New passports THE ASSISTANT to the Foreign Minister for Egyptian Expatriates and Consulates Amr Moawad has said that the ministry office tasked with passports had issued some 130,000 new computerised passports for Egyptian expats in an attempt to meet the 24 November deadline. After 24 November, passengers will not be allowed to travel except with computerised passports. As such, Moawad appealed to all expatriates, especially those living in the Arab Gulf countries, to collect their passports as soon as possible.
Syrian refugees ASSISTANT to the Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs Tarek Adel headed Egypt's delegation to a conference on Syrian refugees, organised by the Centre for Mediterranean Integration, in Marseille, France, this week. Egypt's participation in the conference comes in the framework of its keenness to work with other world parties in drawing up a plan to help Syrian refugees and try to boost the capabilities of the countries that house them to deal with the humanitarian crisis. Adel emphasised Egypt's responsibility towards the Syrian refugees and reviewed what Egypt has been doing for 300,000 refugees living in Egypt, including providing them with needed health care, education and other services. He also pointed to the importance of wider international participation to provide more help to the refugees and to “seriously contribute” in financing the efforts made to deal with the crisis “without delay or procrastination”. Delegations from the UN, the World Bank and EU states including Germany, Italy, France and Germany attended the conference in addition to the countries that provide shelter to the refugees: Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon.
Nile boat hearing THE ADMINISTRATIVE Prosecution on Tuesday referred seven officials from the River Transportation Authority (RTA) to a disciplinary hearing involving the Al-Warraq Nile cruise boat which collided with a barge in July in the Nile near Al-Warraq, resulting in the death of 40 passengers. An investigation indicated that the boat was using a fake navigating name, Prince Hazem, and fraudulent licence number 988. According to the investigation, the name and number of the boat belonged to another boat registered and licensed in Minya in April 2014. The boat was, therefore, operating illegally in Al-Warraq, despite regulations set out by the General Authority for River Transportation and Law 10/1956 regarding violating domestic navigation. The rule was amended under Law 57/1962 that stops any boat at the nearest berth should it be in violation of any laws. The first defendant, a manager at the General Authority for River Transportation, was accused of negligence by not taking the legal procedures to inspect the transportation used on the Al-Warraq side of the Nile. This led to the accident because of a lack of safety. Other defendants were accused of neglecting the area and for not taking any legal procedures despite the crew and the equipment being poor. The prosecution ordered a copy of the case papers be sent to the administration for inspecting and censorship at the Ministry of Interior.
