Assiut is the hub of Upper Egypt - a city that has a large university, many educational institutions and a vibrant economic history. However, Assiut also has a chronically high unemployment rate among its educated young people with over 20% being unemployed according to official statistics in 2002. APC member in Egypt, ArabDev, has been working with Assiut Childhood and Development Association (ACDA) to counteract unemployment with IT skills training for the local job market.

The subject of this interview by Women's Enews, Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, one of the most well-known feminists and political dissidents in the Arab world, was born in 1931 in Kafr Tahla, a small village north of Cairo. A psychiatrist by training, she first rose to international prominence with her 1972 book, "Women and Sex," which dealt with the taboo topic of women's sexuality and led to her dismissal as Egypt's director of public health. She also lost her positions as the chief editor of the medical journal, Health, and as the assistant general secretary of the Egyptian Medical Association. Since then, her many books and novels, most focusing on issues of Arab and Muslim women and sexuality within the context of repressive religious authority and tradition, have made her the target of both Egypt's secular regimes and the Muslim religious establishment.

The 10 African nations that share the waters of the Nile have been meeting this week in Uganda to discuss how the river's precious resources should be distributed. A number of countries, including Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya are calling for the water to be shared more evenly. But according to a treaty signed between Britain and Egypt in 1929, no country can undertake any project that would reduce the volume of water reaching Egypt. Egypt has reportedly said that any effort to alter the terms of the colonial treaty would be regarded as an act of war.

The U.S. led war on Iraq has strengthened opposition to U.S. policies in Egypt; emboldened challenges to the regime; led to a growing consensus in favour of political reform and realignment of the opposition, according to a new report from the International Crisis Group. The ICG says the U.S. administration should take seriously the evidence of political damage that American-Egyptian relations have sustained as a consequence of its regional policies, notably its perceived bias in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, its decision to topple the regime in Iraq, and its heavy-handed admonitions to Egypt and other Arab countries to reform. Washington's policies, and the manner of their implementation, have embarrassed a friendly government, aggravated its domestic difficulties and undermined the U.S.'s self-proclaimed reform agenda.

The Egyptian government's refusal to allow two human rights groups to register as legal entities casts a shadow over their capacity to work, Human Rights Watch says. Human Rights Watch also expressed concern over the government's detention and interrogation of a prominent Egyptian human rights activist as he was returning from a conference abroad.

The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) has expressed great concern over the detention of five anti-war activists who have been detained by the Egyptian authorities since the middle of April. In addition, Ashraf Ibrahim Marzouq, an engineer, is currently in pre-trial detention in Tora prison. He is charged with filming a demonstration and having certain publications in his possession.

Attempts by the United States Administration to force Europe to accept GM food and crops received a serious blow after Egypt announced that it would not be part of a WTO challenge to the European Union's de facto moratorium on approving new GM licenses. The Egyptian Government says that it has taken its decision because it recognises " the need to preserve adequate and effective consumer and environmental protection."

To all those working at the Egyptian Ministry of Interior and who are involved in torture or who have ordered it or refrained from stopping it, although they knew it was taking place: The undersigned organisations know how you have spent the last three days torturing our colleagues, antiwar activists and other Egyptian citizens who have walked the same path of the millions of citizens all over the world and have peacefully expressed their protest of the killing going on in Iraq.

Hundreds of antiwar activists and demonstrators have been detained in Cairo and some are being tortured by police, Human Rights Watch charges. Hundreds more have been injured as security forces used water cannons, clubs, dogs, and even stones against demonstrators. Police have arrested leaders of movements protesting the Iraq war and Israeli actions in the Occupied Territories; journalists, professors, and students; and onlookers, as well as children as young as 15 years old.

Hundreds of antiwar activists and demonstrators have been detained in Cairo and some are being tortured by police, Human Rights Watch charges. Hundreds more have been injured as security forces used water cannons, clubs, dogs, and even stones against demonstrators. Police have arrested leaders of movements protesting the Iraq war and Israeli actions in the Occupied Territories; journalists, professors, and students; and onlookers, as well as children as young as 15 years old.

The verdict in the retrial of 50 men, tried for their alleged sexual orientation, is expected on 15 March before a criminal court in the Qasr al-Nil district of Cairo. The trial takes place amid a continued clampdown by the Egyptian authorities on men on the basis of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.

The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR) says it is deeply concerned by news of the ongoing arrests of anti-Iraqi war activists in Egypt. The organisation said that on 19 February 2003 security forces had arrested Kamal Khalil, a leader of the Egyptian anti-war movement and director of the Socialist Studies Centre.

A February 17 appeals court ruling in Egypt may signal an increasingly harsh campaign of entrapment, arrest and conviction of men solely on the basis of alleged consensual homosexual conduct, Human Rights Watch says. The organisation has urged the Egyptian authorities to conduct a fair review of all sentences handed down in such cases, and to free from prison anyone convicted solely for private, consensual conduct among adults.

The Egyptian government conducts mass arrest campaigns of children whose "crime" is that they are in need of protection, Human Rights Watch says in a new report.
Children in police custody face beatings, sexual abuse and extortion by police and adult criminal suspects, and police routinely deny them access to food, bedding and medical care.

Egyptian authorities have arrested 15 persons over demonstrations against the war in Iraq. Many of them remain in pre-trial detention with some of them having reportedly been kept in incommunicado detention during this time, says the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The OMCT requests those concerned by this situation to write to the Egyptian authorities requesting that they be released and their safety guaranteed.

Hundreds of foreigners, including refugees and asylum seekers, were beaten and jailed during two nights of racially-motivated arrests in Cairo, Human Rights Watch says. The threat of arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, and racially-based harassment continues to hang over many asylum-seekers and refugees in Egypt, says the organisation.

Egypt has scrapped its old Internet subscription plan in favor of per-hour dial-up charges, resulting in an immediate and welcome spike in usage.

Egypt is one of the continent's largest two connectivity markets, the other being South Africa. The country spans both Africa and the Middle East and is therefore a key business centre for both markets. It has used the density of internet access it has already built up to pioneer the possibility of even greater levels of penetration through a free internet access initiative. It has also used its geographically advantageous position to develop an internet data centre offering server hosting among other things. Read about this, and more, in News Update this week.

Diverse stakeholders from all over the world will attend the Summit. It will be a forum where innovative policies, practices and ideas will be shared and used to initiate committed action. Over 2000 people are expected to attend, of which 1000 will be youth. Register online now!

The Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program at the American University in Cairo, Egypt will host a seminar entitled, "Delivering Human Rights: Building Human Rights Awareness among Women Refugees." It will take place at the Main Campus on February 27th, 2002 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.