Special Olympics MENA held key elections which Abeer Anwar attended After three days of voting in Cairo, Princess Lala Amina of Morocco was elected representative of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region in the Special Olympics International Advisory Committee. Sheikh Deig Al-Khalifa, head of SO Bahrain, was chosen president of the Regional Advisory Council (RAC). SO MENA held its biennial council elections with the attendance of 23 MENA regional programme representatives. Members elected were Mohamed Al-Matouk, Nasser Saleh, Mohamed Fadl Al-Hamli, Ali El-Shawaheen, Saad Abd Yassin, Nizar Basalat, Tawfik Sherif, Shrabel Ramadan and Mohamed Khalifa. Ayman Abdel-Wahab, SO MENA regional managing director, chose the four appointed representatives: Hassan Al-Ansari, Majed Al-Essami, Salaheddin Samar and Maher Abdel-Hamid. After the vote, participants congratulated the winners, then got down to business with their first RAC meeting discussing a number of issues, beginning with the Special Olympics National Games to take place in Damascus, Syria from 24 September to 4 October under the auspices of Syrian First Lady Asmaa Al-Assad, SO Syria honorary chairperson. The Games will host 1,500 intellectually disabled athletes competing in 15 sports. Maher Rezk, deputy president of the Games' executive committee and a member of the SO MENA RAC, said, "Syria is ready to host such a marvelous event and it is opening its arms wide to receive all Special Olympics athletes from all over the MENA region. We have done our best to make the Games an unforgettable event and we will set an example to show the whole world that we are capable of hosting such big events." Also on the agenda was the 2010 SO Global Congress to take place in Marrakech from 6-10 June. "Morocco is the second country to have the honour of hosting such an international event after The Netherlands where the first meeting took place in 2000," Abdel-Wahab said." It is a great pleasure and honour for our region to be given the opportunity to host such an enormous event that will witness the attendance of 650 participants from all over the globe." Abdel-Wahab stressed the fact that all SO MENA programmes must participate in the congress even if through just publications or photos. "We have to try to change how the world views the Middle East region." The congress will set a leadership agenda for the decade ahead. Over the past 10 years, SO has grown rapidly in many geographies and in many different directions. With growth comes challenges in various fields, resources, focus and in leadership. The congress will provide a unique forum to unite and engage leaders in a serious global dialogue about how to sustain quality growth given the cultural, economical, demographic and political realities we face today. Due to their efforts a number of the MENA region's first ladies were invited to attend the congress including Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, honorary chairperson of SO Egypt. The RAC meeting also discussed the Unity Cup that will take place in South Africa alongside the 2010 World Cup. A number of football stars, including Egyptian club Ahli's Mohamed Abu Treika and Egypt's football coach Hassan Shehata, along with other sports and arts stars from across the region were invited to the event to share in the enthusiasm with SOs intellectually disabled athletes who were invited to take part in the match. SO athletes, playing alongside football legends and other celebrities, will compete in the inaugural match of the Unity Cup, presented by Coca-Cola, on the same pitch that just hours later will host a FIFA World Cup match. The event which will take place at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, on 3 July prior to a World Cup quarter-final match. The goal of the Unity Cup is to support the movement of inclusion and acceptance for people with intellectual disabilities and is an extension of the Special Olympics Unified Sports programme which brings SO athletes together with partners without intellectual disabilities on teams for friendly athletic competition. Participants in the Unity Cup will include South African President Jacob Zuma, former South African national football team captain Lucas Radebe, former captain of South Africa's national women's football team Desiree Ellis, and Clarence Seedorf of AC Milan. "We have a long and unique association with sport, especially football, and have witnessed over the decades how it can unite people," said Muhtar Kent, SO partner and a member of the SO international board of directors. "The Unity Cup is a testament to that power as we have brought together our partners at Special Olympics and FIFA to shine a spotlight on the important values of understanding, acceptance and inclusion that we all share." "The Unity Cup is an incredible opportunity to showcase the abilities of our Special Olympics athletes on a world stage," said SO Chairman and CEO Timothy Shriver. "The Unified Sports experience benefits not only our athletes but also the partners involved without disabilities as we promote a global community of inclusion and acceptance. While the world's attention is focused on football, we can continue to share the message that sport is a powerful agent to bring together people from all walks of life."
