Albright plays same tune
Nevine Khalil, Dina Ezzat and Rasha Saad
President Hosni Mubarak held talks on Iraq yesterday with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright after renewed pledges by Baghdad to keep confronting US and British warplanes over its skies.
Arriving from Moscow, where she was informed of Russia's opposition to the US air strikes against Iraq, Albright met with Mubarak for 90 minutes in the presence of Foreign Minister Amr Moussa.
Albright later said that Egypt and the US agreed on "three fundamental goals" in dealing with Saddam's regime. These are "preventing Saddam from threatening his neighbours, blocking his efforts to reconstitute his weapons of mass destruction, and easing the sufferings of the Iraqi people," she said.
Moussa insisted, however, that "the US and Egypt are on the same side regarding the respect of the territorial integrity of Iraq, the non-partition or division of Iraq, and our care for the [suffering] of the people of Iraq."
Albright's visit followed a meeting of Arab foreign ministers on Sunday, from which Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf stormed out in protest against the Arabs' refusal to condemn American air strikes. Albright will later visit Saudi Arabia, France and Britain.
Topping her agenda is the Iraq crisis which Washington believes has been brought on by "Saddam and his contempt for international law and his unwillingness to live in peace with his neighbours," Albright said. In the same breath, Albright stated that Washington's policy towards Iraq "seeks compliance not confrontation", adding that "using force is not our preferred mechanism."
She stated that Saddam must "live up to his international obligations, disarm his weapons of mass destruction and stop being a threat to the region, his people, our troops and our national interests." She noted that the US, Arab nations and the international community "have no choice but to continue to contain Saddam's potential for aggression."
Moussa said that Egypt's position "rests within the framework" of the communiqué issued by the Arab foreign ministers, which urged Iraq to desist from threatening its neighbours. He added that in the discussions with Albright, he understood that the US "welcomed the communiqué and the principles therein constituting our policy vis-à-vis Iraq."
A woman and child wait fearfully for news of loved ones killed or wounded in Tuesday's missile attack on Basra province, Iraq
photo: AFP
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Cairo and Washington do not see eye-to-eye on the issue of US support and financing of Iraqi opposition groups which are working for the overthrow of Saddam's regime.
Albright emphasised the "importance of having a regime in Iraq that complies with Security Council resolutions...We look forward to the day when Iraq can be reintegrated into the international community." She continued that the US wants Iraq "to have a regime chosen by its people, [not one] that makes it difficult for the Iraqi people to run their own lives."
Commenting on the American strikes against Iraq, Albright, while regretting "the stray missile in Basra that killed some civilians," said that Washington believes that the no-fly zones must be respected. "Our pilots must be able to defend themselves when they are attacked," she said, declaring that there have been 70 violations of the no-fly zones by the Iraqi regime.
Moussa, asked if he felt from his talks with Albright that the US is planning to be less militarily oriented in dealing with Iraq, responded: "We think this is possible."
Moussa told reporters that President Mubarak made it crystal clear to Albright that the use of force against Iraq, and the consequences the Iraqi people have to live with, are very disturbing for the region and for Egypt.
However, Moussa would not say if he agreed that following the latest American strikes, it might be time to concede that the Iraqis had a point in criticising the Arab League communiqué. He insisted that Egypt is "not prepared to go beyond the framework of the Arab foreign ministers' communiqué."
Official Iraqi newspapers yesterday quoted Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan as saying "Iraq will continue to challenge with all its capabilities and means American and British planes which violate our air space. Iraq holds the UN Security Council and Arab rulers responsible for the dangers and damage Iraq is facing through these aggressive acts," he said.
The United States said on Tuesday it had expanded the rules of engagement for its aircraft patrolling the Western-imposed no-fly zones over the north and south of Iraq, allowing planes to target Iraqi air defences more broadly. The zones have been the scene of repeated US strikes on Iraqi defences in recent days.
Washington is not yet ready to "allow Iraq out of the trench", an informed source commented in Cairo.
The Arab League communiqué did not meet Iraqi hopes for an outright condemnation of operation Desert Fox and a unilateral Arab lifting of economic sanctions on Baghdad. However, while requesting Iraq to refrain from making provocative statements against its neighbours, the communiqué steered clear from blaming the current crisis on the Baghdad government. And, unlike some drafts, the communiqué did not include language on the need for the Iraqi government to offer an apology to Kuwait for its 1990 invasion.
"When this language was removed, Iraq became the loser because this apology was meant to be an integral part of a deal that would have balanced Iraq's apology with a wide-scope reconciliation. So, no apology, no reconciliation," a source said.
According to Arab League officials, Al-Sahhaf's walkout revived the Arab divisions that resulted from Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
"There has been some slight progress during the past few years towards inter-Arab reconciliation. However, the withdrawal of Iraq sanctioned the Arab divisions and further complicated the situation. It brought us back in an unprecedented manner to the same situation that resulted from the 1990 invasion," a senior Arab League official said.
The Pentagon claimed yesterday that American strikes against Iraqi air defences are having a "grave impact" on Saddam's ability to challenge enforcement of the flight ban in northern and southern Iraq.
Pentagon officials acknowledged, however, that a US missile fired on Monday at air defence targets near Basra missed by miles and struck a residential area, where Iraq reported that five civilians were killed, 42 injured and many homes were destroyed.
Meanwhile, Iraq's parliament yesterday accused the Kuwaiti and Saudi governments of being agents of the United States and Britain and urged Arabs to overthrow the two regimes.
"Arab masses who stand against the aggression are urged to revolt against these regimes," said a statement issued after an extraordinary session of parliament.
