Year: 2008

Fear of escalated response in Damietta over Agrium plant

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily News Egypt:

Members of the People’s Assembly (PA) and local leaders of Damietta have warned of a possible escalation in residents’ response to the continued presence of the Agrium nitrogen and ammonia plant near Ras El-Bar resort.
Although the PA had decided to remove the plant from Damietta, the plant site still remains, much to the ire of local residents who want the plant removed immediately.
“People will wait until the end of the month and if the plant isn’t moved they will take to the streets, but in a much bigger way than in the past,” leader of the local opposition to the plant Nasser El Emary told Daily News Egypt.
Independent MP Omran Megahed told Daily News Egypt, “Expect anything [if the plant remains] and any result will be the fault of the government. We are trying to calm people down and urge patience [but] I see a lot of people that are willing to risk their lives fight this. If you are killing us and our kids then our lives are forfeit and it no longer matters.”
Megahed feels that the government is postponing the relocation of the plant.
Additionally, Emary said that Agrium had hired a public relations firm to promote the plant to the residents.
Megahed said, “What is clear is that the government is beating about the bush on the PA’s decision. It seems the government will do what it wants. I submitted a questioning to the Prime Minister [Ahmad Nazif] in parliament about this and the lack of consideration they are showing the people of Damietta.”
He added that MPs of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) met with people from Damietta and told them the plant will not be moved.

Egypt growth rates expected to take a nose dive, shows poll

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the Daily News Egypt:

As the hot waves of the US subprime crisis continue to melt down the global economy, many are questioning Egypt ability to maintain its record high growth rates in the current fiscal year.
While statements from government officials point to the affirmative, a recent Reuters opinion poll predicts Egypt’s economic growth to ease below the government’s target of more than 7 percent in the current fiscal year 2008/09.
Reuters’ interviews with 11 economists between July 16 and 22 showed that real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow between 4.8 and 6.8 percent in the 2008/2009 fiscal year, which started on July 1, dragged by a slowdown in investment and private consumption.
Ania Thiemann, senior Middle East and North Africa analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told Reuters she expected real GDP growth to ease to 6.7 percent from an estimated 7.1 percent in 2007/08.
“With the turmoil in international financial markets, the cost of capital is rising, and even though a lot of investments in Egypt are boosted by the high liquidity in the Gulf, I can’t see that continuing,” she said in the poll.
EFG-Hermes Economist Muhammad Abu Basha also said a slowdown in private consumption growth in the first quarter of 2008 to 2 percent from 6 percent in the previous quarter was likely to hurt economic growth.
“Inflation is eroding the growth of private consumption,” he explained.
The Cairo-based regional investment bank recently downgraded its forecast for GDP growth in the current fiscal year to 6.2 percent from 6.6 percent.
If these forecasts come to pass, this lower rate will be a blow to government’s relentless attempts to sustain last year’s 7.1 percent growth rate, which has been the pride and glory of Cabinet leaders.

Life for Argentine Dirty War General

Posted on By 3arabawy

From the BBC…

An Argentine ex-army officer has been sentenced to life in prison for the 1977 kidnapping, torture and killing of four left-wing activists.
Luciano Benjamin Menendez, 80, was found guilty along with seven others of the crimes.
Prosecutors say the victims were dumped in the street to make it look like they died in a shoot-out.
Menendez was one of Argentina’s most feared army officers during military rule between 1976 and 1983.
The BBC’s Daniel Schweimler in Argentina says family and friends of the victims were in court, many in tears, others simply staring silently at Menendez as the verdict was read out.
He adds that hundreds of others watched on a giant screen outside the courthouse, to witness a chapter closing on one of the darkest periods of Argentine history.
Torture center
Menendez, who reached the rank of general, commanded the regional Third Army Corps for five years in the northern city of Cordoba.
He is viewed by Argentine human rights activists as a prime example of the military’s cruel rule in the 1970s and 1980s.
The left-wing activists who died in Cordoba in 1977 were Hilda Palacios, Carlos Laja, Ruben Cardozo and Humberto Brandalisi.
Prosecutors said the four were taken to a clandestine torture center and held bound and gagged for a month before being executed.
Their bodies were then dumped in the street to make it look like they had died in a battle with the authorities – a common practice at the time.

To learn more about Israel’s involvement in the Argentinian Dirty War, read this article and that one…