[A-List] Russia-Egypt Talks on Nuclear Energy Cooperation + Egyptian Government Scrambles to Ease Bread Shortages amid Political Crisis

["Yoshie Furuhashi" <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

Egypt under Mubarak today looks not unlike Iran under the Shah.  Who
will eventually inherit the Russian-built nuclear plants? -- Yoshie

<http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnBAN531905.html>
Russia-Egypt talks to focus on energy and Mideast
Tue 25 Mar 2008, 8:52 GMT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Nuclear energy cooperation and the Middle East
peace process will top the agenda on Tuesday at talks between visiting
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Russian leaders.

A Kremlin source said that after a meeting between Mubarak and Russian
President Vladimir Putin, the two sides will sign a deal clearing the
way for Russia to compete for lucrative contracts to build nuclear
power plants in Egypt.

Mubarak is also expected to hold talks with president-elect Dmitry
Medvedev, Putin's ally who will take over the Kremlin top job on May
7, and Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov.

With Russia keen to carve out a role as a power broker in the Middle
East, its leaders will also discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
with Mubarak. Moscow is pushing plans to host a Middle East peace
conference.

The Kremlin is lobbying hard for contracts to build nuclear power
plants abroad because it sees the industry as the type of
high-technology sector Russia needs to develop to reduce its
dependence on oil and gas exports.

Russia is already building nuclear reactors worth $1.5 billion to $2
billion apiece in Iran, China and India. Egypt plans up to four
nuclear power stations and an international tender to build the first
may come as early as this year.

The London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies said the
1,000-megawatt reactor could be built at Dabaa on the Mediterranean
within 10 years.

"The signing of an agreement on the peaceful use of atomic energy will
be an important step during Hosni Mubarak's visit, said the Kremlin
source.

Oil and gas development are likely to feature on the agenda for talks.
Private Russian firms LUKOIL and Novatek are seeking to develop oil
and gas fields in Egypt.

On the Middle East peace process, Russia is likely to seek Mubarak's
support for its plan to host a summit in Moscow to include all the
players in the region. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov toured
the Middle East last week promoting the summit idea.

"Russia and Egypt are making joint efforts to contribute to progress
at Israeli-Palestinian talks," the Kremlin source said.

"A special need for an exchange of opinions on the issue is becoming
more acute given a complicated regional situation which needs united
and pro-active efforts to be improved," he added.

<http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/24/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Bread-Crisis.php>
Egyptian government scrambles to ease bread shortages amid political crisis

The Associated Press
Monday, March 24, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt: Egypt's government is struggling to contain a political
crisis sparked by rising world food prices. Violent clashes have
broken out at long lines for subsidized bread, and the president,
worried about unrest, has ordered the army to step in to provide more.

The crisis in the world's most populous Arab country and a top U.S.
ally in the Mideast is a stark sign of how rising food prices are
roiling poorer countries worldwide. The World Food Program on Monday
urged countries to help it bridge a funding gap in food assistance
caused by higher prices.

The issue in Egypt centers on subsidized versions of the flat, round
bread that is a staple of people's diets. Acute shortages of
subsidized bread, which is sold at less than one U.S. cent a loaf,
have caused long lines at distributors, prompting violence at some
sites in poor neighborhoods in recent weeks.

At least seven people have died, according to police ? two who were
stabbed when fights erupted between customers waiting in line, and the
rest from the exhaustion of waiting in line.

Independent and opposition parties have been sharply critical of
President Hosni Mubarak's government, calling the long lines a sign
that his government is failing.

"Our life has become so miserable," said one worker, Saber Ahmed, who
spends up to four hours daily in bread lines to get 20 pieces of bread
for colleagues at the cafe where he works. The 17-year-old, wearing a
ragged T-shirt as he stood in a long line, said he and co-workers
can't afford to buy unsubsidized bread, "or any food to eat with it."

Demand for the subsidized bread has grown steadily in Egypt in recent
months, fueled by rising commodity prices ? especially for flour ?
that have made unsubsidized bread less affordable for the more than 20
percent of Egypt's 76 million people who live below the poverty line,
according to the World Bank. Unsubsidized bread can sell for 10 to 12
times the subsidized price.

Any Egyptian can get subsidized bread under a decades-old
socialist-inspired system that also provides subsidies for public
transportation and gasoline for all. The system also provides
subsidies for some other food staples specifically for the poor. The
subsidized bread is sold only at certain bakeries.

At the same time, the supply of the subsidized bread has decreased.
Many people in Egypt believe subsidized bakeries sell some of their
flour on the black market rather than use it to produce bread.

Last week, Mubarak ordered the army to increase the production and
distribution of subsidized bread to cope with the shortages. The army
and the Interior Ministry, which controls the police, own bakeries
that they normally use to feed their own employees.

In recent days, the army has opened 10 large bakeries in Cairo to
produce cheaper bread and has set up about 500 kiosks to sell bread to
the public, said Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Meselhi.

The state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper said Mubarak's order to the armed
forces to intervene "means that he has declared an emergency state to
combat this crisis." Another columnist in the same paper called recent
scenes of bread riots "a very critical moment" for Egypt,
demonstrating the growing gap between rich and poor.

Some fear the crisis could intensify to mirror riots in 1977 that
killed at least 70 people after the government hiked the price of
bread and other subsidized foods.

Egypt grows about half of the more than 14 million tons of wheat it
consumes every year ? but must buy the rest from the world market,
including the United States, Australia and the former Soviet
republics, said Mahmoud Kasour, an independent economist.

Egypt is the second highest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel,
getting some $2 billion a year from Washington, mostly in military
aid. It has also long been one of the top importers of American wheat,
using about $54 million of that aid to buy it. But its U.S. purchases
have been falling ? from about 4 million tons in 2001 to 1.6 million
in 2006 ? as it searches for cheaper sellers.

A U.S. Embassy official said Monday that the "U.S. government doesn't
provide any assistance towards subsidies in Egypt."

Some government officials and independent economists have blamed the
crisis mainly on the rising cost of wheat on the world market, where
prices have tripled in the last 10 months.

"It's not our fault, it's the rise of international prices," said
Abdullah Ghorab, director of Egypt's bakeries branch, speaking to AP
Television News recently. "But, God willing, things will go back to
normal."

The crisis comes at a time when many Egyptians already are disgruntled
with Mubarak's government because of its long hold on power,
favoritism and corruption. Anger also has focused on recent efforts by
Mubarak's prime minister, Ahmed Nazif, to reform and privatize Egypt's
stagnant and state-controlled economy.

The efforts are widely praised by Western economists, who point to
Egypt's growth of 7.1 percent last year as proof they have worked. But
the changes, such as greater access to capital for entrepreneurs and
selling of state enterprises, have not trickled down to the country's
poor.

Nazif created a stir last December by saying food subsidies should be
replaced by a system helping only the truly poor ? a position Mubarak
immediately reversed.

Mubarak also ordered the government to use foreign currency reserves
to buy additional wheat from the international market, according to
his spokesman Suleiman Awad.

The government also will add 15 million new names to the list of those
receiving cheap rations of cooking oil, sugar and rice. That and other
measures will increase the government's annual food subsidy costs by
US$3.1 billion (euro2 billion) to a total of US$13.7 billion (euro8.8
billion) this year.

None of that has given much relief to citizens.

"I've been standing here for hours, and we are not close to getting
bread yet," said Mohammed el-Deeb, a manager at medical company in his
50s. "Of course I need to stand in the line, I can't afford the other
bread."

-- 
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>