LUXOR - Up to four men have been hospitalised with injuries after a fight in the Upper Egyptian city of Aswan late Wednesday between opponents and proponents of the January 25 revolution. Officers were called to the scene in the Ball Room of Isis Hotel after receiving reports of a violent disturbance that occurred while Arab League Chief and presidential hopeful Amr Moussa was meeting with Aswan community leaders about his electoral programme. Four men were taken to hospital with serious injuries after the brawl that broke out over a heated debate about the revolt that forced former President Hosni Mubarak to step down on February. 11. Chairs and empty bottles were used in the fight between the revolutionaries and former members of parliament (MPs), who had been invited to attend the meeting with Moussa about his programme for the presidential elections that would be held later this year. No one has been arrested in connection with the incident, whose motive is being probed at a police station. Following the fight, in which four men sustained serious wounds, Moussa delivered a speech in which he talked about his vision for a post January 25 Egypt, which he said should restore its key regional role. He said that Egypt ��" if he won the elections, would honour all of the treaties it had signed with Israel only if the Jewish State respected the peace agreement the two countries signed in 1979. Moussa has also pledged to restore Egyptian-African ties to their normal level and exert extra efforts towards strengthening them in all domains. "Egypt should launch joint mega-development projects with Nile Basin countries, which the Cairo Government has neglected over the past three decades," he told the meeting. Regarding the stalled Middle East peace-making process, Moussa said that he would work on pushing forward the talks towards the goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. He dismissed the Israeli besiege of Gaza Strip as unacceptable and said that it was Egypt's duty to stand by the Palestinians against any aggression by the Jewish State. Moussa said that he welcomed restoring 'normal' diplomatic ties between Cairo and Tehran, while preserving the security and safety of Gulf countries. "It is in no one's benefit or interest to revive a Sunni-Shi''te strife that ended 1,200 years ago," he told the meeting. At the local level, Moussa said that he was a staunch supporter of a civil state based on well-esablished institutions. He pledged to work on writing a new social contract that respects and preserves the rights of citizenship for all Egyptians. He that the country needed a comprehensive economic revamp porgramme that is based on liberal mechanisms that guarantee social justice and ensure a strong Government supervision over public-sector assets, which he said should be operated in a competent and transparent way.
