Mubarak's address to the Parliament: rule of law as a fundamental approach
Egypt, Politics, 11/21/2003

Egypt's President addressed the Parliament this week. Here follows is his speech:

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Your new legislative session is being held on blessed days of the holy month of Ramadan.

We all hope it will be a distinguished successful session, to which you will contribute constructive points of view and clear and far - sighted visions of the national issues that engross us and the challenges that face us at present, thus, in this important phase of our march towards comprehensive reform, modernization and development, we aim to promote our nation and realize hopes and aspirations of our people.

Many years ago, our march towards reform started, then proceeded and flourished; embedding its own practices.

In process, new achievements were made every day towards changing the quality of life in Egypt.

In our part, we paid special attention to laying down firm grounds for the institutional structure of the state and deepening the concept of the state of institutions.

This concept is based on the rule of law, as an essential approach to national and executive action.

Another basis is to create a democratic atmosphere where citizenship, equal opportunity and free expression are deemed as basic principles that guarantee full equality among all citizens and ensure practice of all civil and political rights guaranteed by law and the constitution within a framework of freedom and legitimacy.

In this respect, freedom of Egyptian press was a real expression of the current free democratic atmosphere in Egypt.

In this context, the press performs its role in presenting visions and viewpoints, expressing criticism, exercising control and addressing shortcomings that our society suffers from at present, within a framework of objectivity, transparency and keenness on the public interest.

Furthermore, the scope of democratic practice has widely expanded as national powers were quick to form a large number of parties representing different political trends.

Thus different sectors of the society were allowed and given the opportunity to participate, through those lawful rostrums that had laid the building block for the transition to a sound democratic society.

This society is based on fundamental principles, purporting that freedom is the first feature of a civilized society, that democracy is the base for creating a favorable atmosphere for development and that justice is the real guarantee for society's stability, growth and development

Adoption of the rule of law as a basic approach to national and executive work has enhanced the march of political and democratic reform and entrenched the concept of the State of Institutions.

Furthermore, our reliance on an independent fair judiciary has guaranteed justice and equality and enriched our democratic experience through their full supervision on elections.

Concomitant to all those ongoing efforts exerted for the sake of political reform, similar ones had to be exerted for the sake of development and economic reform process.

These were based on encouraging the private sector and bolstering national economic activity so as to achieve equilibrium between resources and national usages and to provide more job opportunities.

In addition, the entrenchment of the slogan: "Made in Egypt" gave stronger impetus to the industry and agriculture in Egypt.

Thus, investors were encouraged to access new spheres of national projects that serve our national economy and developmental objectives.

Serious steps had to be also taken so as to address major economic challenges facing us, under the international changes requiring our instant transition towards market-driven economy.

In this type of economy, forces of supply and demand channel resources towards the best and most efficient uses through mechanisms that associate prices and wages on the one hand, with productivity, efficient operation and quality of production on the other.

These mechanisms aim to unleash free economic activity in different fields so as to achieve a radical transformation of the society's philosophy and perception of economic productive activity as one of the most important pivots of the aspired-for reform.

Therefore, our economy has transformed into one, where the private sector plays a pivotal role based on private initiative and motives of fair profits as a driver of the production process.

To stimulate this orientation, we sought to remove all hurdles that may affect the profitability of the economic and production activity. Besides, we provided all guarantees necessary for returns generated by economic activity to help realize equilibrium between the investor's share of profit and the gains accrued to the society as a whole.

Concomitantly, the state continues to function in strategic economic sites closely connected with the interests of the greater majority of the masses.

Within this framework, the government's role has turned from one of a producer and a distributor to that of a supervisor, regulator and an arbiter to determine the competing priorities of various categories of producers and consumers.

Hence emerged my request to the government to pay special attention to the regulatory framework of market mechanisms and to develop stable rules to regulate relations among market players.

Moreover, I called upon the government to finalize the competition protection law in order to regulate relations among different economic entities in a manner that realizes justice and equality.

Under these radical changes in economic reform process, we had to give primacy to the rights of vulnerable categories, so that their incomes, standard of living and cost of access to basic services would not be affected by the recent transformations in markets.

It was also imperative to pay special attention to infrastructure projects which were not qualified to cope up with the reform and development process nor to honor citizens' rights to have a fair share of every day-life services.

In recognition by the society of the fact that development required conscious participation by all members, there emerged a new concept of voluntary work.

The number of civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations rose to more than 14,000, currently operating in a variety of development spheres, such as health, housing, urban and social development and care of people with special needs.

They also perform their role as an active partner to the sustainable development process.

The reform and development process was accompanied by tremendous expansion in the provision of fundamental and vital services, on top of which comes health care, by availing basic health care, upgrading and modernizing health institutions all over Egypt's governorates.

It was also imperative to turn education into a national project for Egypt and to make available all capabilities necessary to expand the educational institution infrastructure, to ensure that quality of education of all stages would qualitatively and quantitively promoted.

With steady population increase, a major urban revival was inevitable to address this problem.

We build many new urban communities and industrial zones.
We also set up major projects geared to bring about needed urban expansion and to lay down necessary underpinnings of a more civilized society.

Our perception of the foreign policy role evolved so that our political orientations turned into a strategic dimension that bolsters our domestic development efforts.

Accordingly, Egypt has re-formulated its international political discourse, placing Egypt's national security and economic interests as an inalienable groundwork for all orientations relevant to our foreign relations.

In the meantime, this would not prejudice our pivotal role on the Arab, African and international levels, and in the same time, would safeguard our cultural and civilizational standing and specific identity.

Brothers and Sisters,

Over the past two decades, Egypt has taken wide strides along the road of political and socio-economic reform, which is too difficult to elaborate fully on this occasion.

Certainly, the revival already realized in all spheres has imparted a new facet to the quality of the Egyptian citizen's life, creating new horizons for his own aspirations for the future, that fully converge with ours for the future of the nation.

However, there are already ahead of us several enormous challenges and tasks for building the aspired-for modern society.

To this end, it is imperative to re-define and re-describe the role of the government as an active executive instrument, to expand decentralization, upgrade local administration, enhance popular participation and identify mutual responsibilities of the society and state.

Our vision of such modern society is based on five basic underpinnings:
I - Provide active and effective societal instruments to enable the society to realize its objectives. Most important of these are to expand popular participation, complete the build up of a proper partisan pluralism, rising on strong parties that can communicate with the masses and conduct dialogue among each others.

This would allow them the opportunity to propose executive alternatives, of which the most congenial to our conditions and potential would be selected.

II- One of the underpinnings of this modern society is that the society is involved in determining both the goals and priorities, which govern our national action so as to be compatible with our potential and capabilities.

Such goals and priorities should be drawn up in clear-cut framework that takes into consideration their importance to the society, as well as to progress and reform along various themes.

This should also guarantee the fulfillment of our overall national goals through phases within a clear-cut and specified time frame.

III- We live at present in a market-driven society, where both the government, the private sector and civil society play an active role in addressing its facts and impact on our economic and social movement.

Regardless of the changes or diverse effects of the market mechanisms we should tackle them with an appropriate measure of flexibility, within popular, partisan and parliamentary frameworks.

The objective should be to maximize their perception and comprehension and seek to make use of their strengths and avoid, as much as possible, their weaknesses.

IV- To promote both the individual and the society is the supreme goal for every political or socio-economic activity.

This requires a growing interest in the social dimension of development and an elaboration of the social dimension concept so as to have a developmental nature.

The proposed concept does not mean full care or dependance but it rather provides an opportunity for increasing participation in development through re-organizing the society so as to be the nation's conscience that can increase the driving force towards prosperity and minimize obstacles to advancement.

Last of those underpinnings is to open up to the international community, to deepen participation in all international and regional political and socio-economic frameworks and to make maximum use of others' experiments and experiences, while maintaining our cultural and religious privacy and consistency with the development approach we adopt in enriching our political partisan and parliamentary experiment.

Brothers and Sisters,

Such were the achievements already made and such were the principles that govern our national action. However, there lie ahead of us, several challenges on the road to complete the political and socio-economic pillars of our modern society.

ÊÊÊ On the domestic political arena, the enhancement of democratic practice remains our top priority in order for democracy to become the prevailing culture in the society.

Related to this is that the society should undertake a greater role in democratic practice; democracy is a social behavior before being a system or a political approach adopted by the state, whereby it guarantees all constituents that maintain and activate democracy.

Here, political parties should play a growing active role in deepening popular participation in all facets of political work.

The past days have showed that entrenching concepts of dialogue and communication between different parties as real partners to the homeland should help increase space of consensus national goals and means of realizing them.

In addition, it should put an end to fears and wrong assumptions that have given rise to phenomena of passivity and abstention from participation.

Undoubtedly, as this dialogue develops into a code of ethics that sets a clear-cut framework for cooperation among parties it would deepen their ability to serve the society.

This would also provide alternatives to realize its interests and the best means to achieve its developmental goals.

The development of both laws on parties and on exercising political rights is one issue that calls for objective and serious dialogue in order to reach the best formula to develop partisan and political work within a legislative framework appropriate to our evolving democratic experiment.

It is becoming increasingly important to achieve a balance between rights and duties as an essential principle that commands the democratic experiment.

This emanates from the awareness and recognition of the masses that democratic practice is a responsibility, coupled with obligations which they should fulfill in as much as it offers them the opportunity to obtain their legitimate political, social and economic rights.

Within the framework of enhancing societal participation, our efforts should be sustained to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and to offer them additional leading senior posts and jobs.

We should also work towards enhancing their presence on the political scene, including extending their parliamentary and partisan representation.

We should also solve all problems relating to their socio-economic problems, including the finalization of finishing the draft law on the Family Court.

We should, in addition, develop innovative solutions to the obstacles impeding enforcement of the provisions of maintenance, by introducing amendment to Law No. 1 of 2000, in addition to upgrading policies as may be necessary to achieve justice and complete equality for women.

Moreover, a modern society is built on pillars relating to the ability of youth to effectively participate in the building process.

Therefore, it is required to empower young people to bear their full responsibilities starting from participation in leading partisan work including cadres and other levels.

We should also give them the chance to put forth their ideas and visions for the future, until we have ensured their contribution to public policy making on both partisan and national levels and their sharing of the responsibility of implementing them in a way that brings about convergence between experience of the past and ambition of the future.

Brothers and Sisters,

The new modern society, we seek also to build, is based on economic components that depend on the private sector's ability to freely and flexibly invest its capital and resources, without any obstacles or bureaucratic hurdles.

Hence, the government has to work ceaselessly to develop and improve the efficiency of the administrative machinery in charge of all investment-related functions including the development and training of government human resources.

The government has also to accelerate finalizing amendments to the Investment Law; thus allowing more flexibility and openness.

I hope your esteemed Assembly will perform its aspired role in debating and approving such amendments.

This would ensure that all obstacles to the attraction of more investment are removed. It should be stressed that each administrative hurdle to an investor correspondingly causes a loss of an available job opportunity for our youth and aggravates the unemployment problem.

Meantime, the question of small-and-medium-size enterprises figures high among socio-economic development priorities.

This makes it incumbent on us to beef up such enterprises that can provide job opportunities for a broad base of youth estimated at one third of manpower. Here, I demand the government to urgently finalize the draft law of the small-size enterprises in preparation for submission to your esteemed Assembly in the current session.

Likewise, the government has to pay special attention to the question of export, which has started to forge out its proper way.

Now the Egyptian industry has access to a variety of world markets.

We have also gained plenty of expertise in setting specifications for quality products at competitive price.

We should boost these efforts by upgrading our monetary, and fiscal policies, activating the Egyptian Industrial Modernization Programme.

We should also enhance export-oriented production, pursue modernizing infrastructure at seaports and airports to serve our growing export capabilities.

We should, further activate association agreements with various international economic powers, in such a way that will qualify us to face up to the world economic challenges.

Brothers and Sisters,

Integration into the global economy has required us to adopt international standards in all our local policies.

These standards govern public budget deficit, public debt volume and fiscal rates and management.

We have already made wide strides in this regard, setting necessary rules to guarantee the integrity of our financial balances. However, it is high time now to finalize the upgrading of fiscal structure in Egypt and reconsider rates of tax on income, profits and sales in such a way as to guarantee a fair share for the state, to undertake its public liabilities and obligations towards limited-income brackets.

Meantime, this should ensure that the production process is stimulated and that investors and producers are encouraged to perform their role in development in such a way as to guarantee the development and modernization of fiscal management systems.

Therefore, I demand the government to put for public debate the draft fiscal law so that the society as a whole can select its alternatives, set its priorities in order and strike a balance between the state's and the society's interests.

I, moreover, demand the government to present to your Assembly this year a rewarded customs tariff draft, taking into consideration recent developments in exchange rates and the resulting changes.

These urge us to work to alleviate the additional burden to the society, to stimulate the production process and remove the distortions that have long impeded production and competitiveness.

In the same context, it is also imperative to reinforce steps we have already taken to develop our financial institutions, the backbone of economic activity, so as to be able to meet productive economic activity requirements.

These include the availability of active financial institutions, banks capital markets operated according to international practices, and governed by stable and clear-cut rules.

Your esteemed Assembly has already issued the Law on Banks and the Central Bank laying down grounds for growth-supportive monetary policies, as well as rules for stable, enlightened control.

The Law also allows for disciplined lending and supports the role of banks in financing economic development in our society.

However, our work will not come to an end with the promulgation of legislation.

National banks, with the Central Bank on top, are required to upgrade their efficiency and capacity to keep pace with international advances and to perform their role in optimally utilizing savings and enhancing investment.

Thus, I demand the government to devise this year an integrated plan to upgrade the structure of our banking system.

Such plan should provide for containing and taking in the weak parts and bolstering the strong.

This should be effected by injecting necessary capital, developing specialist management, integrating businesses into entities that are invulnerable to competition by its counterparts in the world.

These entities should be able to provide services that are no less flexible than those offered by international banks.

Thus, they can provide needs of our emerging financial community and handle the conditions of our developing economy.

Moreover, I demand the government to hasten to regulate administrative frameworks for the exchange market.

This would allow supply and demand to flow within a structured framework of freedom and transparency, governed by stable rules, where prices express the real value of our currency.

In confronting all challenges and changes, support to vulnerable categories will remain one of our public expenditure priorities.

While seeking to employ all possible modern mechanisms to guarantee delivery of subsidy to those deserving it. Although public expenditure has increased as a result, the volume of public debt still remains within safe internationally recognized limits.

Public debt is offset by productive assets and infrastructure that represents the core of production process.

These open the way to job opportunities, and generate income that can service such debt.

In this regard, the government should reconsider ways of employing public resources, rationalizing government expenditure, and rearranging its priorities so as to ensure that public debt be relieved and constantly kept within safe limits.

Brothers and Sisters,

Members of the People's Assembly and Shura Council,
The building of a modern society requires us to pay attention to the knowledge structure of the society, of which education is one of its most essential pillars.

Therefore, it is imperative to devote necessary efforts and energies so as to achieve a qualitative leap in education.

To this end, action should not only be restricted to efforts of governmental bodies, but also should be based on decentralization and increasing societal partnership.

This will allow maximum use of our self-potentials as well as diversified educational sources and the development of education economics.

Concomitantly, there should be developed environment where information technology is employed to promote education.

There should be a developed knowledge society, where sciences, knowledge and modern technology can be employed to serve comprehensive development and its issues, and measuring tools for student performance and performance quality for the educational system as a whole can be constantly upgraded through a certification, accreditation and total quality system.

From this standpoint, I commit the government to prepare necessary legislation to create an independent body to accredit and guarantee quality of education.

This body shall win at achieving impartial and sustained evaluation and control. Moreover, its mission will be to assure the quality of performance of educational institutions through different stages, namely university and pre-university.

These include technical educational systems necessary to push forward the development process.

Despite the fall in illiteracy rate, it is imperative to develop an advanced package of policies, solutions and programmes to be implemented by the government within a specified time frame. Here, the civil society should contribute an influential role in order to fully eliminate this problem as soon as possible.

We should also pay due attention to the role of health in building a modern society in such a way as to fulfill the fundamental right of citizens to appropriate medical care which should depend on the citizen's needs to such care rather than just on his ability to pay its costs.

Therefore, I charge the government to devise a detailed plan to be implemented in accordance with a specified time schedule in order to reformulate and activate health insurance mechanisms geared to make insurance accessible by all society members.

Moreover, there is an inevitable necessity requiring that the problem of overpopulation should be courageously addressed and more decisively confronted through the awareness and the recognition by the society of the latent danger that threatens the future of the nation should the rate of over population remain high.

Over the second half of the 20th century, Egypt's population increased threefolds from around 20 million in 1950 to around 68 million in 2002.

This situation requires a more serious and comprehensive reconsideration of the demographic policy with the object of bringing the population number to safe limits.

Moreover, we all have to bear in mind that we no longer have the luxury of time to handle this major problem that threatens all the development efforts exerted by the state.

Therefore, a huge national responsibility rests on the government, representatives of the people, men of religion and even the entire society to ensure that the national demographic plan is activated and implemented.

The plan should be further periodically assessed and amended to meet work requirements.

Hence, these requirements evolve around the three pivots of the problem i.e. reducing population growth rates, promoting demographic features and achieving a better geographical balance of the demographic chart.

Such exercise should give growth rates priority to influencing population growth rates and guarantee non-recourse to such solutions that we may otherwise have to adopt unwillingly, affecting our social system depended on, particularly with regard to free education and health care.

In this vein, I here commit the government to reactivate the role of the National Population Council so as to coordinate national efforts necessary in this vital subject in cooperation with all governmental agencies and the civil society.

The council should also monitor step by step the implementation of the National Demographic Plan.

Brothers and Sisters,

One of the most significant features of the modern society is the ability to figure, understand and make a sound, objective assessment of international and regional variables.

The object is to make optimal use of such variables in realizing our aspired for political and economic interests, in order to maintain our national security and to boost our efforts towards progress.

We have successfully managed to realize our goals by following an ambitious and well-balanced foreign policy.

Thus, we safeguarded our national interest through outstanding relationships with the outside world based on mutual respect and joint interests. However, the very foundations of international relations have radically changed recently.

This radical change and its consequences have required on our part an increasing measure of openness to the outside world, as well as a greater measure of awareness of the impact of such variables on the international approach to our critical issues.

These also called for keenness, on our part, to demonstrate to the international community all efforts exerted by Egypt and our Arab and Islamic civilizations in addressing such issues and in deepening inter-civilization and inter-religion relationships for the good of humanity.

Such changes coincided with the absence of overall consensus on clear-cut principles for activating the international collective security system.

These changes have thwarted the authority of the United Nations and the competence of the Security Council.

As a result, the international organization's ability to move for the settlement of international and regional issues and to fulfill peoples' aspirations for peace and stability has been affected.

Those international variables helped create an increasing trend to enhance the role of regional organizations and groupings and maximize their respective ability to forge out visible political and economic blocs that defend their own vital interests and impose respect by others.

In this context, Egypt was quick to offer a comprehensive initiative to address such consecutive changes.

This initiative proposes to make the Arab league an effective Arab space, comprising governmental, popular and parliamentary frameworks.

I trust that, together with other Arab initiatives, this one will lead to the achievement of the aspired-for joint Arab national security.

In the meantime and in spite of the current dangerous stage of the Middle East peace process and the negative attitude taken by the current Israeli government towards any effort leading to the negotiating table, including its stance as to the Roadmap peace plan and the Arab Peace Initiative in spite of its unacceptable harassment against other Arab countries, relying on the absence of any serious reaction by the international community, the hope for achieving peace will never dissipate.

However, peace will never materialize through the guarantee of security alone as the Israeli government wants, but through a popular Palestinian-Israeli conviction of the inevitability to sit to the negotiating table to reach peace.

Brothers and Sisters,
The aggression against Iraq and the occupation of its territory under the pretext of its possession of weapons of mass destruction posed a dangerous development in the history of international relations. Its negative reflections have been aggravated by the humanitarian tragedies caused to the brotherly people of Iraq by the occupation.

We have already exerted efforts to assist the brotherly people of Iraq in safely passing this difficult phase of its history.

However, the cessation of the escalating stream of violence and restoration of stability to Iraq are radically associated with the ending of occupation and restoration of national rule to Iraqis within a short time frame to be synchronized with intensive international efforts towards reconstruction and meeting the urgent humanitarian needs of the Iraqi people.

In as much as we have been supporting reconstruction efforts in Iraq, we will continue to support efforts by Sudan, in the north and south, towards integrated development.

This rises on the premise that the people of Sudan is one whole nation and they alone can determine what is best for their future.

We have been gratified by the news of imminent conclusion of an agreement that will make an end to a difficult phase of conflict between the North and South in Sudan; opening the door wide to intensive international efforts for reconstructing Sudan.

These will beef up those efforts we have already started so as to realize integrated comprehensive development for both North and South.

While seeking to realize peace and stability in our regions, some serious international action must be taken to appease negative sentiments now widely spread at present among Arab peoples.

These sentiments had been provoked by double-standard policy applied in dealing with issues involving possession of weapons of mass destruction, by disregard by some superpowers of their demands for equitable solutions to ensure that they will obtain their legitimate rights by peaceful means.

The international campaign against terrorism, that we all contribute to and seek to make a success of, will never succeed as long as the occupation of Arab territories in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and even in Iraq, persists.

Nor will it succeed as long as the active players continue-for a variety of considerations and interests- to take lightly reactions of the oppressed occupied peoples and their wish to discard violence should they find a just and equitable political solution, where-by they can regain their rights.

Brothers and Sisters,

Our extensive efforts and persistent endeavors towards comprehensive reform have succeeded in putting our society at a starting point of a major leap towards the modern society that we aspire for and are getting ready to complete its construction. However, this exercise still requires us to start introducing radical adjustments in societal behavior in order to embed a concept of the constructive, creative, evolving and productive society.

This is a society that champions the value of knowledge and labor, where all members recognize that learning and knowledge are the means to join the procession of world progress.

It also recognizes that serious work and respect for the value of time are the means to achieve the development rates we aspire for, immediately reflecting on their standard of living and quality of life he lives.

This is a society that champions the value of morals, that rises on solidarity and mutual human understanding and disciplined national behavior and respects the law.

This society maintains the sanctity of public property, based on its belief that the homeland is a property of all citizens and that its growth and prosperity will be beneficial to all.

This is the society that respects all religions and makes no distinction between citizens in any rights and duties.

This is a society where all Egyptians, regardless of religion, political affiliations or level of material power, work to serve the interest of the homeland.

This is a society that recognizes that democracy means responsibility in handling rights and duties rather than laxity and capturing of advantages exclusive of others or prejudicing equality under the pretext of freedom.

This is a society that takes into consideration rights of vulnerable categories, not only in state policies, but also in the attitude of better-off citizens towards the vulnerable.

We should handle the features of such society not merely as a call for change or an expectation of a better life, but as an inevitable necessity requiring of vigilance and recognition of the pressing need for such social awakening.

Thus, we should be able, not only to make use of the return on development we target, but also to enjoy the fruits of such development in a harmonized coherent society, where noble values and ideals prevail, citizenship rights preserved and security, protection and safety are provided for all members.

Let our fellow-citizens proceed towards learning, work, progress and production.
In so doing, they should be fully assured that effective justice is there to preserve their rights.

It is carefully administered by a just judiciary that preserves citizens' rights, realizes justice necessary to maintain cohesion and equilibrium of the society and champions the value of law and respect for society members.

Justice is enforced by Egyptian policemen, who recognize citizenship values and work day and night to maintain citizens' security and safety.

Justice is also defended by valiant armed forces, capable of protecting the homeland security and territorial integrity.

Greetings to all these honest and valiant men and to all their contributions to the maintenance of Egypt's security, safety and integrity.

Brothers and Sisters,

Members of the People's Assembly and Shura Council,
The masses have entrusted us with the responsibility for building the future of this country, and so we did with honor and pride. We led our nation's steps towards the future speedily but surely.

In our pursuit, we have been armed with unity of ranks, good intention and strength of will.

In so doing, we rely on a clear vision of goals and sound perception of the age's challenges and requirements.

We will proceed forward with resolution and determination, fully committed to sustain the process of welfare and building in all fields without exception.

From the past, we learn lessons and from the present we derive self-confidence and determination to make accomplishments.

We do also rely on the capacity of our time-honored people to achieve their goals and realize their aspirations no matter how ferocious challenges are.

We are fully confident in our ability to realize our aspirations and hopes and to take the most difficult decisions under the most stressful circumstances.

Our vision of the future is quite clear and our self-confidence is never shaken by challenge or constrained by crisis.

God willing, we will always manage to triumph for the will of our homeland and to promote its future such that aspirations for advancement, and growth by our coming generations will come true.

We beseech Allah to bless our march, allow our aspirations to come true and guide our steps on the good path.
He is the Best Sustainer and Best Supporter.
May Peace and Allah's Mercy and Blessings be unto you.

Previous Stories:
  Mubarak: 22 years of internal, external challenges   (11/20/2003)
  Mubarak speech to parliament   (11/19/2003)
  Maher: Our democracy does not need recognition   (11/10/2003)

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