1997 10 01 Wednesday No. :22397
UAE MEDIA EDITORIALS ON EU STATEMENT: "TOTAL LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY"
The local English daily the Gulf News said in its editorial today: The European Parliament has displayed a complete lack of responsibility by sounding off against the UAE over the imposition of the death penalty on two criminals found guilty of armed robbery and five murders. The penalty was imposed only after the case had been heard and reviewed in the Shariah Appeal Court and the Federal High Court and finally sanctioned by President HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan.
Why has the European Parliament wandered so far out of its geographical area and then shown an abysmal lack of understanding of what it is talking about? The Shariah Law draws on the tenets of Islam and spells out the principles of righteousness, justice, goodness and grace. The two criminals, who would have been rated amongst the most detested and feared serial killers in any country, could not have been spared the death penalty by any court of law.
We must recall that the case proceedings were public and covered by the media. No-one in the country or, for that matter the West, who followed the case would have failed to reach the same conclusion as that of the courts in the UAE: that the two criminals deserved the ultimate penalty.
The UAE is more fortunate than most countries in the West, where several murders linked to robbery, rape or revenge are reported every day. The European Parliament must turn its attention much more to problems in Western society than to countries like the UAE, which has the deserved reputation of being one of the safest places in the world in which to live.
The European Parliament's "human rights" lobby has been 'hoist on its own petard' by criticising the UAE for safeguarding the human rights of its citizens and residents. It would have been more to the point for the European Parliament to hail the UAE for demonstrating that even the most vicious criminals are entitled in this country to defend themselves under the law. (The Gulf News)
Meanwhile, the Sharjah-based Arabic-language daily newspaper Al Khaleej said in its editorial of yesterday that it was disappointed by the European Parliament's communiqué, describing it as a "mixture of absurdity and racism". It went on: "We wonder what the European Union would do when dealing with criminals who committed pre-meditated murder, raping and armed robbery. Does it want to legalise killing?"
The paper also questioned whether the Parliament had taken a beforehand stand on the Islamic Shariah laws and legislations observed in Arab and Islamic countries. "It was proved that the Hudood (doctrinal rulings) of Shariah are a most fair and effective legal means in providing security and stability for the society."
The paper concluded by expressing hope that the Ambassadors of the Troika - those of Italy, the Netherlands and the UK - who were summoned on Monday by the UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al Nahyan, would discuss the matter with their respective Governments. (Al Khaleej, quoted by the Emirates News Agency, WAM)
A report carried in today's edition of the Gulf News recorded reactions from European Embassies in the UAE yesterday. It said that European Embassies remained silent as they sought to limit the political fallout after the UAE expressed its anger at the European Parliament's criticism of the execution of two convicted murderers in mid-September.
Yesterday afternoon, a short statement was issued by a spokesman from the British Embassy, seeking to distance the British Government from the resolution taken by the Members of the European Parliament, MEPs, on September 18, critical of the UAE's decision to execute the two men who committed a series of grisly murders in 1995.
"The European Parliament is separate from the British Government and the resolution does not carry the authority of the British Government," said the Embassy official. Officials from the Italian and Netherlands Embassies said, when they were contacted, that they were not ready to make any formal statements. (The Gulf News)
KUWAIT URGES IRAN TO ENTER INTO DIALOGUE ON ISLANDS
Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al Ahmad al Sabah yesterday urged Iran to enter into serious dialogue with the UAE over the three islands it occupies. In a speech before the United Nations, UN, General Assembly Permanent Representative Mohammed Abu al Hassan, Sheikh Sabah called on the Islamic Republic of Iran to respond positively to the peaceful initiative of UAE President HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan by establishing serious dialogue that would take into consideration the rights of the UAE over its three islands of Abu Musa, Greater Tunb and Lesser Tunb, occupied by Iran.
He also expressed Kuwait's concern over the UAE islands, adding that Kuwait was committed to all Arab Gulf Co-operation Council, AGCC, resolutions in this regard. "The optimum goal (of solving the issue through peaceful means) is embodied in building a cohesive regional order that is based on the rules of understanding between neighbouring countries and expansion of mutual interests, mutual respect, non-interference in others' internal affairs and peaceful co-existence.
Sheikh Sabah also called on the sponsors of the Middle East peace process to exert more efforts in quest of achieving comprehensive, just and lasting peace and stressed the importance of Israeli withdrawal from the Syrian Golan Heights and South Lebanon. (The Emirates News Agency, WAM, reporting from New York)
ANTI-POLIO DRIVE STARTS OCTOBER 18
The Ministry of Health has called for concerted public response to its forthcoming anti-polio campaign even as a visiting American expert called for continued vigilance to ensure that there is no recurrence of the virus in the country.
Dr Mahmoud Fikri, Assistant Under Secretary for Preventative Affairs at the Ministry said in Abu Dhabi yesterday that all efforts are being made to ensure maximum public participation in the Third Anti-Polio Campaign which will begin in the country on October 18. "The second campaign was not entirely successful as we could not achieve 100.0% immunity. The new campaign starting this month is expected to ensure immunity at the individual and community levels," he said.
In the forthcoming campaign, the wild polio virus will be replaced by the accentuated vaccine virus which gives more immunity for children, he added. Greater public awareness was required to spread the importance of the immunisation programme, he continued.
Although no cases have been reported in the past seven years, the campaign is aimed at ensuring that polio will be eliminated from the country by the year 2000. "Our aim is to share the views of the World Health Organisation, WHO, and the United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, to increase immunity among children against the polio virus," he explained.
Meanwhile, Professor P. Beasley, Dean of Epidemiology at the Health Science Centre, University of Texas, Houston, who is in the UAE on a visit, cautioned against complacency once immunisation coverage against polio reaches optimum levels. He cited the instance of smallpox, which, though believed to be eradicated, resurfaced in some countries like Indonesia and North India, due to an influx of migrants.
"The global view is to maintain immunity even if the disease has been eliminated in any particular country as there is always the danger that it will come back," he added. (The Emirates News)
According to the latest Economic Bulletin of the BritishBank (formerly the British Bank of the Middle East, BBME), the UAE has greatly benefited from domestic investment of the revenues derived from its oil and gas production. Over the last two decades, the economy has become increasingly diversified, with the non-oil sector contributing 63.0% of the GDP in 1995.
Currently, much of the UAE's economic growth is sustained by trade and related activities such as transport, banking, retailing and services. As per estimates, growth in these sectors averaged 14.0% a year in the period 1991 - 1995. These activities appear to be largely immune from most of the fluctuations in the oil sector. Their momentum may be linked with the strong demographic dynamics of the region and to the general growth of regional and world trade.
The gross Domestic Product, GDP, has seen a nominal annual growth rate averaging about 3.0% during the period 1991 - 1995. The BritishBank believes it is reasonable to expect that the GDP will maintain this growth rate in the next few years.
According to another report issued by the Research and Studies Department of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, the growth outlook for oil and non-oil GDP has been estimated at Dh 142.16 billion, for 1997, as against Dh 138.98 in the previous year. The share of oil will be 35.0% of the total GDP, with the non-oil sector accounting for the remaining 65.0%.
According to a study done by Zuhair Amin, an adviser to the Government of Ajman, public and private investment in the country stood at around Dh 40.9 billion in 1996, compared with Dh 39.8 billion in 1995. The private sector accounted for nearly 66.0% of the total, investing Dh 27.2 billion in 1996. The increase in private investments is in line with the UAE Government's policy of giving the private sector a greater role in the economy, it said.
However, a new growth dynamic is achievable if the UAE can attract foreign investment. The BritishBank is confident that the country will succeed in creating greater opportunities for its well-educated national workforce, reinvigorating its industrial and trading sectors and establishing a base for strategies of economic diversification. (The Gulf Today)
UAE FLOUR PRODUCTION FORECAST TO RISE
Total production of the UAE's flour mills reached about 390.0 tonnes per year and is expected to rise to 630.0 tonnes per year due to expansion plans to be completed by the end of the year. A study by the Emirates Industrial Bank, EIB, estimated the current output of the four facilities based in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah at 210.0 tonnes annually, accounting for 54.0% of the total productivity.
"Production is expected to jump to 330.0 tonnes per year at the beginning of 1998 to meet increasing demand and exports," the EIB study said. It added that local demand for flour rose 27.0% during the last 5.0 years to reach 233.0 tonnes in 1996 against 183.0 tonnes in 1991.
Statistics showed that values of imports recorded spectacular growth in 1996 compared with 1991 and exports surged surged by 625.0% as re-exports doubled during the last 5.0 years. "A total of 96.0% of flour imports and products were re-exported in 1996, and foodstuff-ready and exports were were booming, thanks to the oil-for-food deal between the United Nations, UN, and Iraq," the study affirmed.
The study noted that the on-going expansions in the country's flour mills would conribute to a surge in the current output, a trend that would decrease the rate of self-sufficiency in foodstuff. (The Emirates News Agency, WAM)