Sites of battle

Al Ahram Weekly (Gamal Essam El-Din)

Following the Eid holidays, the People's Assembly and Shura Council will meet to discuss a raft of heated issues. Topping the agenda at the assembly will be 11 interpellations (questions that must be answered by cabinet ministers). The interpellations, directed at Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and ministers of finance and social solidarity, take the government to task for what is being called a dramatic rise in the cost of food and the number of people living below the poverty line. . . .

Two interpellations snipe at Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, charging him with failure to safeguard Egyptian museums against theft, not to mention the loss of many precious antiquities. They also claim that corruption is rampant in the Ministry of Culture and that special funds established for cultural development are being plundered by the minister's close aides.