Very happy but very homeless Late last year, this column reported that a little girl called Mariam was badly injured when a bulldozer destroyed her family's home in the village of el-Shorouq near el-Tel el-Kebir, el-Ismailia Governorate. She was then treated for about six weeks in the Canal University Hospital and International Medical Centre. When she was discharged from hospital, Mariam and her family were welcomed home with the ululations and cheers of their fellow villagers, who gave her lots of toys and other presents. The little girl was very happy. Her father, Osama Mohamed, said: "I cannot thank [famous businessman] Naguib Sawiris enough. All I can do is wish him all the best in his case with the French company." Orascom Telecom, the Egyptian company chaired by Naguib, has now won its case against France Telecom, which wanted to get its hands on Orascom's assets in Mobinil, the giant mobile services provider. The French company plans to appeal. Naguib had visited Mariam in hospital shortly before she was discharged. Mariam's families, neighbours and friends have all asked el-Ismailia Governor Abdel-Galil el-Fakharani to take tough action against local officials who represent their village, for their tyrannical attitude and lack of consideration for citizens' needs. Perhaps they should also ask these officials to build a new home for Mariam and her family. (Al-Masry Al-Youm) Reconciliation in the air Aasher Criminal Court has renewed the custody of Police Corporal Mohamed Mohamed Eddin Attiya (32) and six of his friends – Ibrahim Mohamed (30), Hamdi Saad (23), Mohamed Hassan (31), el-Metwalli el-Sayyed (27), Ahmed Moustafa (19) and Hossam Mohamed (also 27). They are suspected of kidnapping Hind Shaaban, the 29-year-old wife of Corporal Mohamed, from her mother's home in Badr City, el-Daqahlia Governorate at gunpoint. The policeman said something rather strange to detectives: he didn't ask his six friends to kidnap his wife, but rather to help effect a reconciliation between the couple, by getting her ‘to streamline her point of view with his'. Perhaps there was also reconciliation in the air between Corporal Mohamed and his ex-wife, as she too came along for the ride when they kidnapped Hind. They took her a flat where they forced her to sign IOUs. Hind was saved when passersby heard her screaming and alerted the police. (Al-Gomhuria) Exasperation and amputation A painter and decorator finally became violent with a worker, who insulted his family day and night for no good reason. He stabbed his neighbour in the village where they live near Minyat el-Nasr, not far from el-Mansoura in the Delta Governorate of el-Daqahlia seriously injuring him, the most serious injury being when he cut off his left hand. The 47-year-old amputee, Mahmoud Abdel-Hamid, was attacked in the village of Meet Taher by 27-year-old Abdel-Moula el-Sayyed, who lives in the same street as him. The injured party, who was taken to el-Mansoura Emergency Hospital for Treatment, also has psychological problems, which might explain why he constantly exasperated the family of Abdel-Moula, who attacked Mahmoud in his flat. (Al-Messa Al-Osbouia) That hemmed-in feeling Whenever motorists in Cairo and Alexandria decide to go for a drive at the same time, in other words the rush hour, the streets become swiftly gridlocked. This has been confirmed by a recent study, carried out by the Egyptian Association for Safety and Technology, which looked at the state of Egypt's traffic in 2009, coming up with statistics about the number of vehicles on the roads and their concentration per square metre. According to the study, there are nearly 1.2 million cars in Cairo alone – that's one for every 8.11sqm. In Alexandria, there are just over 540,000 cars, or one for every 9.87sqm. Chairman of the Association, Adel el-Kashef said that there were 37,500 accidents in Egypt's two biggest cities last year, injuring about 30,000 people and killing about 1,500. (Of course the number of deaths nationwide is far higher, reaching, according to unofficial estimates, five figures every year. Although there are many fatal accidents in the cities, the slow-moving traffic has one advantage – it means that many accidents don't prove fatal). The study said that the average speed of a car during rush hour in Cairo is 17kmh, while in Alex, it's slightly higher, 18kmh. Two obvious ways to speed things up spring to mind – car pooling and more people switching to public transport. The study would also like more young men to go and work in underpopulated governorates like North Sinai, South Sinai and the Red Sea. This sounds great, as it would also help reduce the crowding in the capital and Alex. But these youngsters must have something to go there for – in other words, the private and public sectors need to invest more heavily in these governorates, which would also benefit tremendously from more foreign investments. (Al-Ahram) From Ras Shaqir to Attaba Two unemployed men posed as employees of a drilling and exploration company in the Red Sea to dupe the owner of a contracting company in Alexandria out of LE4.5 million. That's how much they got him to pay for 52 tonnes of scrap metal worth LE50,000, before they were arrested. The owner of the company in Alexandria, Abdel-Sattar Abdel-Latif, told Cairo Public Funds Police that a man called Ahmed Mohamed came to see him in his office. Ahmed said that he was the manager of a drilling platform owned by the Egyptian-Chinese Petroleum Exploration Company, located in Ras Shaqir on the Red Sea. The company owner accompanied Ahmed to his flat in New Maadi. Outside the flat was a sign saying, ‘Financial Administration of the Egyptian-Chinese Petroleum Exploration Company'. Inside the flat, the contractor was introduced by Ahmed to another man, 42-year-old Abdel-Aziz Saad, who said he the head accountant for the petroleum company. Ahmed and Abdel-Aziz told their guest that they had LE48 million-worth of scrap metal to sell at Ras Shaqir. Off they went to the Red Sea and there indeed the company owner was shown 52 tonnes of scrap metal. They assured him that that was just the first instalment and that there was much more, but he must pay LE4.5 million up front. He did so and arranged to meet Ahmed and Abdel-Aziz a few days later. When he went to the flat in New Maadi, the sign had gone. The bawwab told him that the tenants had gone too, with all the furniture. Police soon arrested Abdel- Aziz, who led them to his friend, Ahmed. Abdel- Aziz was already on the run from a 15-year-sentence for fraud. They both admitted that they had nothing to do with the Egyptian-Chinese Petroleum Exploration Company. The story of the scrap metal swindle reminds one of the film El-Attaba el-Khadra (Attaba the Green), made in the 1950s and starring Ismail Yassin, the famous comic, who stars as a fellah coming up to the capital for the first time. A conman sells him the Fire Brigade Headquarters and General Post Office in Attaba. El-Attaba el-Khadra or ‘Attaba the Green' has an interesting history. When the Ottomans arrived in Cairo in AD 1517, they camped at the (now forever lost) lake in el-Ezbekiya. Then Radwan Katkhuda built a large palace on the eastern edge of the lake, near the Ezbek Mosque. Near the palace a home was built for a famous coffee trader with the curious name of El-Dada el-Sharaibi (El-Sharaibi the Babysitter), who died in 1734. The palace was called ‘The Three Women'. Perhaps he did the babysitting for the three women's children. The threshold (attaba) of this palace was made of blue stone. Hence this district became known El-Attaba el-Zarqa (Attaba the Blue). In the era of Mohamed Ali, the palace was sold to Taher Pasha. Later, it was purchased by Abbas Helmi, who, sadly, demolished it and built in its stead another palace with a threshold made of green stone. The district therefore became known as El-Attaba el-Khadra and the palace found itself in Midan el-Attaba el-Khadra. In the era of Khedive Ismail, the French architect Hausmann was commissioned to replan the Ezbekiya district. Hausmann built a new square, Midan Ezbek. Part of the palace and the Ezbek Mosque still found themselves in Midan el-Attaba el-Khadra, while the rest of the palace and the Ezbekiya Theatre were now in the newly created Midan Ezbek. In 1875, in the days of Prime Minister Nubar Pasha, the famous Armenian-Egyptian, the mixed courts were created and housed in Abbas Helmi's palace. When the Midan el-Attaba el-Khadra and Midan Ezbek were replanned again, the palace disappeared and the mixed courts were moved to Fouad Street, (renamed after the 1952 Revolution 26th July Street). The beautiful building where the mixed courts were housed is nowadays home to the higher courts, right next to Nasser Tube Station. When King Fouad married Queen Farida in the 1930s, the name of Midan el-Attaba el-Khadra was changed to Malika Farida (Queen Farida Square). When the royal couple got divorced because Queen Farida bore the King daughters not sons, the square reverted to its original name. Today we just know it as Midan el-Attaba, and it's one of the busiest districts of the capital, made even busier at the moment with all the work being done on Line 3 of the Greater Cairo Underground. Perhaps the scrap metal swindlers should be thanked for inspiring this little look into Cairo's rich history. (Al-Wafd and historical sources)
