern Co. For Water Proofing
Palm Hills
TMG Holding
National Real Estate Bank
Six of October
El Kahera Housing & Development
Arab Cotton Ginning
Oriental Weavers
Egyptian Tourism Resorts
Reuters
Code
Sector
COMI
NSGB
ESRS
SWDY
MOIL
AIND
AMER
EKHO
HRHO
PIOH
CCAP
RAYA
ETEL
OTMT
ORTE
SKPC
EFIC
AMOC
JUFO
OCIC
DCRC
WATP
PHDC
TMGH
NRPD
OCDI
ELKA
ACGC
ORWE
EGTS
Banks
Banks
Basic Resources
Industrial Goods and Services and Automobiles
Industrial Goods and Services and Automobiles
Financial Services excluding Banks
Financial Services excluding Banks
Financial Services excluding Banks
Financial Services excluding Banks
Financial Services excluding Banks
Financial Services excluding Banks
Technology
Telecommunications
Telecommunications
Telecommunications
Chemicals
Chemicals
Oil and Gas
Food and Beverage
Construction and Materials
Construction and Materials
Construction and Materials
Real Estate
Real Estate
Real Estate
Real Estate
Real Estate
Personal and Household Products
Personal and Household Products
Travel & Leisure
Last Close
Price Price
Returns
Daily Performance Turn Over Volume Market Cap.
Daily YTD 12-Mths. Max. Price Min. Price (EGP Mill.) Trade (EGP Mill.)
36.3
36.50
10.57
22.74
1.14
0.47
0.64
1.29
11.4
4.80
4.07
5.68
14.99
0.60
4.58
13.08
10
69.99
8.6
261.37
6.95
2.01
2.5
4.43
19.42
21.15
6.5
4.29
22.99
1.09
1.14%
-0.03%
1.27%
-0.18%
1.80%
0.00%
0.00%
1.56%
1.44%
1.50%
0.75%
0.36%
1.16%
1.72%
2.23%
0.00%
1.11%
-0.04%
-0.12%
0.21%
9.97%
1.01%
1.21%
1.15%
0.46%
0.48%
0.94%
1.19%
-0.30%
0.93%
36.41
36.49
10.40
22.51
1.13
0.47
0.64
1.30
11.29
4.74
4.04
5.65
14.80
0.59
4.58
13.10
10.01
69.62
8.64
261.82
6.95
2.01
2.51
4.41
19.50
21.09
6.46
4.24
22.92
1.08
5.32%
3.64%
4.73%
-1.75%
-2.59%
0.00%
0.00%
1.56%
2.54%
-2.47%
6.88%
-0.18%
4.59%
7.27%
15.37%
-1.13%
0.91%
-4.88%
12.35%
3.75%
11.38%
12.29%
2.87%
-0.45%
-2.21%
3.74%
-1.67%
-3.64%
-1.63%
2.86%
59.48%
34.70%
81.82%
-11.76%
-22.90%
-18.97%
4.92%
20.37%
-2.08%
35.04%
38.36%
42.68%
-0.40%
87.61%
21.16%
-2.24%
7.29%
-9.67%
87.01%
7.67%
-10.67%
-29.47%
78.01%
9.98%
-11.28%
106.36%
45.17%
69.60%
-17.35%
6.93%
36.70
36.51
10.58
22.74
1.14
0.48
0.65
1.31
11.40
4.81
4.08
5.77
15.00
0.61
4.67
13.25
10.18
70.25
8.75
265.00
6.95
2.04
2.55
4.45
19.80
21.43
6.52
4.30
23.39
1.10
36.00
36.21
10.24
22.50
1.12
0.46
0.63
1.28
11.15
4.67
4.01
5.56
14.60
0.58
4.48
13.06
9.88
69.41
8.44
260.25
6.95
1.98
2.48
4.34
19.11
20.80
6.38
4.15
22.50
1.07
22.78
13.369
17.37
0.777
2.85
2.564
2.69
7.668
22.81
7.159
28.44
1.889
14.36
63.071
34.91
2.527
3.99
3.152
3.57
35.427
0.86
3.060
56.18
10.164
2.20
3.406
1.98
13.683
0.42
5.088
625,477
366,380
1,670,146
34,513
376,793
5,434,951
4,203,948
884,944
2,020,446
1,509,986
7,034,013
334,145
970,171
106,206,475
7,628,901
192,888
398,220
45,268
412,709
135,311
124,023
1,521,608
22,349,638
2,304,748
112,735
161,527
307,293
3,224,965
18,108
4,690,551
21,500.19
16,189.06
5,579.33
5,038.08
397.82
251.27
1,945.41
1,074.30
5,323.42
2,335.00
2,621.41
361.58
24,974.46
3,042.50
23,500.69
6,877.50
686.09
5,996.87
6,107.37
54,587.25
146.03
202.98
2,599.83
8,997.13
75.75
1,903.30
600.00
1,109.58
2,069.10
1,123.50
a lack of security, and that in cities
throughout the country a number of
Egypt’s largest and most prominent
streets and plazas had been closed.
This has given the country a bad
reputation in the eyes of businessmen looking to invest their money
in foreign markets.
He went on to say that steps
needed to be taken to attract local
investment before foreign investment was sought, further pointing
out that the country’s current policies encouraged investors to take
their money elsewhere to more
stable, neighbouring countries. He
added that since the revolution, the
real estate investment market has
nearly ground to a halt.This, he said,
was a result of investors becoming
more reluctant in undertaking new
projects considering the instability
witnessed in the country. This especially does not bode well, he said,
considering that the country’s real
estate market is the main driver of
the economy and is a sector Egypt
cannot afford to do without.
HC celebrates the
graduation of 22 students
of HC school programme
The second run graduation for 2012 attended by
experts and financial services industry specialists
HC Securities & Investment celebratdates into the labour market, hence,
ed the graduation of the second class
fulfilling the missing link between
of students from HC School’s Trainacademic studies and professional
ing Programme for 2012. The projob requirements. The volunteers
gramme sponsored by the company
offered assistance in fields such as
as a part of its initiative to provide
investment banks, asset managegraduates with the necessary skills to
ment, trading in the stock exchange
work in financial services industry.
and E-trading, custody (bookkeepThe School Training Programme
ing), main financial and technical
is part of HC’s community investanalysis and corporate governance.
ment endeavours which aims to
At the end of the programme,
convey knowledge and experience
HC announced the chance to have
to senior and fresh graduates of unia three-month internship at the
versities in Egypt. It is an integrated
company’s different departments
programme that focuses on trainfor two students.The students were
ing candidates on the basics of the
selected according to the results of
financial sector business and the esa unified test for all students to measential soft skills required to achieve
sure how far they benefited from
excellent and efficient performance.
the curriculum in developing their
Twenty-two students from differpersonal and technical skills.
ent public and private universities
in Egypt attended the programme.
Mohammed Metwally, Deputy
CEO at HC Securities & InvestThe programme aims at introment, asserted the importance
ducing students to concepts of
of the continuity of such profinancial services offered by finanListed
173
158,768,638
523,611,854
23,733
grammes to qualify Egyptian
cial institutions and supplying them
human411,365,848
resources to meet23,722
finanwithStocks
all main personal168
skills to
ef158,662,578
cial services market requirements.
ficiently perform their jobs in the
PDBonds
3
102,336“HC preserves
111,873,588
4
its role towards the
financial sector. Voluntary efforts
wereBonds
extended by qualified
HC’s
2
3,724 society through
372,419supporting and
7
qualifying graduates and transferstaff to transfer their expertise to
Nilex
9
288,363ring practical
1,251,468
261
expertise in finanthe students in various fields, out of
to acquire necessary
the belief
OTCthat it is the responsibility
6
90,838cial services
5,335,298
20
tools and techniques that fit marof private sector’s entities to inject
6
90,838ket requirements”
5,335,298, He added20
a newDeals
generation of trained
candi-
Markets
No.
Volume Value(LE)
Trades
Orders
0
0
0
0
Total
188
159,147,839
530,198,619
24,014
386,519,264,403
Total Market Cap
Market indices performance
Index
Value
Daily Ch.
YTD Ch.
EGX 30
5,795.57
0.81%
6.10%
EGX 70
482.79
0.24%
1.20%
815.69
Volume
6,704.64
158,768,638
0.38%
Value(LE)
0.65%
523,611,854
1.92%
Trades
5.72%
23,733
158,662,578
411,365,848
23,722
EGX 100
Markets
No.
EGX 20 Capped
Listed
173
Stocks
168
PDBonds
Bonds
Markets
Direction
Nilex
Listed
OTC
Listed
stocks
Stocks
Market Brief
4
Volume
Value
No.
of
2
3,724
372,419
7
No.
Volume
Value(LE)
Trades
No.
(000's)
(LE
000's) Trades
9
288,363
1,251,468
261
173
158,768,638 523,611,854
23,733
3
6
102,336
90,838
111,873,588
5,335,298
20
170
168
6
158,666
158,662,578
90,838
411,738
411,365,848
5,335,298
23,729
23,722
20
Gainers
Total
Bonds
Total Market Cap
Decliners
Nilex
30
82
188
2
58
9
0
102,336
136,790
159,147,839
3,724
6,785
288,363
0
111,873,588
329,649
530,198,619
372,419
386,519,264,403
45,205
1,251,468
04
16,936
24,014
7
4,591
261
OTCIndex
Unchanged
DealsEGX 30
6
30
6
90,838
15,091
Value
5,795.57
90,838
5,335,298
36,884
Daily
Ch.
0.81%
5,335,298
20Ch.
2,202
YTD
6.10%
20
0
0
815.69
0
0.38%
0
1.92%
Deals
Orders
PDBonds
EGX 70
EGX 100
Orders
EGX 20 Capped
Total
188
Total Market Cap
Direction
No.
Listed stocks
Index
Gainers
170
482.79
6,704.64
159,147,839
0.24%
0.65%
530,198,619
158,666
411,738
Value
136,790
Daily
Ch.
329,649
Decliners
58
5,795.57
6,785
45,205
Unchanged
30
EGX 70
EGX 100
EGX 20 Capped
Direction
No.
5.72%
24,014
Volume 386,519,264,403
Value
No. of
(000's)
(LE 000's) Trades
82
EGX 30
1.20%
482.79
0.81%
0.24%
23,729
YTD
Ch.
16,936
6.10%
4,591
1.20%
15,091
36,884
2,202
6,704.64
0.65%
5.72%
815.69
0.38%
Volume
Value
(000's) (LE 000's)
1.92%
No. of
Trades
Listed stocks
170
158,666
411,738
23,729
Gainers
82
136,790
329,649
16,936
Decliners
58
6,785
45,205
4,591
Business
Daily news egypt
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
7
www.thedailynewsegypt.com
standard & poor’s: gulf banks replace european
banks in Mena
EuropEan banks arE shEdding assEts outsidE of thE MEna rEgion to rEbuild thEir balancE shEEts
affEctEd by thE financial and sovErEign dEbt crisEs
By Mohamed SalahEldin
The latest acquisitions deals by
Gulf country banks in the Middle
East and North Africa (MENA) region were the subject of a report
issued by rating agency Standard
and Poor’s (S&P).
The report says European banks
are shedding assets outside of the
MENA region to rebuild their balance sheets, which have been affected by the financial and sovereign debt crises. European banks
have been replaced mainly by banks
from the oil-rich countries of the
Gulf who have capital to spare,
healthy liquidity, and supportive
shareholders enabling them to pursue acquisitions in emerging MENA
countries, where opportunities for
long-term growth exist.
The study expects the trend to
continue in the next few years,
amplified by lower prices caused
by the financial assets, as well as
the tendency of European banks
to sell assets outside their home
markets, which will allow the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC)
banks to expand in relatively unbanked and young markets like
Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia. The
study also expects solid capitali-
sation, traditionally a key strength
for Gulf banks, to remain so over
the medium term.
The report says the bankable
population in the Gulf is structurally limited with a total population of
less than 50 million including a large
population of foreign workers who
tend to have limited bank assets,
which gives an incentive for banks
in this region to look for business in
emerging markets, which are home
to young and large populations able
to support long-term growth.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
in 2012 in MENA were the highest
since 2008, with the financial sector
had 30.5% of transactions. Egypt
and Turkey held the lion’s share of
activity: 142 deals were announced
or closed in Turkey for a total value
of $10.1bn, and in Egypt, transaction volumes reached $9.8bn from
38 deals, according to the report.
The authors of the report show
concern over the limited operational experience of Gulf banks outside their region. Their lending operations are mostly limited to their
home countries and they have limited cross-country exposures even
within the Gulf region. The authors
question whether GCC banks would
be able to generate risk-adjusted
returns comparable with those at
home where they have limited competition, high margins, low labour
costs and no taxation.
The report gives special attention to credit rating acquisition by
major Gulf financial institutions
in higher risk countries, which although positive in terms of business diversification, may be credit-negative. However, the strong
shareholders and the healthy capital-raising ability these institutions
possess will help mitigate the risk.
There are more transactions in
the pipeline for 2013, says the report. Qatar National Bank (QNB)
announced it will continue to look
for acquisition opportunities in
Turkey and elsewhere, while Emirates NBD publicly advertised its
intention to boost contribution of
revenues from overseas over the
next few years.
As the rate of acquisitions increases, management of sizeable
exposures abroad will require
changes in the corporate and risk
governance and underwriting culture to enable banks to make adequately decentralised and country-specific business development
decisions, while maintaining firm
control of the risk process.
iFC to invest $6m in Fawry
By Masood Ahmed – IMF Blog
The fund will be used to extend the network of payment terminals across the country
Governments in a number of countries in the Middle East and North
Africa region face a growing need
to take politically difficult steps to
reduce large fiscal deficits. Reducing deficits is, of course, not an end
in itself. But in many countries, deficits are so large that they will begin
to hurt growth and financial stability. At the same time, measures to
trim the deficit can have a negative
effect on economic growth in the
short run. So, the question is: what
measures can policymeasures take
to reduce budget deficits whilst
minimising their negative impact
on economic growth and vulnerable members of society?
In response to social demands
and rising food and fuel prices, governments across the region have increased spending on subsidies and
wages significantly over the past
two years. Public revenues, however, have been declining for a variety
of reasons, including the slowdown
in regional economic activity. As a
result, oil-importing countries in
the Middle East and North Africa
(MENA) have seen a large increase
in their chronic budget deficits,
which grew to an average of more
than 8.5% of GDP in 2012 from
about 5.5% in 2010.
Such an increase in fiscal imbalances is quite difficult to sustain
over a long period of time. In fact,
looking ahead, there is little room
for additional government spending.
Average public debt in MENA countries is more than 78% of GDP, and
slower than projected growth or
higher interest rates could put debt
on an unsustainable path.
Typically, deficit reduction calls
for, on one hand, measures to increase government revenue and, on
the other, measures to cut spending.
Revenues can be increased either
by raising tax rates or by broadening the tax base. The latter can be
achieved by implementing reform
measures to make the tax system
more efficient and to address tax
evasion and tax avoidance. Reducing government expenditure entails
cuts in both current (non-interest)
and capital spending.
Rebalancing the composition of
revenues and expenditures may help
lessen the adverse side effects of
deficit cuts on growth.
On the revenue side, property
and sales taxes are the most growthfriendly measures for raising revenues. Trade and income taxes are
the least growth-friendly. Egypt is
among those oil-importing economies in the region with the greatest
scope to rebalance taxes towards
more growth-friendly instruments.
Djibouti, Jordan, and Morocco are
among those with less scope.
On the expenditure side, social
benefits and subsidies are the least
growth-friendly measures, whereas
capital spending tends to be the most
The International Financial Corporation (IFC), a member of the World
Bank group, is investing $6m in Fawry,
the electronic payment provider, in
an effort to extend financial services
and encourage economic development in Egypt.
The fund will be used to extend
the network of payment terminals
across the country. It is expected to
help consumers paying bills and businesses to receive payments.
The investment will also help restore investors’ confidence in the
Egyptian economy and will create
jobs in the high-tech sector.
“IFC has a developmental dimension. It’s not merely a lender interested in a country; it also has the expertise and the long term vision. The
investment is a certificate of trust for
Fawry, a company that was founded by
Egyptians through a lengthy, difficult
process. It is also a gateway for taking Egyptian products to similar markets,” said Ashraf Sabry, CEO of Fawry.
Sabry expressed his belief in the
Masood Ahmed, Director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia
Department
growth-friendly instrument. Spending, especially on subsidies, is largest
in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco,
and Tunisia, suggesting that there is
scope for lowering such spending
as a growth-friendly instrument for
fiscal consolidation. In contrast, productive capital spending is smallest for
Lebanon, Sudan, and Tunisia, suggesting that there is space for increasing
such spending.
A key fiscal priority for the
MENA region is to replace generalised subsidies with more targeted
social safety net instruments. Besides being very costly, generalised
subsidies do not support the poor
effectively. For example, one-third
of energy subsidies in Egypt benefit
the wealthiest one-fifth of the population. Our research suggests that
the situation is similar in many other
countries in the region.
Improving the quality of government spending more generally is
critical for responding to the aspi-
rations and social needs of populations across the MENA region. This
would help make room to boost investment spending and reduce fiscal deficits that are increasing debt
levels and crowding out lending to
the private sector.
Structural reform policies that
aim to enhance the overall productivity of the economy and hence
raise growth potential could also
offset the negative impact of fiscal
consolidation.
Successful implementation of
these initiatives to both enhance the
quality of spending and rebalance
the composition of revenue-raising
and expenditure should help create
more and better employment opportunities, and lead to faster economic growth in the MENA region;
something which would benefit all its
inhabitants.
Masood Ahmed is Director of the
IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia
Department
Bank raises interest rates on platinum by 2%
from the fund to NBE’s investment
certificates or Banque Misr’s investment certificates,” Abdel Aziz said.
“The interest rate hike has had a negative impact on fixed income funds, and
now after the central bank’s decision,
fixed income funds are no longer the
best choice for investors, with interest rates here about 8% to 9%, compared with NBE’s new investment
certificate rates of 12.5%,” he added
Ehab Saeed, a member of the board
of directors of Osool Brokerage, is
more optimistic, however, believing
that the central bank’s decision to
combat what he calls the “dollarisation phenomenon”, and which led to
Egyptian pound’s exchange rate deterioration, will actually attract investors to invest in EGP-denominated
fixed income products.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Commercial
International Bank (CIB) also raised
its interest rates yesterday in accor-
Mouayed also said:“The infrastructure in MENA is very underdeveloped; it needs $160bn in investments
annually. Fawry is a part of this investment as it provides electronic infrastructure.”
The IFC director for MENA shared
his belief in Egypt’s potential in the private sector as well, confirming IFC’s
$5bn portfolio in the region.
Fawry’s services are used by more
than 10 million people to make payments to 43 providers. The company
has more than 20,000 payment locations, including retail stores, post offices, and the ATMs of 10 commercial
banks. Fawry is planning to increase
the number of payment locations to
35,000 by 2016.
The investment is part of the IFC’s
efforts to catalyse foreign investment
in Egypt and support the private sector. In the 2012 fiscal year, IFC committed $506m to seven local projects,
a figure that included $125m mobilised from other investors. The fund
has over $1bn invested in Egypt.
Mouayed Makhlouf, IFC director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) (R) and Ashraf Sabry, CEO of Fawry (L)
nBe follows in Banque Misr footsteps
Banque Misr’s recent decision to raise
interest rates on investment certificates to 12.5% has created competition amongst Egypt’s banks, as well as
a veritable state of emergency, leading
a number of banks to hold meetings
studying the effects which this decision will have on the market.
The National Bank of Egypt (NBE),
the country’s largest bank, and which
is also responsible for roughly 27% of
the country’s deposits, has, in response
to Banque Misr’s move, raised interest
rates on platinum, its primary savings
instrument, by an additional 2%.
Karim Mohamed Abdel Aziz, executive manager of equity funds and
National Fund Management Company,
believes that, theoretically, equity funds
will be affected by the interest rates
hike and are likely to see a huge investor exodus in favour of safer returns.
“NBE’s fourth fund lost EGP 8.5m
yesterday due to investors exiting
potential of the Egyptian economy,
noting that growing by as little as 1%
or 2% in the current circumstances is
a unique thing. He added that being in
a bad situation means there is room
for improvement, confirming that we
have to look at the big picture, not just
the small details.
“We are building an infrastructure,” said Sabry, answering a question
on the usage of the fund. “What we
do is we enlarge and diversify our infrastructure to accept different kinds
of payments that better serve households and the businesses.”
“We are very proud of Fawry’s
unique experience in developing its
platform,” said Mouayed Makhlouf,
IFC director for the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA). “Our region
needs more investments of this sort”
“The Arab Spring has shown us the
need to create jobs,” he continued.
“With 25% of youth in the MENA
region are unemployed, our strategy
is to create more jobs through the
private sector.”
Mohamed Salah
AFP Photo
Cutting deficits without damaging growth
dance with NBE and Banque Misr.
Representatives from these three
banks said that they began holding
emergency meetings yesterday, studying the effects of increased interest
rates on their savings coffers.
Piraeus, Banque du Caire, the Exports Development Bank of Egypt,
Bank of Alexandra, Ahli United Bank
and the Arab Investment Bank, will all
decide next week whether or not to
also increase their interest rates.
These moves will likely complicate
matters for Egypt’s government which
has already begun to suffer from the
high costs of funding its budget deficit.
These banks will likely direct a
majority of their IPO deposits into
government debt instruments with
high rates of return. A similar situation led to a price war 14 months
ago in Egypt’s banking sector, when
prices on interest rates were raised
to record levels.
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ews
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8
Daily news egypt WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2013
lifestyle
By Iman Adel Abdel-Fattah
We love food. We love the real,
down to earth, tried-and-tested,
handed-down-through-thegenerations, local Egyptian food.
Here is your chance to learn how
to make these local delicacies in
your own home. And just so you
know what to ask for, we have
added how to say the ingredients in Arabic. No more excuses,
off to the souq !
the BootCamp: basic to brutal in one place
By Omar El Adl
Khobeyza
masri Egyptian malva
Courtesy of The BootCamp Facebook page
Though there is an abundance of
health information on the internet,
The BootCamp is one of the few
sources that will provide you with
localised information tailored to you
and your specific needs in Egypt.
“The BootCamp started off as a wellness company. The idea is to promote
the lifestyle and not just the sport.We
did not want to tell people how to exercise without giving them the whole
package,” said founder Nabil Rostom.
Rostom founded the company after a radical change in his fitness philosophy. “I was always a trainer and I
worked with athletes who had very
specific goals. I realised that we needed to tailor everything to individual
needs,” he said.
One of the primary services The
BootCamp provides is called FUNC.
Geared toward people with specific
needs like athletes or people with injuries,the service is concerned with conditioning and improving performance
towards specific goals and does away
with the one-size-fits-all mentality.
“Our goal is to improve wellness,
health and fitness.We do this through
a 360-degree approach,” said Ramy
Kandil, social media manager at The
BootCamp.
Kandil is also responsible for many
of the exercise articles on the website, written in a clear, accessible, nononsense style. “We utilise different
places for our sessions like the Gezira
sporting club and Gardenia in 6th of
The BootCamp is enthusiastic about being healthy
October. We are opening new places
as we expand,” he said.
Another unusual feature of The
BootCamp’s website is localised information that the site provides through
a service called Project Watchdog.
The BootCamp describes the service as “doing the dirty work” so its
customers do not have to. They review restaurants, gyms, and spas and
break down the information to tell
users how well the facilities compliment a healthy lifestyle.
“After the reviews, we will start
doing a recommendations phase. We
will recommend certain products like
shoes or certain food items or classes
at a gym, so that people go in knowing what is approved and what is not,
helping them to make informed decisions,” Rostom said.
The website also has an online
store selling everything from supplements to t-shirts. An ‘ask’ section has
forums where a community of likeminded people can exchange infor-
mation and support.
Though its foundation may be exercise, the core of The BootCamp’s
philosophy is built around a comprehensive approach focusing on providing a lifestyle rather than a few exercise routines.As it continues to grow,
so will the quality of services and
their already-impressive range. One
item you will not find anywhere else
is listed on their store: a private trekking trip with Omar Samra in Nepal.
Consider us intrigued.
Medical tourism for cancer patients in latvia
The treatment of cancer is constantly changing and many scientists
are involved in trying to find a cure
for one of the deadliest diseases
we are confronted with in modern
times.The small country of Latvia is
at the forefront of one of the latest
treatments for many forms of cancer that is attracting patients from
all over the world.
It all began with Latvian scientist
Aina Muceniece who began her career in 1945 at the A. Kirchenstein
Institute of Microbiology.After years
of study the first laboratory for virotherapy as a treatment for cancer was
established at the institute, which led
to the development of the medicine
Rigvir. Over the years several clinical
trials were conducted that proved
the safety and effectiveness of Rigvir
in stage four cancer patients.
Following the collapse of the former Soviet Union the testing and use
of Rigvir stopped for a few years, but
its effectiveness in the treatment of
several kinds of cancer, from prostate to bladder, colon, melanoma and
lung cancer, had been proven. In 2002
the work began again and since 2005
DNE Editor in Chief Maher Hamoud visits the Latvian facilities
Rigvir has been used in treatment in
hospitals and available in pharmacies all over Latvia. Rigvir activates
and normalises the immune system
of the patient and is well-tolerated
and safe.
Aina Muceniece’s daughter followed in her mother’s footsteps and
heads the Association of Virotherapy
of Latvia which aims to promote virotherapy and the training of doctors to
use the medication.As Rigvir proved to
be more and more successful and interest from patients all over the world
grew, the Latvian Virotherapy Centre
was established to provide treatment
and support for those patients.
Currently Rigvir is used in hospitals all over Latvia in the treatment
of cancer and has been accepted as
treatment for melanoma patients by
insurance companies since 2011.
Patients from all over the world
are travelling to Latvia to seek treatment and the Virotherapy Centre has
developed a programme to ensure
their treatment is as comfortable as
possible. When a new patient seeks
the help of the centre the first consultation is done by phone or email and
a complete assessment of the medical
records and tests is conducted when
the patient is still in their home country.
The clinic then takes care of all
the travel, accommodation and
medical arrangements for the patient
and makes sure that any additional
screening and tests are organised to
take place in the Latvian hospital.A full
treatment plan and follow up is created by the doctors of the clinic after
which the treatment starts. The first
round of treatment will take place
when the patient is in Latvia, but the
follow-up treatments can normally
take place when the patient is back
at home in their own environment.
The arrangements to deliver Rigvir
to the patients are handled by the
clinic as well, making the whole experience as comfortable as possible
for the patients.
on the town
Concorde el salam Hotel Cairo
holds cleanup day 2012
Mohamed al amin named director
of rooms at Kempinski nile Hotel
The management team members of Concorde El Salam Cairo Hotel made a
huge effort in the cleanup day which is part of “We Care” campaign for year 2012.
The day was a resounding success and aimed to create a cleaner and healthy
environment in the hotel and the Heliopolis area. The dedicated team made
a significant contribution and was proud to make a difference to their local
community with the cleanup day, which reflects the purpose of the corporate
social responsibility plan of the Concorde Hotels in Egypt.
Kempinski Nile hotel’s general manager Marten Schwass is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Mohamed Al Amin as director of rooms. In
his new capacity Al Amin will be responsible for the 191 luxurious rooms and
suites in the hotel.
Prior to joining the Kempinski Nile Hotel’s team in Cairo Al Amin was the
front office manager in Kempinski Ajman. In that role, he ensured that the
highest quality of service was provided to all guests.
Al Amin commenced his career at Kempinski Kuwait in 2004, and in 2008, Al
Amin joined the Kempinski hotel in Tanzania as Assistant Front Office Manager
where he worked in several capacities in the rooms division.
Ingredients
• ½ kg malva – kho-bey-za
• ½ bunch coriander, chopped –
koz-ba-ra
• ½ bunch dill, chopped – sah-bat
• 1 bunch swiss chard – sal’
• 4 cups broth – ma-ra-a
• ¼ cup rice – roz
• 2 medium onions, chopped – ba-sal
• 5 garlic cloves, chopped – tom
• 4 tsp ghee or margarine – zeb-da
or sam-na
Directions
• Heat two cups of the broth in a
medium deep pan over medium
heat and bring to a boil. Add the
coriander and dill.
• Wash the rice well and drain. Add
to the broth and cook until tender.
• In the meantime, clean the malva
and take the leaves off the stems
and discard the latter and wash
well. Chop the malva and the Swiss
chard and boil it in a medium size
pan in two cups of broth.
• Pour the cooked malva and Swiss
chard in a blender and blend until
smooth. Add to the rice and boil
for three minutes or until the mixture thickens.
• Melt the margarine in a skillet.Add
the onion and garlic and stir until
golden brown. Immediately after
the mixture turns golden brown,
pour the full contents of skillet
into the pan with the rice and
vegetables. Do not stir!!
• Take the pan off the heat and semicover the pan for two minutes.
• Stir the malva only just before
serving. Pour the malva in a bowl
and serve with meat and plain rice
on separate platters.
on the town
new appointments at Radisson
Blu Hotel
alexandria
Dalia Amer, general manager of
Radisson Blu Hotel Alexandria recently announced the appointment
of Mohamed Fouad in the position
of executive assistant manager of
the hotel.
“Fouad brings with him more than
10 years of experience in the hotel
industry, having worked in various
hotel chains such as Hilton, Starwood and Mövenpick. The last position he held prior to his appointment was director of operations,”
Amer said.“The Radisson Blu Hotel
Alexandria welcomes Fouad and wishes him all the best.”