Egypt-US agree on importance of not jumping wrong conclusions on aircraft crash
Egypt, Local, 11/20/1999

The US administration has interfered for containing any negative implications to the Egyptian-US relations as a result of leakage of information by US interrogation bodies on the ill-fated Egyptian aircraft.

The State Department announced it has become a party to the interrogation which is still far from finished. A number of officials and experts from Egypt are sharing US interrogation team their work. The State Department also said transferring responsibility for interrogations from the body to another could only be made through consultations among US bodies and the Egyptian government.

James Rubin, the State Department spokesman has expressed concern over forecasts which have been leaked on the reasons behind the aircraft crash. He called for stop making forecasts as this has troubled the Arab public opinion. The State Department spokesman said Egypt and US stances are concurrent on the importance of not jumping to conclusions and of giving interrogations enough time for considering all circumstantial evidences.

Rubin described jumping to conclusions about the results of interrogation and leaking information as an irresponsible act which does not help reach facts.

On his part, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa denied in a statement after his meeting with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on the sidelines of the summit of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) that there was a crisis between Egypt and the United States because of the case of EgyptAir plane crash.

Moussa said he did not feel a crisis at all but there was a need for extensive work for reaching facts about the circumstantial evidence of the aircraft.

Moussa said reports on the existence of a crisis were built on forecasts which in turn were based on premature leaks, a thing which has led to incorrect conclusions. The Foreign Minister thanked the US administration for cooperation with the Egyptian bodies to uncover the facts of the aircraft crash.

He said the Egyptian and US teams are working together, adding no specific conclusions have been reached. He expressed hope that both sides would reach good results that clear everything for the Egyptian government, families of victims and EgyptAir.

Previous Stories:
  EgyptAir 990 voice transcription underway   (11/19/1999)
  US NTSB's latest remarks on Flight 990 crash investigation   (11/18/1999)
  EgyptAir investigation direction depends on voice data   (11/16/1999)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search