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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 February 1999 Issue No. 417 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 18 - 24 February 1999 Issue No. 417
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Special Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Globalisation
By Aziza Sami
with a 'human face'
The status of Egyptian-US bilateral relations and the prospects for Egypt in a rapidly globalising world were addressed by former MP Mona Makram Ebeid at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this month, reiterating her message in Washington DC last September.
Aziza Sami with Mona Makram Ebeid
Ebeid, who spent four months in the United States last autumn as a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, has taken an active part in addressing the basic factors determining the shape of Egyptian-US relations. Her sojourn in the United States coincided with resurgent tensions in US-Arab relations, triggered by the latest American-British air strikes against Iraq and the deadlock in the peace process.
Ebeid spoke to several think-tanks, the media, congressmen and AIPAC, the main organisation representing the Jewish lobby in the United States. She also held a debate on the 1978 Camp David peace accords with Shimon Shamir, a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt and Jordan, at the Washington Institute. A salient point that she underscored was that "although Egypt and the United States have mutual interests which may overlap, they do not necessarily always go hand-in-hand because just as the US has its global considerations, Egypt has its regional ones."
She referred to tension which arose recently in bilateral relations as a result of Egypt's policy of rapprochement with several Arab countries such as Sudan, Libya and Iraq. Although this regional policy may not find favour with the United States, Egypt has gained "a very highly-reputed diplomacy, and Egypt should capitalise on this." Furthermore, as Egypt's economic strength grows, the nation is trying to re-assert its leading role in the region, said Ebeid.
But these issues notwithstanding, the strategic dialogue initiated over the past year at the Foreign Ministry level should "enhance the points of agreement, monitor the differences and narrow them. Issues to be discussed in the coming rounds will include the decrease in US economic assistance to Egypt, and the main issue which has continually complicated the two countries' relationship: the Arab-Israeli dispute and the stagnation in the peace process."
One overriding factor has been that Egypt "is perceived in its relationship with the US through an Israeli prism, as if America's assessment of Egypt depends on how good or bad we are with Israel. But, on the other hand, Arab public opinion is impatient with America's unwillingness, or inability, to restrain Israel. Also, it would be a fundamental mistake on the part of the US if it did not actively seek to build a fully multi-faceted relationship with Egypt, rather than one that is determined by the Middle East agenda."
Sensitivities have also arisen between the two countries due to the recurrent interference by the US Congress in Coptic-Muslim relations.
Ebeid, a Copt, prefers to address the issue from a secular, rather than a sectarian perspective: "The bill for the protection of minorities was debated in Congress. I, personally, was not in favour of the bill, because the concept of protection of a minority may turn against those very people it is trying to protect, and it is looked on as interference in Egyptian affairs," she said.
"In the US, there is a lot of misinformation on the question of Coptic-Muslim relations. There is the notion that there is a persecution of Copts. But attacks on Copts are by an extremist fringe, and are not condoned by the government and, in fact, are part of an effort to target the government itself. We do not deny that there are problems, but lots of Egyptians are concerned with the issue and are discussing it among themselves, in newspapers and academic gatherings. The question was once considered taboo, but now, with the new freedom of the press, it is becoming aired and is a subject of public debate."
Ebeid, who presented a paper on the issue to the Woodrow Wilson Center, felt that it was important to convey to congressmen, who are lobbied by expatriate Copts, as well as to Copts themselves, that "it is for the government and enlightened Muslim and Coptic leaders of civil society to confront these problems and solve them. There are problems of lack of participation, the lack of access to positions of governorship or key government positions, and also the fact that the educational system does not cover Egypt's Coptic period which spanned six centuries. There must be a solution to all of these problems."
The main point, which Ebeid also made clear at meetings at Georgetown University with the Egyptian expatriate community, "is that we lack a council of laity which is very important because [before the 1952 Revolution] it was a bridge between the government and the Coptic community, which could solve problems politically and socially." Ebeid, who chaired a panel on the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) initiative at the Davos forum, said that this time Davos signalled a turning-point in the concept of globalisation.
The main premise had been that macro-economics could prevail over geopolitics to the point of making the latter almost obsolete. "What we saw in Davos this time was the re-emergence of geopolitical concerns due to the economic turmoil that took place in Southeast Asia, which raised questions about regional stability. Many of these countries had to return to patterns which were not those of the market," she said.
Preparations for the next World Economic Forum are now underway, the theme of which will be accountability and transparency.
