Diplomatic niceties and rows hit the headlines but domestic concerns prevailed, write Gamal Nkrumah and Mohamed El-Sayed The official visit to Egypt paid by French President Nicolas Sarkozy stole the limelight. There was much anticipation about the message that the French president carried. Indeed, the daily official Al-Ahram highlighted Sarkozy's visit to Egypt in a full-page interview. "I agree with President Mubarak on regional issues, and I am interested in cementing bilateral relations," he was quoted as saying in an interview with Al-Ahram 's Editor-in-Chief Osama Saraya. "It's normal that Egypt will possess peaceful nuclear energy and we are ready to cooperate with it," he added. "I love Egypt very much... its rich historical and cultural [heritage] is globally unique." The diplomatic row between Egypt and Israel over accusations by Tel Aviv that Egypt was turning a blind eye to the acquisition of arms by Gazans through Egyptian territory reached a crescendo this week. Following the Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Levni's accusations that Egypt helps in smuggling weapons to Gaza across the border, Al-Ahram quoted President Mubarak as saying: "She crossed the red line with me, and bilateral relations with Israel are important to me, so don't spoil them." Domestic concerns also featured prominently in the press this week. The daily liberal-leaning Nahdet Masr quoted the Minister of Local Development Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub as warning of the dire consequences of unsafe buildings in Egypt. "Some 210,000 buildings are threatening [thousands of lives] in Egypt, and they should be demolished immediately," the minister was quoted as saying. The announcement came in the aftermath of the collapse of a 12-storey residential building in Alexandria last week that claimed the lives of more than 30 people. In much the same vein other papers took up the issue. The weekly Akhbar El-Youm ran a feature about the phenomenon of the collapse of residential buildings in Egypt. "The judiciary, local councils and police constantly exchange accusations [regarding which authority is responsible for the collapse of buildings], but the main culprit remains unknown", ran the headline of the feature. The paper quoted many a housing and urban planning expert as saying corruption in local authorities was the main reason behind the collapse of buildings. They propose creating a higher commission to oversee all real estate in Egypt. On a very different note , Nahdet Masr also interviewed Seifeddin Abdel-Fattah, professor of politics at Cairo University, who argued, "The government has initiated the politicisation of religion to serve its ends, while depriving other [political forces] from doing the same thing." Abdel-Fattah added that political peripheralisation would have dangerous consequences for the political future of the country. "The government's adoption of policies of marginalisation towards political and social forces portends the return of extremism," the professor was quoted as saying. The ruling party was criticised at a different level as well. In the daily opposition mouthpiece of its party, Al-Wafd quoted former minister of administrative development and administration expert Ali El-Sollami as predicting doom and gloom if radical political reforms are not instituted. "There is no future for Egypt under the leadership of the National Democratic Party, and what we are suffering from now is the harvest of 30 years of failure," El-Sollami was quoted as saying. "The face-off between judges and journalists on one hand and the government on the other will reach a climax after the enforcement of laws on anti-terrorism and information accessibility," El-Sollami was quoted as saying. Nahdet Masr also tackled the intention of the National Council of Human Rights to propose a new law aimed at preventing any distinction between followers of different religions. The paper quoted the council's president Boutros Boutros Ghali as recommending the removal of the space on the new computerised identity cards which ask for your religion. "The new proposed law is a step towards furthering the case of citizenship... writing your religion on IDs is a kind of distinction," Ghali, formerly the UN secretary-general, said. The paper gave its backing to the scrapping of the religious affiliation slot from ID cards. The prime ministerial post in Egypt traditionally comes with a less than splendid historic office. And, indeed, reviewing political developments in the year that just ended and speculating on political prospects for the coming year, pundits contemplated the fortunes of politicians in 2008. Writing in the weekly Al-Fagr, Adel Hammouda predicted that current Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif would be ousted soon. "Ahmed Nazif will leave the cabinet, [the star] of [chief intelligence] Omar Suleiman will rise, and [business tycoon] Ahmed Ezz will fall." Hammouda predicted that "strikes and demonstrations, which have become the sole means available for Egyptians to express their anger, will persist to pressure the government into garnering their rights." In a rather lengthy interview with the daily independent Al-Masry Al-Youm, the People's Assembly Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour was quoted as saying that opposition parties must prove themselves worthy of the electorate's trust. "If the opposition failed in competing with Gamal Mubarak in [presidential] elections, then they do not deserve to come to power," Sorour was quoted as saying. Egyptian Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zuweil told Al-Masry Al-Youm that education must be viewed as a national security question. The chemist warned that the crisis of education that engulfs the country would have a tremendously negative impact on the country. "Education is a national security issue whose problems cannot be tackled by temporary remedies or solutions." He also called upon all concerned parties to enter into a broad dialogue on this crucial issue. The state of the economy also hit the headlines. The daily business-oriented Al-Alam Al-Youm ran a feature about skyrocketing commodity prices. "How is it that [the government] claims that inflation has decreased while prices [of commodities] are skyrocketing?" the paper quoted one expert, speaking for many, as saying. Meanwhile, the editorial of the widely respected business weekly Al-Mal lavished praise on the Minister of Industry and Trade Rashid Mohamed Rashid's decision to increase the amount of fines to LE50 million from a previous high of LE10 million imposed on companies that prove to be monopolising any commodity. "The government has at last yielded to the desires of [the majority of] people who believe that part of the phenomenon of price hikes is monopoly practices, by amending the competition protection law." Marital problems also concerned many commentators. Akhbar El-Youm reported that there were "88,000 divorce cases annually in Egypt, and 35 per cent of them take place during the first year of marriage." The paper reported that most of the cases take place either because husbands are having affairs with other women or due to the wives' lack of sense of responsibility. Indeed, the consensus seems to be that the state of marital affairs in Egypt today is nothing less than unacceptable.
