CAIRO: The United States Ambassador to Cairo Margaret Scobey held two different meetings last week with officials from the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights and the Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and Councils addressing human rights issues and bilateral ties between the two countries. Mofid Shehab, Minister of State for Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils, said during the meeting that Egyptian law is “committed to international conventions and to the Egyptian Constitution, which ensures rights and freedoms as it is eager to spread the culture of human rights in schools and universities through the media.” He noted during the meeting with Scobey “that the human rights movement in Egypt has seen remarkable growth in recent years.” Activists, however, argue that the government continues to put down activists' protests and calls for greater freedom of expression and requests to change the constitution. Shehab said that his meeting with Scobey addressed bilateral relations between the two countries “in the framework of existing cooperation in various regional and international issues and the results of the adoption of the International Council for Human Rights.” Shehab described Egyptian-American relations as “positive,” affirming the government's keenness on strengthening the current relationship “through coordination and consultation on issues of common interest and dimensions of international and regional issues, especially the Middle East, mainly the Palestinian issue.” He stressed that Egypt plays a “pivotal role” in reaching peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, adding in this regard the importance of the US role in resolving the conflict on the “basis of the resolutions of international legitimacy.” For her part, Ambassador Scobey said she is “pleased by the distinguished relations between the two countries,” noting to the Egyptian-American cooperation in political areas, which is “particularly important in light of the pioneering role of Egypt in the region and to President Hosni Mubarak in supporting stability and security in the Middle East.” She confirmed her country's appreciation for what she said was the Egyptian efforts in the area of political reform and economic development. Egyptian activists have constantly demanded that Washington intervene to encourage Cairo to change its attitude toward democracy and human rights, arguing that Washington continues to allow the Mubarak government to implement a number of crackdowns against activists with impunity. BM
