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INDIA, PAKISTAN NUCLEAR TESTS: UAE CALLS FOR RESTRAINT
The UAE yesterday said that the recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan would neither serve regional security and stability nor help to resolve existing disputes but would only increase tension in South Asia. A Foreign Ministry statement expressed the UAE's deep commitment to peace and keen desire to see peace and stability in the Middle East and South Asia.
Deploring the world community's double standards, which excluded Israeli nuclear sites from international inspection, the statement said this move had encouraged the nuclear race. "The UAE calls for banning fully and comprehensively the proliferation of nuclear weapons and making the Middle East a region fee of all weapons of mass destruction.
"While the UAE takes into consideration the Pakistani Government's view on nuclear tests as a means to preserve its security and territorial integrity, and in view of the cordial and historic relations which the UAE maintains with India and Pakistan, it calls upon the two friendly countries to show self-restraint and resume talks to resume tension, in order to preserve regional security and stability and achieve development and welfare for both peoples," the statement said.
[Israel has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT, but has signed the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. According to foreign news reports, Israel has a nuclear arsenal of at least 200 bombs.] (The Emirates News Agency, WAM)
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ZAYED, ARAFAT FOR EMERGENCY ARAB MEETING
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat yesterday praised President HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan for his sincere position on Arab issues. In an interview with the Emirates News Agency, WAM, Arafat described his meeting with Sheikh Zayed as "warm, positive and constructive."
He said that their talks covered Sheikh Zayed's call for an Arab summit and the importance of holding such a summit in order to restore Arab solidarity, unify Arab ranks and tackle the challenges facing the nation.
Arafat expressed his personal appreciation and that of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation for Sheikh Zayed's sincere desire to safeguard Arab interests. "Sheikh Zayed's call for unifying ranks especially during this delicate and important period of the nation's history deserves respect, appreciation and support," Arafat said.
He stressed the need to hold an Arab summit at the earliest opportunity and before the international conference on the Middle East peace process proposed by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Jacques Chirac was convened. "This will enable us (as Arabs) to go to the conference with a unified position, determination and understanding on all sensitive issues, particularly the Palestinian cause," he said.
Arafat said that he briefed Sheikh Zayed on the Israeli Government's refusal to abide by the peace agreements which had been signed under the supervision of the US, Russia, the European Union, Jordan, Egypt, Norway and Japan. "The President has been, as usual, decisive in his position and we thank him very much for his positive positions towards our people and our cause," Arafat added.
The contacts we have made, he went on, show that there is an intention to hold the summit, noting that a final decision had yet to be reached. Answering a question on whether the summit would be an expanded one, Arafat said that the topic was still under discussion. "The aim of the summit is to restore Arab solidarity so that we can face the challenges facing us," he added.
He said that US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had promised him during his latest telephone conversation with her that the US was close to declaring its final position on its peace initiative and the side which is responsible for the current deadlock of the peace process. "We have accepted this initiative despite some reservations. We have accepted it in order to push the peace process forward while Netanyahu is sill avoiding giving any response," Arafat said.
He said that Albright did not warn him against the declaration of a Palestinian state but had pointed out that there should be agreement on it. "However, according to the agreement, we have the right to declare a Palestinian state by the middle of next year," Arafat added. (The Emirates News Agency, WAM)
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UAE COMMENT: "BELT UP, OR PAY UP"
With effect from today, the wearing of seat-belts by both drivers and front seat passengers becomes, at long last, compulsory. While it is not officially stressed, this should also deter adults from permitting unrestrained children to sit or stand or be balanced on passengers' knees in the front of cars.
"Dubai is also stressing that it is an offence to be too close to the car in front, a common fault, particularly seen among impatient drivers. All the daily newspapers have devoted much space to the subject and the following is what the 'Gulf News' has to say, in its editorial comment, on the subject of seat-belts and the law:
'The Federal traffic law has required drivers and front seat passengers to wear seat-belts. It was applied from yesterday in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and will apply across all [seven] emirates from June 1, 1998, as originally publicised. The different dates of application of the law are irrelevant to the main issue. What is essential is that drivers and front seat passengers must wear their seat-belts.
"The law is a good law and codifies a practice that drivers should have been observing for some time, without the police having to resort to the necessity of laws, fines or punishments. A safety-conscious driver knows the benefits of wearing a seat-belt and so, if the driver is not wearing one, you can draw your own conclusions and get out of the way.
"Now that the law exists the police should actively enforce it. It is useless to wait for an accident to happen and then book the errant driver. Police patrols should look out for recalcitrant motorists not wearing seat-belts, stop them and issue a summons. Regrettably, a fine of Dh 100.0 may be too low to encourage many drivers to wear a seat-belt: it would have been better to introduce a penalty that really makes the motorist sit up and take notice.
"However, maybe regular payments of Dh 100.0 by persistent offenders will hit their pockets hard. This law expresses a minimum. While the driver and front seat passengers now have to wear seat-belts, so should everyone else in the car. Drivers should check that all their passengers are wearing seat-belts and, in time, this should be incorporated into the law." (The 'Gulf News')
An article in the 'Khaleej Times' features an interview with Lt. Colonel Suleiman M. Khalifa al Suwaidi, Assistant Director at the Dubai Police General Department of Traffic, who pointed out that " A driver not wearing a seat-belt can get up to 70 to 80 violations a day [at Dh 100.0 a time], if he or she is spotted by police patrols. Police can impose fines by merely noting down the vehicle number without having to stop the vehicle."
The Executive Statute of the Federal Traffic Law No 31 has assigned the Dh 100.0 fine but has given individual emirates the choice of setting their own fines. Lt. Col al Suweidi clarified that back-seat passengers are not obliged to wear seat-belts but it is better for them if they do. He said that seat-belts may not prevent an accident from happening but they can save lives and minimise injury. (The 'Khaleej Times')
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UAE NORMS IN CONSTRUCTION SECTOR STRESSED
A code of construction practices that takes into account the specific geographic and climatic conditions in the UAE is urgently needed. In the absence of UAE national standards, the specifications of Western countries are being applied leading to a variety of interpretations of what constitutes quality.
This is the considered view of Ahmed Hassan al Rostamani, Chairman of the Society of Engineers and a practicing architect. "We need to formulate the UAE's own specifications for construction materials and practices that will put an end to the series of disputes between consultants and contractors," he said.
National standards for the UAE would take into account locally-available materials as well as construction practices suitable to the region, al Rostamani added. In some key areas, such as concrete mix and asphalt there are now standards developed and enforced by various agencies in the country.
These are based on independent research done by laboratories in Abu Dhabi and Dubai but, even in these areas, there is no co-ordination and the figures and results of one agency differ widely from those of another. "We ned to have a central authority laying down acceptable standards for the whole country.
Such a regimen should also cover contractual obligations of clients and contractors laying out a standard format that is uniformly applicable all over the country for contract works," al Rostamani went on to say. The Society of Engineers was working with the UAE Contractors' Association to build the national consensus that is vital to such an undertaking. A central laboratory backing the effort is essential, he added.
Speaking about the Society's activities, al Rostamani said its primary role was one of technical support to engineers of all disciplines working in the country. This objective is tackled through its committees in each discipline. Thus, there are five committees, one each for architecture, civil engineering, electromechanical engineering, town planning and one for publishing the Society's magazine, 'World of Engineering'.
The Society of Engineers currently has a membership of 3,500 of which about 10.0% are UAE nationals. However, this is a small percentage of the total of some 42,000 engineers working in the country. Al Rostamani urged all engineers working in the country to take up membership of the Society and avail of the many benefits it has to offer. (The Khaleej Times)
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NEW DIGS TO REVEAL LIFE OF EARLY MUSLIMS
A team of British archaeologists will start the fourth leg of excavation work in the Kush area, north of Ras al Khaimah, by the first week of November, said Derek Kennet, Research Fellow in the Society of South Asian Archaeology and Advisor to the Department of Antiquities and the Ras al Khaimah Museum yesterday, in an exclusive interview with 'The Gulf Today'.
Kennet, also a tutor at the University of Durham in the UK, said that Kush is expected to reveal the history of early Islam and Muslims in the UAE and cultural and political transition through which the local communities went when Islam was first introduced to the area.
"The results of the past three excavations were rewarding - indeed, better than those of any other site in the Gulf," he said. "Many people think that Ras al Khaimah is a less important place but it has a significant role on the historical and cultural map. It had ancient trade relations with China, India, Iraq, Iran and even with South Africa," Kennet explained.
He added, "The pottery which we unearthed from the area during our earlier excavations say that it had close trade links with China. Pieces of pottery found on site were samples of high-quality ware, imported from Islamic production centres in Mesopotamia and Iran."
He went on to point out that "This is a five-year project and the forthcoming year will be our fourth. We normally excavate on this site for two months every winter and seven archaeologists will participate in this year's excavation." Kennet, who is on his way to London after his four-month archaeological excavation work on the banks of the river Godavari in India's Maharashtra State, will be in Ras al Khaimah until tomorrow.
During his short stay in the emirate, he will discuss the fourth leg of the excavation work with the emirate's top authorities. The Kush excavations will be carried out under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr al Qassimi, Chairman of the Ras al Khaimah Museum and are being sponsored by Shell Middle East. (The Gulf Today)
