US envoy in Cairo US ASSISTANT Secretary of State for the Near East William Burns was in Cairo on Sunday as part of a regional tour to discuss the US standoff with Syria, and the latest developments in Iraq and the Palestinian territories, reports Nevine Khalil. During a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, Burns briefed the president on his talks with Syrian President Bashar Al- Assad, while Mubarak pressed on Burns that re-launching Syrian-Israeli talks should be an integral part of US-Syrian discussions. "You cannot look at the issue of Syria and Lebanon without a view of the Syria-Israel situation," Mubarak told Burns, according to Presidential Spokesman Maged Abdel-Fattah. Burns had urged Al-Assad to withdraw 20,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon and stop interfering in internal Lebanese affairs, the latest sticky points in a series of recent negative US-Syrian dealings. Washington recently imposed sanctions on Syria using the Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act, which accuse Damascus of seeking weapons of mass destruction and not doing enough to prevent militants from entering Iraq. On another vital peace process track, Mubarak and Burns discussed the Israeli government's plan to uproot Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip as part of the road map. "Gaza disengagement [is] a step toward the full implementation of the roadmap, and ultimately the revival of negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis," Burns said. Mubarak reiterated Egypt's "unequivocal" commitment to the road map, including Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. Abdel-Fattah told reporters that Mubarak wanted to see more efforts made to tear down the security wall and dismantle settlements, two key dynamics that contradict the roadmap. While in Cairo, Burns represented the US at an unscheduled meeting of the diplomatic Quartet, which had been originally scheduled to take place in Jerusalem. The representatives of the US, Russia, EU and the UN met at the US Embassy in Cairo on Sunday instead, in preparation for talks in New York on 22 September. Religious tolerance THE ARCHBISHOP of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who also heads the Anglican Church worldwide, visited Egypt this week. President Hosni Mubarak met with Williams on Saturday, stressing Egypt's commitment to the principles of tolerance and dialogue, and its complete refusal of fanaticism. On the same day, Williams lectured at Al- Azhar Mosque on the importance of dialogue between Islam and Christianity. The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Sheikh Mohammad Sayed Tantawi asserted that Al- Azhar was in favour of conducting dialogues between religions. "That was the reason behind forming the Al-Azhar committee for religious dialogue," he said. Tantawi was keen to note the differences between jihad and terrorism, which each have completely different principles and aims. He condemned, in this connection, the kidnapping and killing of civilians in Iraq as crimes. For his part, Williams stressed that the church aims for peace, trust and cooperation, goals around which both Muslims and Christians could gather. Following his meeting with Tantawi, Williams met with the Mufti, Ali Goma'a, who said Williams' visit enriches dialogue and cooperation between religions and cultures. According to Goma'a, the visit was part of a larger programme which aims to correct the distorted image of Islam, by acquainting the West with true Islamic precepts which are based on peace, justice and tolerance. Great loss THE FUNERAL of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, who was killed in a military helicopter crash off the coast of Greece, was held in Egypt yesterday at the Mar Guirguis church in Old Cairo. A national memorial ceremony also took place in Athens for Peter VII, the spiritual leader of Greek Orthodox Christians in Africa, who was among 17 people killed when the Greek army aircraft plunged into the Aegean Sea on Saturday. The others included his non-cleric brother and five military crewmembers, two Alexandria church officials, four other prelates and four other non-clerics. The 55-year-old Peter VII, a Cypriot, was second in line in the Orthodox Church hierarchy after ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul. He had been travelling from Athens to the monastic enclave of Mount Athos, one of his church's holiest places, when the Chinook helicopter went down. Greece's air force chief of staff, meanwhile, was dismissed on Sunday. Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis said at a news conference that he sacked air force chief Panayotis Papanikolaou because of delays in launching a search and rescue operation after the crash, the cause of which has yet to be established. Top gear highway THE CAIRO-Ain Sokhna highway was re- inaugurated on Sunday after major construction to expand and improve the road had been completed. The highway will be one link in a superhighway connecting the Red Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and Upper Egypt. President Hosni Mubarak attended a ceremony commemorating the occasion, unveiling a plaque and taking a short ride on the renovated highway. The Armed Forces, along with several private tourism and investment companies aiming to develop the desert region along the highway, carried out most of the work, at a cost of LE300 million. The Cairo-Ain Sokhna highway is now 107 kilometres long, 50 metres wide, and three lanes in each direction. It also features electronic signboards that will provide commuters with essential information on weather, visibility and wind speeds. The new highway is also lined with various emergency facilities.
