In his first tour of the region following revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon received a "different kind of welcome" in Tahrir Square, reports Khaled Dawoud UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's first visit to Egypt since the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak was supposed to mark that victory, and discuss the forms of support the world organisation could provide to the new government. But it was the ongoing war in Libya that dominated his meetings with top Egyptian officials, including Commander of the Higher Council of the Armed Forces, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, Foreign Minister Nabil El-Arabi and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Later, Ban held a closed meeting at Al-Sawy Culture Wheel with a number of young activists who took part in the 25 January revolution and with the families of those killed during the protests. The most dramatic moment in Ban's two-day visit came as he embarked on a tour of Tahrir Square. Supporters of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who had gathered in front of the Arab League during the meeting between Ban and Moussa to protest against the Western bombing of their country, blocked Ban's way, preventing him from reaching the square. After tense moments of pushing, shoving and shouting, the security personnel surrounding Ban managed to lead him back inside the Arab League building. He later left in a motorcade without visiting the square. "I have been received warmly by many people since I arrived in Cairo (on Sunday). But this was a different kind of welcome," Ban told reporters jokingly during a news conference at Al-Sawy. Ban left Egypt for Tunisia on Monday night. In official meetings Ban stressed that the international community must speak "in one voice" on developments in Libya and warned of a serious humanitarian crisis as refugees continue to flood towards the Egyptian and Tunisian borders. He also stressed the importance of the implementation of Resolution 1973, approved last week by the 15-member Security Council. Ten countries voted for the resolution and five abstained. Ban noted the resolution allowed UN member states to take "all necessary measures" to assure the protection of civilians in Libya. "It is imperative that the international community continue to speak with one voice to fully implement the Security Council resolutions," he told reporters in Cairo after meeting Moussa at the Arab League headquarters. "Thousands of lives are at stake. We could well see a further humanitarian emergency." Moussa, meanwhile, stated that SC Resolution 1973 aimed mainly to establish a no-fly zone over Libya to protect innocent civilians attacked by troops loyal to Gaddafi, and warned that the Western military campaign should not lead to further civilian deaths. While the initial draft of SC Resolution 1973 was limited to the establishment of a no-fly zone the US, Britain and France introduced last minute amendments to expand its mandate and assure "all necessary measures" be taken by UN member states to protect civilians. Western officials argued that if the goal was to protect Libyan civilians a no-fly zone was not enough to achieve that objective. Tanks, artillery and other military equipment and installations controlled by Gaddafi must also be targeted. While Moussa tried to calm criticism from Arab quarters that the Arab League resolution he supported, together with the majority of Arab states, requesting the Security Council to establish a no-fly zone over Libya, was being exploited by the US, Britain, France and Italy to launch an ongoing military campaign, Ban clearly backed the Western view on expanding the military campaign in the address he delivered at Al-Sawy Culture Wheel. He praised SC resolutions 1970 and 1973 as "historic" and accused Gaddafi of committing "clear violations of human rights law and the international humanitarian law" by deploying tanks, artillery and helicopters to attack his own people. "Our goal," said Ban, "is to protect civilians from arbitrary attacks and the use of tanks and helicopters." Ban praised Egypt's peaceful revolution, and repeated twice in his speech kolona Misreyoon (we are all Egyptians). He added that he had come to Cairo "to express solidarity and listen to your views and aspirations. In this regard you can expect full UN support." Ban also requested the audience stand for a moment of silence as a sign of respect "for those who lost their lives [in popular revolts] in Egypt and the Arab world". The UN chief said that during his meeting with members of the Higher Council of the Armed Forces, "I commended them for siding with democracy, but also asked them to listen to different voices and to abolish the emergency laws ahead of upcoming elections." He said the council should also set a clear timetable for the steps necessary to restore civilian rule in Egypt, and conduct a wide-ranging dialogue with all political trends in Egypt. Wael Ghoneim, a key figure in the youth movement that championed the 25 January Revolution, told Ban that he would like the UN to provide assistance to Egypt in the fields of technology, education and health, warning that "people might be willing to support a dictator if they couldn't find anything to eat". He also urged the UN chief to provide assistance to displaced Egyptians forced to flee Libya. Ezeddine Shoukry, a political science professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC), welcomed Ban to "the new Egypt". He praised the UN for supporting popular revolts but said that it should also conduct advanced planning on how to deal with the protests that are growing in several Arab countries. "The ground is moving in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Bahrain and Syria," Shoukry said, "and some are worried on the effects of such changes." Ban has been criticised by leading human rights groups for his low profile as revolutions started in Tunisia and Egypt. Though Ban has been more outspoken on bloody developments in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain, he has kept his traditional silence on the situation in Saudi Arabia, a key donor to several UN programmes. Shoukry told the UN chief that while he recognised that the UN was made up of government states, "the world is changing and the UN should find more effective ways to listen to the voices of the people". Anissa Hassouna, director of the Magdi Yacoub Foundation, opted to be the women's voice. She told Ban that the UN needed some "face lifting" to assure greater participation by women in decision-making. She noted that the 25 January Revolution belonged to all Egyptians "including women who participated actively in the revolution and offered the same sacrifices". In his news conferences at both the Arab League and Al-Sawi centre, Ban faced the same questions on what a majority in the Arab world see as "double standards" applied by the Security Council and the UN when it comes to dealing with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the ongoing conflict in Libya. Responding to a question by Al-Ahram Weekly on the reasons why the Security Council failed to act when Israel bombed Lebanon and Gaza in recent years, Ban resorted to carefully chosen diplomatic statements. He said that the case concerning Palestine "was different". And while admitting that the peace process was at a stalemate he opted simply to reiterate old pledges to "exert all possible effort" to revive the process.
