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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 March 1999 Issue No. 422 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 March 1999 Issue No. 422
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Protecting Egypt's back
By Dina Ezzat
Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, in Addis Ababa for a ministerial meeting of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), held separate meetings with his Ethiopian and Sudanese opposite numbers, Seyoum Mesifin and Moustafa Osman Ismail, respectively. The purpose of the meetings was to improve bilateral relations.
The three ministers were keen to assert that the good points in Egypt's bilateral relations with both Sudan and Ethiopia outnumbered the bad, and that the problems could be taken care of through dialogue.
But it appears dialogue may not be enough. The governments of Sudan and Ethiopia must prove that they are serious about taking the types of decisions that could give a push to their relations with Egypt.
The main problems in Egypt's relations with both Sudan and Ethiopia are of a strategic nature. One such problem is Ethiopia's discontent with a treaty that governs Egypt's quota of the Nile waters. Ethiopia argues that this treaty was signed during colonial rule and, therefore, should be annulled. Ethiopia, which is an upstream country trying to have Egypt's quota slashed, has not reacted positively to statements by Egyptian officials suggesting that the two countries could cooperate on making the best use of the water, provided that Ethiopia desisted from attempts to reduce the Egyptian quota.
"We have made more than one proposal for water-saving and irrigation projects that could maximise the Ethiopian use of its water without reducing Egypt's quota but, so far, the Ethiopians have not shown serious interest," an Egyptian official said. Contrary to ideas entertained by certain circles within the Addis Ababa regime, the official added, Egypt does not want to see Ethiopia short of water, but believes it has the potential to set up projects to ensure the maximum use of its quota.
In Mesifin's own words, "Ethiopia is ready to enter into multilateral and bilateral cooperation projects, provided that mutual interests are respected and mutual benefits" are gained.
Because certain sections of the Ethiopian government think Egypt is siding with Eritrea in its war with Ethiopia, Addis Ababa appears to be opting for low-profile relations with Egypt.
Sudan is of equal strategic interest to Egypt, but relations have been cool for more than two years, as a result of information and allegations suggesting Khartoum's involvement in a failed assassination attempt against President Hosni Mubarak in Addis Ababa.
However, Sudan recently began talking to Egypt about ending its support, in various forms, for Egyptian Islamist militants bent on overthrowing the Egyptian government. Egyptian officials concede that Sudan has delivered on a significant part of these promises, but they also say there is a lot of room for improvement.
Furthermore, the lack of political will on the part of the Sudanese government is hindering progress.
Security cooperation is not the only hurdle that has to be overcome if relations between the two countries are to improve. About a year ago, Sudan promised to restore to Egypt all its Sudan-based irrigation and education property, which was confiscated by Khartoum in the early 1990s. But the issue remains unresolved. After his meeting with Moussa in Addis Ababa on Sunday, the Sudanese foreign minister faced reporters' questions regarding this issue, but refused to commit his government to any time-frame for the handover of the property. "Some of those [confiscated] buildings have been turned into public service facilities that cannot be evacuated overnight," said Osman Ismail.
Egyptian sources say that they hope Khartoum will make real progress on this issue. But they stress that they are not giving this matter priority over working with both the Sudanese government and opposition to bring all of the country's warring factions to a reconciliation conference.
What Cairo wants, officials say, is for Sudan to remain united and for Ethiopia to end its war with Eritrea. "We want a stable and conflict-free Horn of Africa. It is not at all in our interests to have continuous problems to the south of our borders," said one source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Israel has a wide-scale presence in the countries of East Africa, particularly those in the Horn of Africa. According to the source, Egypt does not want the current chaotic political and economic atmosphere to continue in the area because Israel could use it to threaten Egypt's strategic interests there, such as the Nile sources or access to the Red Sea.
According to a senior security source, "We are not suggesting that Israel entered this part of the world just to annoy us, but we know for a fact that if it has a chance to do so, it will not miss it, if only to give us a headache. We are determined to do all we can to avoid this scenario."
