|
Egypt locks down Cairo ahead of Obama visit
[Al Arabiya Latest] Upon American President Barack Obama's arrival in Cairo Thursday the bustling city of 20 million is expected to come to a virtual standstill as many of its main traffic arteries are blocked, businesses shuttered and schools closed to make way for the president of the world's superpower.
As Cairo prepares to host Obama and his convoy of 100 journalists and 3,000 security personnel,
| Three thousand? Is that normal? |
Egyptian and American security agencies have stepped up security measures in and around the city and the ministry of interior renovated key sites Obama is expected to visit.
High-level dignitaries typically visit the Red Sea resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh, but Obama said he wanted to visit Cairo as a historic venue of knowledge and the heart of the Muslim world.
| One doesn't discommode one's host to indulge one's personal desires, but rather happily goes along with whatever one's host proposes as amusement after the business at hand has been achieved...provided the proposed amusements are neither illegal nor immoral, of course. |
Obama is scheduled to arrive at the presidential palace to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at 10:00 a.m. local time along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who was already in Cairo Wednesday.
He will then visit Sultan Hasan mosque in Muqattam before heading to Cairo University to give a long-awaited speech to the Muslim world. Afterwards he is to tour the Pyramids.
| If his schedule is that well known, perhaps those 3,000 security personnel are a good idea. But why is his schedule so well known? |
The president will reportedly meet with several of Egypt's leading politicians, dissidents, experts and activists including recently released dissident Ayman Nour, the wife of recently pardoned Saed Eddin Ibrahim and the Ahram Center's Muslim Brotherhood expert Khalil al-Anani, and hold a roundtable discussion with journalists. He will finish his day at the American embassy where he will meet with embassy staff before leaving Cairo.
"What do you do here? Well done -- keep up the good work!
And what do you do here? Well done -- keep up the good work!
And what..." |
Posted by: Fred 2009-06-04 |
