African and Euro tour FOREIGN Minister Nabil Fahmi concluded a two-day visit to Senegal and Spain today. His visit to Senegal aimed to boost diplomatic relations with the African country. Fahmi carried a friendship and cooperation message to the Senegalese president from Egypt interim President Adli Mansour in which Mansour emphasised the importance of cooperation between the two states on the bilateral level and within the framework of the African Union. He also discussed with Senegalese officials bilateral cooperation and the possible projects that the two states can work on together especially in construction. Fahmi said he looked forward to holding a meeting of a joint Egyptian-Senegalese committee in the near future. The visit is the first to a western African state since Fahmi came to office. He went to Uganda and Burundi, both in east Africa, last month. These visits reflect Egypt's interest in improving its relations with all African states. More visits to south African states in the near future are expected. On his way back from Senegal, Fahmi stopped in Madrid for a short visit during which he met Spanish officials to discuss bilateral relations in addition to the situation in the Middle East, including Syria. Spain played an important role in boosting the peace process when it hosted the Madrid conference in 1991. Fahmi's visit to Spain was also a chance to shed light on the aspirations of the Egyptians after 30 June and the steps taken to build a better future since. Egyptian and Spanish officials also discussed an Egypt request that Spain asks the EU to re-consider the suspension of some Egyptian-EU activities and the ban imposed on European tourists to travel to Egypt. Officer shot dead A MILITARY officer was shot dead on Monday afternoon at a checkpoint in Egypt's Ismailia governorate. The 35-year-old officer, Ahmed Farouk, was fired at by an unknown assailant on his way to afternoon prayers. Farouk was transferred to Al-Galaa military hospital, where he died. The bullet pierced his heart from the back. The incident comes a day after two police conscripts, Ahmed Abdallah and Taher Mohamed were killed late on Sunday by gunmen in a drive-by car shooting on their traffic checkpoint at the Cairo-Ismailia road. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry intensified security efforts to capture the assailants. Last week, three policemen were killed in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura when four assailants on motorcycles opened fire on them. Egypt has been gripped by unrest since the army deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July amid mass protests against his rule. Armed attacks on security units have been occurring regularly across the country since then, particularly in strategic areas with a heavy police and military presence, such as the Suez Canal cities and Northern Sinai. Al-Sisi for president COMPLETE Your Favour, or Kammel Gemeelak, is a campaign rally calling on Defence Minister General Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to run for president. The march is scheduled for Saturday from Talaat Harb Street in downtown Cairo to Sayeda Zeinab, ending in Al-Nasr Road. To collect signatures to support Al-Sisi there will be a half-hour stopover in Rabaa Al-Adaweya where supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi staged a sit-in protest against Morsi's ouster on 3 July. Kammel Gemeelak is a petition campaign founded on 27 July after the army ousted Morsi. It calls on Al-Sisi to run for presidential elections slated for early next year. There are other similar campaigns called “A nation's demand” and “Al-Sisi for president”. On Friday, Rifaai Nasrallah, general coordinator of Kammel Gemeelak said that the campaign has so far collected more than 15 million signatures asking Al-Sisi to run in the presidential elections. “We are targeting 50 million signatures,” Nasrallah added. A number of political figures including Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister under Hosni Mubarak and a former presidential candidate; Ahmed Shafik, a former military man who came second in last year's presidential elections; Hamdeen Sabahi, former presidential candidate and the founder of the Popular Current; and Mahmoud Badr, co-founder of the Rebel campaign, announced publicly their support for Al-Sisi if he runs in the elections. There has been no direct reaction from Al-Sisi while observers believe he does not want to run for president, according to his few public interviews and speeches. Three years in jail A SUEZ military court sentenced six pro-Morsi protesters on Sunday to three years in jail for incitement and participation in Suez City violence. The court also acquitted one Morsi supporter in the same case. The six were convicted of violence in Suez following the forcible dispersal of two major pro-Morsi sit-ins in August. They were also convicted of attacking army forces in the city. Violent clashes erupted in the city of Suez, in addition to other governorates following the 14 August dispersals of Rabaa Al-Adaweya and Nahda Square sit-ins. This is not the first time that Morsi supporters have been tried by military courts in Suez. In September a military court sentenced one member of the Brotherhood to life in jail and gave 50 others sentences on charges of attacking military soldiers. In the same month, Brotherhood leader Mohamed Mongi was sentenced by a military court in Suez to 10 years in prison on charges of inciting violence and vandalising military property.
