The new minister of agriculture announces a radical departure from old policies, while the victories of Egypt's Olympic champions are exultantly celebrated. Aziza Sami reviews the week The opposition weekly Al-Ahali issued by the left-wing Al-Tagammu Party on Wednesday published a full-page interview with the new minister of agriculture Ahmed El-Leithi. In its introduction to the interview, the newspaper alluded to "previous policies adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture (under Youssef Wali) resulting in continuous production and marketing crises, a decline in farmers' incomes and the expansion of strawberryand cantaloupe cultivation to the deliberate detriment of strategic crops like wheat and cotton". Answering a question on reports of widespread corruption in the ministry, El-Leithi said he had "inherited a heavy burden". When he was queried by Al-Ahali on "the American thug who (threateningly) lurks behind every stalk of wheat" (a reference to alleged US pressure on Egypt's wheat production which aims at enhancing its dependency on US wheat imports) El-Leithi responded: "(The thug) no longer exists. I don't know what happened in the past or why such ideas (against wheat production) were being propagated." The minister asserted that he will abide by the motto, "Wheat for Egypt" and that "self-sufficiency in wheat production will be a new policy." He added that he is "meeting with experts who advocated wheat production but were prevented from working with the ministry". In what can only be interpreted as a dramatic reversal of the ministry's previous policies, El- Leithi asserted to Al-Ahali : "The age of acting according to personal whims is over." He denied the existence of "Israeli activities" inside the ministry, adding, "The ministry is not an embassy for Israel. No expert will travel there." News from the Athens Games elicited initial disappointment after defeats in handball, water polo and hockey, but that was soon replaced by a somewhat taken-aback euphoria at the unexpected winning of gold, silver and bronze medals in wrestling, boxing and taekwondo. This was almost simultaneously accompanied by strong recriminations directed against the nation's No.1 pastime, football. The sport, riddled with scandals and financial mismanagement, recently concluded its inglorious record with Egypt losing its bid to host the 2010 World Cup. On Monday, columnist Salah Montasser wrote in the national daily Al-Ahram, "I hope this will be the start of a new era where we differentiate between who deserves support and who does not. We must purge our sports of the swindlers who have become a stigma, preoccupying us with superficial squabbles until the real champions came along." In the independent daily Nahdet Masr on Saturday, the newspaper's senior editor Mohamed Hassan El-Alfi wrote in acerbic tones: "The intense happiness felt by the nation because of (wrestler Karam Gaber's) gold medal which restored dignity to Egyptian sports must not make us forget the expected future scenario. Gaber will be lost in oblivion while those responsible for national sports take credit for his success. The press will flood him with its limelight then suddenly forget him. As for the failures of football upon whom we spend millions, they will remain our shining stars. With them we will endure endless disappointments and squander our hopes and resources." The usual wrestling match between the ruling National Democratic Party and opposition parties played itself out again this week. On Saturday Nahdet Masr announced, "The alliance (for reform) formed by the Muslim Brotherhood, and (head of the Wafd Party) Noaman Gomaa and (head of the Nasserist Party) Diaaeddin Dawoud collapses". This, according to the paper, was because of the "fatal blow" dealt them by the NDP which decided to conduct parliamentary elections in October 2005 according to individual candidates, thus depriving the banned Muslim Brotherhood from running on other parties' tickets. The independent weekly Sawt Al- Ummah on Sunday also published a report which reflected little confidence that the current opposition can posit any real challenge to the NDP. "The leadership of Al-Wafd, Al- Tagammu and Nasserist parties is old, stifling and riddled with internal squabbles," wrote Mohamed El-Baz. "If there were presidential elections, who would be their candidate? There is not amongst them a single young person who can persuade the electors." On Wednesday, the editor-in-chief of the weekly magazine Al-Musawwar Makram Mohamed Ahmed, writing on Iraq, asserted, "It does not seem Iraq is any closer to emerging out of its tragic crisis. Iyad Allawi's government did not correctly assess the reaction to Najaf's invasion by Iraq forces supported by American troops. In line with the US view, it underestimated Moqtada Al-Sadr, thinking he was an inexperienced youth, whereas he has come to symbolise an opposition to occupation which is becoming more vocal all the time. The interim government is losing the Iraqi street's confidence because of its dependency on the occupying forces. The Americans will take no step towards stability by announcing a clear timetable for withdrawal since they are hoping to open up a confrontation front with Iran from Iraq should Bush win another term. Meanwhile, we can only await more destruction, death and violence." On Monday Al-Ahram 's editorial on Darfur reflected a prognosis often expressed in the Egyptian press which rejects the principle of foreign intervention in the Sudan, while warning, "There is a problem in the manner in which the Sudanese government is managing this crisis. It has not yet sufficiently disarmed the warring factions and still needs to develop with Arab and African countries a clear vision and timetable for ending the tragedy. Otherwise this will be an opportune pretext for foreign intervention and to accuse the Arab countries of ethnic cleansing and human rights violations." Writing on Monday on the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, Al- Ahram columnist Ahmed Bahgat asserted, "despite the many (diplomatic initiatives by Egypt) to resolve the situation, Israel's obstinacy still rules. For instance, Israeli authorities will not allow the prisoner's families to visit them, nor will they allow them to communicate with the outside world. Bodily and psychological torture continue, and hopes that (the UN will condemn this situation) wane in the face of a possible US veto." On Sunday Sawt Al-Ummah presented its usual mix of political and society news. The newspaper took great care to publish news of the comings and goings of affluent business communities at Marina and other North Sea resorts, enumerating in detail the types and values of presents presented by guests to their hostess at one dinner party. Added to this was an article accompanied by the shaded silhouette of the character dubbed by Sawt Al-Ummah as Al-Wazir Al- Bormagi (the conniving, unscrupulous jack of all trades minister). The newspaper also predicted that the political career of Minister of Housing Mohamed Ibrahim Soliman will "end before November" because of unfolding scandals in the housing sector. In this forecast, it was joined by the independent weekly Al-Osbou' which on Monday announced in its banner, "the fate of the minister of housing will be decided within 15 days". A smaller headline proclaimed, "The president requests a report on alleged incidents (misdemeanours by the Ministry of Housing) published in the press".
