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ZAYED, HRAWI DISCUSS PEACE, EXCHANGE HONORARY ORDERS
President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan met yesterday with Lebanese President Elias Hrawi, who is on an official visit to the country. The meeting was attended by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan.
An official source said the current Arab situation and the recent developments in the Gulf and the Middle East as well as the difficulties faced by the peace process had been discussed during the meeting. The source added that Sheikh Zayed had emphasised Lebanon's right to liberate its territory from Israeli occupation in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 425 which calls for a full and unconditional Israeli withdrawal.
The President also stressed the need for the re-establishing of sound inter-Arab relations "which qualify the nation to confront challenges and to deal with different issues on the basis of mutual confidence, understanding and interest." The source added that the mutual co-operation between the UAE and Lebanon had also been discussed during the meeting.
Later, Sheikh Zayed held a dinner banquet in honour of the Lebanese leader and his accompanying delegation. Present at the banquet were Sheikh Khalifa, Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed al Nahyan, Sheikhs, Ministers, senior officials and heads of the diplomatic missions.
Earlier on his arrival in Abu Dhabi, Hrawi was received by Sheikh Zayed and Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum. The Lebanese President was also greeted on his arrival by Sheikh Khalifa, Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed and Speaker of the National Consultative Council Abdulla al Masoud.
Also present were the Ruler's Representative in Abu Dhabi's Eastern Region and Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed al Nahyan, Chamberlain of the Presidential Court Sheikh Surour bin Mohammed al Nahyan, the President's Representative Ahmed Khalifa al Suweidi, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al Nahyan, Chairman of Abu Dhabi Seaport Authority Sheikh Saeed bin Zayed al Nahyan and Under Secretary of the Interior Ministry Sheikh Saif bin Zayed al Nahyan.
Present, too, at the airport were Sheikhs, ministers and senior officials as well as UAE Ambassador to Lebanon Hamad al Za'abi and Lebanese Ambassador George Siam. Following the reception ceremony, the two leaders left in a motorcade to Al Mushrif Palace.
Hrawi is accompanied by an official delegation comprising Acting Foreign Minister and Minister of Agriculture Shawqi Fakhouri and Defence Minister Mohsen Daloul. Later, Sheikh Zayed and Hrawi exchanged Orders of Federation and Merit.
Sheikh Zayed decorated Hrawi with the Federation Order for his great role in preserving Lebanon's security and stability. Hrawi decorated Sheikh Zayed with the Lebanese Order of Merit for his national attitudes towards Lebanon and its people. The ceremony was also attended by Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed and a number of Sheikhs and officials. (The Emirates News Agency, WAM)
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OPEC COMMITTED TO OUTPUT CUT
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, has unanimously approved an agreement calling for OPEC and non-OPEC producers to commit themselves to an output cut of 1.6 million barrels per day, bpd, to boost oil prices which have fallen 40.0% during the past few months. The agreement was reached on Monday night at a closed door meeting in Vienna presided over by UAE Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources and current President of OPEC Obeid bin Saif al Nassiri.
Observers said that OPEC had approved last week's Riyadh deal after seven hours of heated deliberations and consultations, adding that the move would lead to a rise in oil prices and maintain the momentum of last week's price hike of $ 3.0 a barrel. OPEC had pledged to reduce daily production by 1.5 million bpd, while the remaining cuts would be contributed by producers outside the organisation.
In his opening speech before the emergency meeting, Al Nassiri said that the Riyadh deal had injected a fresh spirit of co-operation among OPEC-members and other producers, a move which he said had led to a remarkable increase in oil prices last week. He announced last week the UAE's decision to cut its output by 125,000.0 bpd, from April 1, to strike a balance in the oil market and prop up prices, while observers in the market said that the UAE had notified its customers of that decision.
"What matters is commitment to the agreement rather than cuts in output," oil experts said. Saudi Oil Minister Ali al Naimi insisted the world had seen the back of the old politically-divided OPEC and the birth of a new pragmatism. "It is not a phoney message to the market. We are talking real," al Naimi told Reuters. "We are not talking politics any more in OPEC but business ... The market should focus on the transformation of attitudes, of producers' pragmatism." He said oil traders should judge OPEC in two months.
OPEC's unprecedented pact with rival sellers to remove 1.5 million bpd or just over 2.0% from glutted world markets should put a floor under oil prices this year. Welcomed at oil's top table, major exporters Norway and Mexico, lend weight to the agreement by leading the cuts pledged from outside the organisation. A fully-fledged recovery will depend on strict compliance with a set of supply allocations effective until year's end.
"The market is testing the credibility of the deal and every member's credibility," said Qatari Oil Minister Abdulla al Attiyah. "Our main objective in cutting down production is stability," said Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Saud Nasser al Sabah. "I hope the market will realise there is credibility in these commitments." Dealers initially were in sceptical mood, costing OPEC dear in the first flush of the accord.
Brent crude slumped a dollar a barrel in just 24 hours after it became clear OPEC would ratify no more than the 1.25 million bpd of cuts pledged in the wake of the surprise accord struck in Riyadh the week previous by Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Mexico. "The market wanted more but its biggest worry is that OPEC will go back to its old ways and the cuts won't stick," said a top executive at a state oil company watching from the sidelines in Vienna.
Saudi Arabia, previously alone among world producers in shouldering the burden of supply restraint, is now joined by another dozen exporters. Venezuela, OPEC's biggest culprit when it came to mocking official output quotas, says it will keep a firm cap on supply for the rest of the year. Having rubbished OPEC's wayward quota system, Caracas was forced by the inexorable logic of the market away from the path of growing market share at any cost.
It has now pledged to reduce supply by nearly 6.0% to 3.17 million bpd, compared to previous plans to grow output to some 3.6 million for the year - a quota in all but name. In percentage terms its cut is almost twice that of Saudi Arabia's, a sure sign of a Venezuelan policy U-turn in only a matter of weeks after Minister Erwin Arrieta pledged "not even one barrel" of output reduction. (Agencies)
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JOB QUOTAS FOR DISABLED URGED
REHAB '98, the International Congress on Disability, concluded on a hopeful note yesterday with a long list of recommendations pertaining to disability prevention and social integration of disabled persons to be followed by national governments.
As the closing plenary session yesterday afternoon, a panel of local experts announced the recommendations which they collected from the various papers and presentations delivered during the three-day congress. The 30-odd recommendations read out yesterday evening relate to the prevention of disability, the need for early detection and intervention, as well as the social integration of persons with disability into mainstream society.
Discouraging consanguineous marriages, especially where there is a history of genetic disease within the family, was the first recommendation dealing with the prevention of disability. Marriages by first cousins are common in the Arab world as well as in South Asia.
There was also a call for establishing laboratories to research the causes of genetically-inherited disease leading to disability. Folic acid supplementation for women of child-bearing age, the enactment of legislation to make the wearing of car seat belts mandatory and a public education drive on safe driving were among the other recommendations to help prevent disability.
Prenatal diagnoses and screening of newborn babies were recommended for early detection of disability so that rehabilitation could be initiated as early as possible. In order to achieve the international goal of social integration, the recommendations made at the congress were to enact legislation to make public buildings and transport accessible to persons with disability.
Encouraging the employment of people with a disability by fixing a quota of jobs for them in the workforce was another recommendations. The panel further recommended that the quota or percentage be anywhere between 1.0% and 3.0%. A need was felt to have rehabilitation centres provide vocational training and career guidance and counselling to persons with disability as much as possible.
Allowing children with disabilities into normal schools was suggested as an excellent way of integrating them into mainstream society from an early age. Providing people with disability opportunities for social international with other disabled people and society as a whole was also among the suggestions put forth yesterday.
A pressing need for governments, especially those in the Arab region, to undertake census surveys to determine the population of the disabled community was voiced at the REHAB '98 closing plenary. This also emerged as an important recommendation. (The Khaleej Times)
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BRONZE AGE TOMB DISCOVERED AT MILEIHA
New evidence of occupation of the Al Madam Plain on the western side of the central Hajar Mountains during the Third Millennium BC, over four thousand years ago, has been discovered by the local archaeological mission of the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information, it was announced yesterday.
The new site, a circular tomb from the Umm Al Nar period of the local Bronze Age, can be dated to the end of the Third Millennium BC, around 2,100 BC, according to the director of the Sharjah Department's archaeological team, Dr. Sabah Jassim. The tomb is in the Mileiha district, 20 kilometres south of the oasis-town of Dhaid, and is located in a farm.
The attention of the archaeologists was first drawn to the site by a number of finely cut stone blocks which had been ploughed up and scattered around the area. The blocks, described colloquially by archaeologists as 'sugar lumps,' are typical of tombs from the Umm Al Nar period, which was named after the major site from the island of the same name adjacent to Abu Dhabi.
Dr. Jassem said last night that the grave was around 14 metres in diameter, making it one of the largest Umm Al Nar type tombs so far known. The only other tomb of a similar size is one at Shimal, in Ras Al Khaimah.
Internally, in typical Umm Al Nar style, the tomb is divided by cross-walls into a number of individual chambers, and was evidently used for collective burials. Due perhaps to disturbance as a result of agricultural work, as well as possible grave-robbing in antiquity, the remains of only around five individuals were found in the grave.
Also recovered during the excavations were a number of pots and potsherds of typical Umm al Nar type, including grey pottery known to have been imported from Baluchistan, Dr. Jassem said. The presence of such sophisticated burial structures is indicative of a population which probably led a semi-settled life, and also had knowledge of agricultural techniques and of the raising of domestic animals, Dr. Jassem speculated.
Studies elsewhere in the Emirates on tombs from the Umm al Nar period have also suggested that the inhabitants of the period had well-defined religious beliefs, while the sophistication of the construction techniques employed in the tomb also suggests that there was a well-organised social structure.
Although another, much smaller, tomb from the Umm al Nar period has been discovered elsewhere in the Emirate of Sharjah on the western side of the mound of Tell Abraq, which was also excavated over the course of the recent winter season, the Mileiha tomb is the first from the period to have been found on the Al Madam Plain, stretching southwards from Dhaid towards Shwaib. The discovery helps to fill a gap in the information about human settlement in the area.
It was settled during the Fifth and Fourth Millennium BC, the local Late Stone Age, with an important site from this period currently being excavated by a team from Germany's University of Tubingen on the slopes of Jebel Buhays, south of Mileiha.
From the early Third Millennium BC, around 2,750 BC, tombs have been found at Jebel al Emalah, near Jebel Buhays, while there is also extensive evidence of occupation from the Wadi Suq period, in the Second Millennium BC, through the local Iron Age, which lasted from around 1,300 BC to 300 BC, and then on into the pre-Islamic period.
The Mileiha Umm al Nar tomb, although much damaged, provides clear evidence for the first time of occupation of the area in the late Third Millennium BC, helping to fill in a gap in the area's history. The Sharjah archaeological mission now plans to study the possibility of conserving the remains of the tomb for public display, Dr. Jassem said. (The Emirates News)
