Another fire in Cairo, the indictment of Al-Bashir and a Palestinian reconciliation that will help all Arabs were the issues looked at by Doaa El-Bey The huge plumes of smoke that rose above Ramses Street in downtown Cairo this week brought to memory similar fires that have broken out during the last few years. Nabil Rashwan regarded the Ramses fire as one in a series that show clear negligence and poor enforcement of safety rules. He reviewed the deadly fires that erupted in Egypt starting from the Beni Sweif Theatre that left more than 30 dead and more than 35 injured, to that in the parliament and the National Theatre last year. "These fires came amid criticism of the government from the opposition for failing to enforce safety regulations or take measures to prevent similar fires in the future," Rashwan wrote in the independent daily Nahdet Masr. He pointed to a study by the Centre for Nuclear Security that showed that fires cost Egypt from LE11 to LE18 million per year. It also concluded that Egypt suffers around 20,000 fires every year which have left more that 225 dead and between 740 and 750 injured. The official daily Al-Ahram wrote that if we are responsible citizens, we could save ourselves huge losses as a result of fires. Initial investigations showed that the cause of the fire that broke out in a historic apartment building in Ramses Street was inflammable spare parts stored in two apartments in the building. Thus, tenant negligence caused a fire that not only gutted the building but threatened the life of patients in various medical centres and clinics in the building, and cost more than LE4 million. In order to avoid similar incidents in the future, the newspaper questioned whether the law should allow tenants to store inflammable material in apartment buildings and, if yes, whether it should force them to take safety measure to avoid fires or quickly contain them if they break out. The International Criminal Court (ICC) indictment of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir was still coming under scrutiny by many writers. While some were still looking at the causes, others tried to find a way out of the crisis. Mahmoud Haridi described the indictment as a Zionist-American conspiracy carefully drawn up to threaten Egypt's national security. He described how the Zionists play a clear and active role in provoking conflicts in Sudan, first by instigating war in southern Sudan which could lead to the division of the African state in the future, then by encouraging rebellions in Darfur, an area rich in oil and minerals. "The ICC ruling is just an excuse for Zionists to interfere in Sudan and divide it. It is a strategy to weaken Arab states including Egypt," Haridi wrote in Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the Wafd Party. While the writer warned of sitting back with our hands tied, he called on influential parties in Egyptian society to stand against the indictment and fight it with all their might because to Egypt "it is a matter of life or death". Assem Abdel-Mohsen wrote that the main issue after the indictment is not whether the prosecutor who issued it is biased against Sudan or that the ruling is politicised. The issue is the importance of dealing with the reality of the indictment in a way that causes the least damage to Sudan. The regime in Sudan should give up angry responses, including expelling international humanitarian organisations or threatening to expel peacekeeping forces in Darfur. In his analysis of the cause of the problem, Abdel-Mohsen ascribed it to two main factors -- the failure of the Sudanese regime to deal with the problem since it began and to external conspiracies. These conspiracies were clear ever since the British occupation which tried to separate the north and south of Sudan, and the humanitarian organisations that differentiated between citizens in delivering their services. Nevertheless, successive Sudanese governments did not exert real effort to contain these conspiracies. As a result "Sudan's map is now likely to be divided into five states in the south, west, east, middle and north," Abdel-Mohsen wrote in the official daily Al-Akhbar. In his conclusion he emphasised that the main issue facing us at present is to save the land and people of Sudan. In search for a way to save Sudan, Mohamed Amin El-Masri referred to the political history that showed that in order to resolve any crisis, one should uproot its causes and punish whoever is involved. In that, Sudan failed. Thus Al-Bashir is left with an indictment that he must confront. "Touring Sudanese cities wearing folklore dress in order to recruit public support in denouncing the ICC ruling will not help. And, Sudan will remain like a wounded bird," El-Masri wrote in Al-Ahram. Mustafa El-Nabarawi offered a solution to the Sudanese multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi- religious region, first by recognising the different nature of Sudan, then by managing the difference through establishing a multi-central state that contains all the cultures. This can take the shape of a confederal state or coalitions that reflect the multi- cultural nature of the society. El-Nabarawi also pointed to a number of lessons that could be learnt from the Bashir indictment, that what happened in Sudan was the result of the absence of a legitimate ruler and the suppression of multi-cultural people; that the double standard of international justice is not an excuse to reject it altogether; and that what happened to Al-Bashir could happen to any other ruler in the region. "Al-Bashir will go one day, but the people will not. One day they will see the whole truth and rise up against the present leadership and choose a democratic leader acceptable by the international standards," he concluded in Nahdet Masr. Though writers seemed more preoccupied with Al-Bashir, change in the thanaweya amma (high school certificate) was another important issue. As soon as the Egyptian government announced the completion of a new system for the diploma, a storm of confused questions ensued. Does the student have to pass two set of exams over a two-year period? Will these exams allow the student to enter the university he chooses? Will the entrance exams be fair? Will applying to university through the coordination office be cancelled? Will the system reduce private lessons? However, the most pressing question, as the Al-Ahram editorial wrote, is why this new system was introduced in the first place. "It aims to ease the suffering of Egyptian families who cannot bear any longer the burdens of the old system, and to create a new academic educational philosophy, since it is inconceivable that all school graduates apply to the faculties of medicine and engineering."
