Egypt's Abou-Treika shortlisted for best African-based player award

Egyptian footballer and Ahly striker Mohammed Abou-Treika has been shortlisted for the 2012 Best African-based Player award.

African governing body CAF announced that Treika made it among the final three candidates, including Zambians Rainford Kalaba and Stoppila Sunzu, who both play for Democratic Republic of Congo club TP Mazembe, Egypt’s al-Ahram online reported Friday.

Youssed Msakni and Yannick N’Djeng of Tunisia’s Esperance club were dropped despite leading their team to the African Champions final where they conceded to Ahly, 2-3 on aggregate.

However, for Abou Treika, it has been a disappointing year as the Egyptian national team failed to qualify in competing for the African Nations Cup in South Africa next year. He also barely participated in domestic football following the suspension of last season’s Egyptian Premier League due to the Port Said violence in February.

Fellow compatriot Ahmed Hassan won the award in 2010. This year’s winner will be announced in Ghana on Dec. 20.

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Saudi female fans want their own space in football stadiums

Some Saudi women came all the away from the kingdom only to watch their country’s Al-Fateh team play against Kuwait’s Al-Arabi in a UEFA Cup football match in Kuwait City on Monday.

“We came all the way from al-Hasa to support our team, and we wish that our team will win,” one woman said, adding “this is the first time we came here to watch a game live...the experience is superb and hopefully we will win.”

The women, excited to be in Kuwait City to watch the match live, cheered and applauded Al-Fateh in the first leg match against Al-Arabi. 

Another Saudi woman, ecstatic, expressed how much it is different to watch the game in a stadium. 

“First of all, when we come watch the match real live in the stadium is far more exciting. We live the experience and it is such a pity that we cannot attend matches live in Saudi Arabia.”

The women, however, reacted with some sadness when Al-Arabi won 3-2 goals against their country’s team.

In the second leg match, a draw with Saudi’s Al-Fateh is enough for Al-Arabi to qualify, but Al-Fateh needs a win to advance.

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World Bank to spend $6.4 mln on Gaza water project

The World Bank on Tuesday approved a $6.4 million grant to improve water and sewage services in the Gaza Strip in the wake of an eight-day firefight between Israel and the territory’s Hamas rulers.

The infrastructure in the impoverished Palestinian enclave -- with a population of more than 1.5 million people -- has been deteriorating in recent years and the area is now “choked with untreated sewage,” the Bank said.

“We are concerned about the lack of clean water supply and the deterioration in the quality of water resources in the Gaza Strip,” Mariam Sherman, World Bank Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza, said in a statement.

“The new project is very important to Gaza citizens. Not only will it increase the sustainability of water and sewage networks, but it will also allow the utility to better serve the needs of their customers.”

The latest project will fund the construction of water tanks, the connection of major wells to the supply grid and the reduction of costly leaks.

It will also be aimed at helping the local utility to enhance billing and customer services, the Bank said.

The World Bank will be partnering with the Islamic Development Bank, which is making a parallel contribution of $11.14 million.

Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza waged an eight-day firefight earlier this month in which at least 166 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and six Israelis, including four civilians, were killed.

The conflict, which saw Israel launch a wave of air strikes as Gaza militants fired volleys of rockets, threatened to erupt into a full-scale ground war before a US and Egyptian brokered ceasefire took effect last week.

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Morocco seeks airline partner from Gulf or beyond

Morocco would rather pursue a strategic partnership for Royal Air Maroc (RAM), with an airline from one of the Gulf states or beyond, than sell a stake in its flag carrier, government ministers said late on Monday.

A government source last month said that partnership proposals included the sale of a minority stake to a leading Gulf airline.

“No decision has been taken yet, but my opinion is that it is better to do a partnership rather than sell a stake,” Tourism Minister Lahcen Haddad said on the sidelines of a tourism conference in Rabat.

“RAM is strong in the West African and European markets. It’s therefore more logical to seek partners that are stronger in other parts of the world.”

The North African country aims to boost tourism to help it to tackle a budget deficit worsened by the euro zone crisis and increased spending to quash Arab Spring protests, but it lacks the financial clout to buy aircraft that can bring holidaymakers from around the world.

About 70 percent of tourists visiting Morocco come from the euro zone, with the rest mostly travelling from Gulf Arab countries.

Morocco, which has been thinking about reducing its stake in RAM for more than 20 years, led major efforts to restructure the group last year in a move that tourism operators said was a sign the state was preparing for a sale.

“It’s obvious that a middle-size airline like RAM needs a strategic partnership with another airline. We will see if it is going to be from the Gulf, from Europe or from America,” industry minister Abdelkader Aamara said in Rabat.

With a relatively modest fleet of about 40 medium and long-haul aircraft, Royal Air Maroc has sought to develop Casablanca as a regional hub, connecting mostly poorly served west African capitals to Europe and North America.

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