Foreign Relations News Covered by Al- Ahram Weekly (Cairo, Egypt) in November
The article, entitled “Kerry’s Cairo conciliation” was published on November 6 2013 and deals with American and Egyptian relations, an issue that seems to appear very often in the newspaper. The author focuses on the recent visit of the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, to Cairo, paying particular attention to the statements he made during his stay in the Egyptian capital. According to the article, Kerry’s statements were surprisingly warm towards Egypt and its interim government, signaling perhaps the end of the tension between the two countries. The relations between the two countries had been severely damaged after the overthrowing of the previous president, Morsi, four months ago and the ensuing military takeover. The US Secretary of State met with interim President Adli Mansour and army Chief General Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and although he did not mention the former president’s trial, he urged the two men to avoid prosecutions due to political beliefs. At the same time, Kerry asked for democratic elections.
Egyptian heritage at risk
Entitled “Playing with Egypt’s Heritage”, the article, published on November 25 2013, deals with the damage inflicted on one of Egypt’s most famous monuments, the Pyramid of Khufu, by two German amateur archaeologists. The author cites a statement by the Ministry of State for Antiquities that claimed that the two Germans, members of the University of Dresden, stole samples of a cartouche from inside the pyramid, in an attempt to prove their theories. The article mentions the measures taken by the Ministry after the incident was discovered through a video that was uploaded on YouTube. These include the suspension of all collaboration with the University, the German laboratory that analyzed the fragments of the cartouche that were allegedly stolen as well as penalties to the tourist agency that took the two Germans to the site. The author also mentions, apparently with approval, the statement issued by the German Embassy in Cairo, in which it denounces the actions of the two archaeologists and stresses the good collaboration of German and Egyptian archaeologists in many projects. A similar statement was issued by the German Archaeological Institute and this is also mentioned by the writer.
The Fifa World Club unveiled in Cairo
Published on November 25 2013 and entitled “Trophy on Display”, the article focuses on the festive display of the Fifa World Cup in Cairo, in the headquarters of Africa’s representative in the games, the Ahli Club. Although this is a relatively new event, the author stresses its importance, as this will be the first time that a game will be held in Africa and particularly in Morocco. The writer also stresses the presence of a number of important FIFA officials in Cairo, who accompanied the Trophy. The Ahli Club has been very successful in a number of African events and in the article the victories and good performance of the team is mentioned along with statements by the chairman of the team, the coach and FIFA official, Oliver Vogt, all of whom praised the determination and qualities of the players.
WORKS CITED
El-Aref, N. “Playing with Egypt’s Heritage”. Al-Ahram Weekly, 25 November 2013. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/4757/47/Playing-with-Egypt%E2%80%99s-heritage.aspx
Ibrahim, E. “Kerry’s Cairo Conciliation”. Al-Ahram Weekly, 6 November 2013. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/4596/17/Kerry%E2%80%99s-Cairo-conciliation.aspx
Mazhar, I. “Trophy on Display”. Al-Ahram Weekly, 25 November 2013. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/4761/26/Trophy-on-display.aspx
