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05:19Last update on: 12 Aug 2013
The Namibian
Mon 12 Aug 2013
SMS Of The Day * MINISTRY of Gender and Child Welfare, TEARS are rolling down as I write this SMS. The killing of women in Namibia is now like reciting a poem. Are we really getting the protection we deserve while women not being treated as part of this c Food For Thought * SO the Zimbabwe elections were free and peaceful and not free and fair? Bouquets And Brickbats * NURSES at Katutura Hospital must stop wearing those big plastic sandals at work because they are not the official working shoes. We want to see you looking smart and beautiful with your full uniform. SMS Of The Day * THIS nation is in dire need of a massive conference on housing. When we experienced a crisis in the education sector a crisis-control brain-storming conference was organised which resulted in the best deal ever for the Namibian child, nam Food For Thought * BOURGEOISIE has become a daily occupation if not the order of the day of the upper-echelons, President Hifikepunye Pohamba we urge you to revisit this unpatriotic geocentricism among your staff and the well-connected, for everybody to r Bouquets And Brickbats * COMMISSIONER of Prisons, can you please explain the strategies you use to appoint officers to certain positions? It is my observation that you are being fed with wrong information then you just promote individuals without making p SMS Of The Day * I THINK Paulus ‘The Rock’ Ambunda lost his belt because of this promoter and trainer. How can a world champion still be training at the Katutura Youth Complex where there is not enough equipment. I think they must follow the example of Ha Food For Thought * NAMIBIA Dairies are unable to match low prices of imported milk and this ultimately means the consumer will have to pay more for local milk. Look at the prices of the local chicken. All these profits are going in the pockets of a few in Bouquets And Brickbats * I AM pleased to hear that Cabinet has responded positively to the proposal of Namibia Dairies to support the industry. The restrictions which support the industry by reducing competition to ensure the survival of the industry is a SMS Of The Day * CEO’s golden handshakes. Somewhere on our statute books there must be a provision that if a board of directors suspends/dismisses a CEO without due regard to legal provision (substantive/procedural law) such board must carry the costs for Food For Thought * JACKY Asheeke was so right with her last column- why are the fathers of the dead children not being prosecuted? (Reference to the children who died in shack fires last week) Our justice system still protects men over women. In this cont Bouquets And Brickbats * ALEXACTUS Kaure, your column in Friday’s newspaper opened my eyes. One hardly finds impartial case study analysers in Namibia. Let’s not destroy the Polytechnic’s strong foundation (Tjivikua) as yet. At least wait until the transf
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NEWS - INTERNATIONAL
| 2013-08-07
Fresh diplomatic drive to defuse Egypt
Senator Lindsey Graham
CAIRO – Two high-profile US senators were yesterday expected to hold talks in Cairo, the latest push in a growing diplomatic flurry to defuse a crisis sparked by the military’s overthrow of Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.
Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham arrived on Monday evening for talks with main players in the stand-off between Morsi’s supporters and Egypt’s army-appointed new authorities.
Egypt’s political crisis, sparked by the military’s 3 July ouster of Morsi, has paralysed the country and deepened political polarisation and social divisions.
Morsi loyalists, mostly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, say the removal of the country’s first freely elected president is a violation of democratic principles and nothing short of his reinstatement would end their sit-ins.
The interim leadership says there is no turning back on the army-drafted roadmap that provides for new elections in 2014.
More than 250 people have been killed since Morsi’s ouster.
As tensions mounted over the looming break-up of two major sit-ins staged by Morsi loyalists, Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei urged the Brotherhood to find a peaceful way out of the crisis and appealed to Egypt’s media to stop “demonising” the group.
He called on the Brotherhood “to join the peaceful solutions. Don’t count on the security forces dispersing the sit-ins by force, causing a massacre and turning you into victims.”
Such a scenario “would only increase the people’s anger against you”.
But the Brotherhood is standing its ground.
“Only a political solution to restore continuity of constitutional legitimacy will end crisis,” said the group’s spokesman Gehad al-Haddad on Twitter.
In recent days, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, EU foreign policy supremo Catherine Ashton, EU envoy Bernardino Leon, Arab diplomats, an African delegation and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle have all travelled to Cairo in a bid to defuse the crisis.
Leon met Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi on Monday after he and Burns met the day before with the number two of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, Khairat al-Shater, in prison.
A spokesperson for the State Department in Washington said that Burns and Leon had visited Shater on Sunday, accompanied by the foreign ministers of regional US allies Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said the visit was intended to “prevent further violence, calm tensions and facilitate an inclusive dialogue among Egyptians that can help the transition to a democratically elected civilian government”.
However, Morsi’s deputy gave the delegation a cold shoulder, according Haddad.
Shater refused to discuss the situation with the envoys, saying only that the Brotherhood’s position on defending Morsi’s legitimacy was “unchanged”.
Authorities have promised demonstrators a safe exit and said an end to their protests would allow the Muslim Brotherhood to return to political life.
Morsi himself has been formally remanded in custody on suspicion of offences committed when he escaped from prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.
State department spokesperson Harf said that “as of now”, Burns had no plans to meet Morsi. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also met with several influential Islamist leaders on Sunday to mediate a solution with the Brotherhood.
- Nampa-AFP
Egypt’s political crisis, sparked by the military’s 3 July ouster of Morsi, has paralysed the country and deepened political polarisation and social divisions.
Morsi loyalists, mostly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, say the removal of the country’s first freely elected president is a violation of democratic principles and nothing short of his reinstatement would end their sit-ins.
The interim leadership says there is no turning back on the army-drafted roadmap that provides for new elections in 2014.
More than 250 people have been killed since Morsi’s ouster.
As tensions mounted over the looming break-up of two major sit-ins staged by Morsi loyalists, Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei urged the Brotherhood to find a peaceful way out of the crisis and appealed to Egypt’s media to stop “demonising” the group.
He called on the Brotherhood “to join the peaceful solutions. Don’t count on the security forces dispersing the sit-ins by force, causing a massacre and turning you into victims.”
Such a scenario “would only increase the people’s anger against you”.
But the Brotherhood is standing its ground.
“Only a political solution to restore continuity of constitutional legitimacy will end crisis,” said the group’s spokesman Gehad al-Haddad on Twitter.
In recent days, US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, EU foreign policy supremo Catherine Ashton, EU envoy Bernardino Leon, Arab diplomats, an African delegation and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle have all travelled to Cairo in a bid to defuse the crisis.
Leon met Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi on Monday after he and Burns met the day before with the number two of Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, Khairat al-Shater, in prison.
A spokesperson for the State Department in Washington said that Burns and Leon had visited Shater on Sunday, accompanied by the foreign ministers of regional US allies Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The spokeswoman, Marie Harf, said the visit was intended to “prevent further violence, calm tensions and facilitate an inclusive dialogue among Egyptians that can help the transition to a democratically elected civilian government”.
However, Morsi’s deputy gave the delegation a cold shoulder, according Haddad.
Shater refused to discuss the situation with the envoys, saying only that the Brotherhood’s position on defending Morsi’s legitimacy was “unchanged”.
Authorities have promised demonstrators a safe exit and said an end to their protests would allow the Muslim Brotherhood to return to political life.
Morsi himself has been formally remanded in custody on suspicion of offences committed when he escaped from prison during the 2011 revolt that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.
State department spokesperson Harf said that “as of now”, Burns had no plans to meet Morsi. Army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also met with several influential Islamist leaders on Sunday to mediate a solution with the Brotherhood.
- Nampa-AFP
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