The struggle over who will chair the Arab Journalists' Federation left the Egyptian Press Syndicate in turmoil, writes Shaden Shehab The uncontested election of Ibrahim Nafie as chairman of the Arab Journalists' Federation (AJF) was the highlight of a four-day Arab journalism conference that took place in Cairo this week. Nafie's ascension to a third four-year term was not a surprise; although the events prior to Tuesday's elections made the matter a bit more complicated. In fact, those events overshadowed the entire conference itself. The first few hours of the opening ceremony seemed normal enough. The five-star hotel conference hall where the conference took place was packed with more than 250 representatives of 19 Arab press syndicates and 20 Arab and international media organisations. The media was also there en masse to cover the event. Information Minister Mamdouh El-Beltagui delivered a speech on behalf of President Hosni Mubarak, followed by speeches by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa and AJF Chairman Nafie. Next in line at the podium was Egyptian Press Syndicate Chairman Galal Aref. "The events prior to the holding of this conference revealed the original intention to exclude the Egyptian Press Syndicate completely. The Press Syndicate did not take part in the preparations for this conference, and when we were finally contacted a few days ago, we were only asked to approve decisions that had already been made. Our exclusion continued with a complete abandonment of the federation's statutes, which mandate that the host country's Press Syndicate chairman has the right to head the conference." As the audience began to realise the implications of what Aref was saying, he insisted that what had occurred was "in violation of [AJF's] Article 22". Once Aref -- a prominent Nasserist writer -- concluded his fiery speech, the opening ceremony ended with a descent into total chaos. Aref and Nafie's respective supporters exchanged insults and a few fists. Several Arab Press Syndicate chairmen tried to calm the melee, to no avail. At that point, Aref announced his withdrawal from the conference, urging the 12-member Egyptian Press Syndicate council to follow. Four of its leftist members -- the syndicate's Secretary Yehya Qallash, as well as Gamal Fahmi, Ibrahim Mansour, and Ahmed El-Naggar of Al-Ahram's Centre for Political and Strategic Studies -- did just that. Seven others refused, describing Aref's behaviour as "inappropriate". They included four Islamists -- Mohamed Abdel-Quddous, Salah Abdel-Maqsoud, Mamdouh El-Walie and Mohamed Kharaga -- as well as three others labelled as pro-government: Ibrahim Hegazi; Ahmed Moussa; and Rifaat Rashad. The position taken by the 12th council member, Yasser Rizq, remains ambiguous. AJF Secretary-General Salaheddin Hafez then immediately explained to the participants that Aref's accusations were unfounded. He showed documents proving that the Egyptian syndicate had been notified of the conference's agenda and arrangements six months ago. Later that day, during the conference's afternoon session, the federation's 15-member general secretariat named Nafie the conference head. The federation's statutes stipulate that when the host country's Press Syndicate chairman is absent, the AJF chairman heads the conference. The real story behind Aref's attitude, journalists said, was not the alleged exclusion of the Press Syndicate, but rather his own desire to nominate himself, rather than Nafie, as AJF chairman. Days before the conference convened, however, the Press Syndicate council was not in agreement on this point, "simply because nobody in the Arab syndicates knows him or will vote for him," according to a council member who preferred to remain anonymous. Aref, however, was not convinced, and said he would nominate himself in addition to Nafie, which "would have proven his [lack of] popularity", the source chuckled. The seven council members opposed to Aref's stand described his actions, in a formal statement, as being "unrepresentative of the council". His withdrawal, they said, was "an individual" decision. Salah Abdel-Maqsoud, for one, said Aref "did not tell the council about the federation's contact with the syndicate months ago; he left us completely in the dark, and now he wants to falsely accuse the federation of excluding the Egyptian Press Syndicate." A statement signed by the Arab Press Syndicate chairmen described Aref's withdrawal as being "based on unfounded allegations". Others argued that had Aref waited, he would have ultimately headed the conference anyway. All he had to do was sit through the opening ceremony, as well as the discussion of the federation's activities and financial transactions over the past four years; basically, the bulk of the first day's agenda. It is only on the conference's second day, when the gathering is divided into five committees, that the head of the conference actually begins his work. At a press conference at the syndicate's headquarters on Sunday, Aref tried to explain his position. "It was in defense of the syndicate's dignity and legality," he said, "and not about personal differences. It was because Article 22 of the federation's statutes was ignored, and the syndicate marginalised." Aref, however, was bombarded with questions and comments about his "tarnishing the reputation of Egyptian journalists" and "claming that the syndicate did not take part in the conference preparations, which Hafez proved otherwise." And when Qallash started to answer questions, journalists screamed out, "let the chairman answer, the questions were not directed at you." In the face of such fierce attacks, Aref and his supporters left. Although unfortunate, the turn of events was not surprising. Nafie and Aref had previously been in competition over the Press Syndicate chairmanship, as they probably will be again in July 2005 when elections are next held. Nafie -- who was syndicate chairman from 1993- 1997, then again from 1999-2003 -- had overwhelmingly and repeatedly beat Aref in previous elections. Nafie was not allowed to run for the 2003 elections since he had already served two consecutive two-year terms, and the Press Syndicate law does not allow for a third consecutive term. In that election, Aref easily defeated Al-Ahram columnist Salah Montasser. If he runs, Nafie is favoured to win in 2005, mainly because of his historically successful running of the syndicate. Journalists especially appreciated the way he had presided over an extraordinary general assembly, which vowed to oppose Law 193/1995, which mandated tough penalties for journalists accused of publication offences. As a result of the journalists' stiff and united opposition, the law was repealed. A new law passed in 1996, however, also mandated prison terms for journalists guilty of publication offences, albeit for shorter durations. Although Aref had promised to increase salaries and amend the press law to cancel articles that stipulate imprisonment for publication offences, not much has actually materialised. Aref had announced, during February's Fourth General Congress of Journalists, that President Hosni Mubarak was planning to cancel imprisonment sentences for publication offences; but no legislation has yet to be issued to that effect. The syndicate council, meanwhile, has shown a consistent amount of disharmony since it came to office in 2003. One clear example arose when the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide held a press conference to introduce the group's reform initiative at the press syndicate's headquarters. The council's Islamist members had allegedly joined forces with the leftists -- without informing the rest of the members -- to make that happen. Aref -- who claimed that he himself did not approve of the event -- emerged weaker as a result. It was noteworthy that the council's Islamists, who had previously supported Aref against Montasser, chose not to support him this time. The question now is whether the council will be able to work together under Aref until the scheduled July elections. "It's impossible," said council member Ahmed Moussa, "the crack is too deep." Many journalists told Al-Ahram Weekly that the idea of conducting early elections could be the next step. There were also reports that Shura Council Speaker Safwat El-Sherif, who also heads the Supreme Press Council, invited Nafie and Aref to discuss their differences at a Tuesday morning meeting. The meeting, however, bore no fruit. The four-day conference -- which marks the federation's 40th anniversary -- discussed press freedom, international relations, the federation's system, Palestine and issues related to the profession. At Tuesday night, the secretariat held a closed session where elections took place, ending up with all its members securing their seats, including Nafie as chairman, Hafez as the secretary-general, and Saber Falhout and Melhem Karam as deputy chairmen. he secretariat concluded by declaring its full appreciation of the great efforts made by Nafie to promote the federation's status.
