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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Time for Sudan
By Dina EzzatEgypt is not yet ready to send an ambassador to fill the vacant seat at its Khartoum embassy. And, for its part, the Sudanese government is not prepared to hand over in one go all the Egyptian properties in Sudan that were confiscated by the Islamist Khartoum government in the early 1990s. However, there are signs that the two countries have become serious about meeting halfway for a reconciliatory and face-saving deal.
There are also signs that once this rapprochement is under way, Cairo will be able to take more forceful steps to encourage, and possibly arrange, a reconciliation between the various Sudanese factions. As Egyptian diplomats say, the ultimate objective of the ongoing flurry of Egypt-Sudan consultations is to simultaneously maintain the territorial and ethnic unity of Sudan and revive the traditionally close ties between the two countries.
Over the past few weeks, consultations have appeared to be picking up, both in level and frequency. President Hosni Mubarak this week met Othman Al-Merghani, a leading figure in the Sudanese opposition. Sources say that Mubarak encouraged Al-Merghani to be part of the inter-Sudanese reconciliation process. Foreign Minister Amr Moussa also met with Al-Merghani as well as Sadek Al-Mahdi, another leading opposition figure. Al-Mahdi had earlier met in Geneva with Hassan Al-Turabi, an influential figure in the Sudanese regime. Moussa has been in touch with his Sudanese opposite number Mustafa Othman Ismail. In the context of national reconciliation in Sudan, Moussa is scheduled to confer with Al-Mahdi and Al-Merghani in a three-way meeting in Cairo today.
Moussa said: "Egypt is holding continuous contacts with the Sudanese side [government and opposition]... And these contacts are going to be activated even further." Sources suggested that President Mubarak himself might hold more meetings with Sudanese figures to give a boost to the inter-Sudanese reconciliation process. The Sudanese foreign minister has indicated a readiness to visit Cairo for talks.
Egypt seems to be especially keen on making 1999 the year of an Egyptian-Sudanese rapprochement, an objective that proved elusive last year. "We are in the saddle with regard to the Sudan problem, and we will not get off until we see it solved," said one source. "This time, we cannot tolerate any attempt to undermine our efforts."
Over the past two years, Egyptian efforts to mend fences with Sudan and persuade the Sudanese opposition and government to cooperate were "sabotaged" by quarters inside and outside Sudan.
But now it seems that the power-play in Sudan is slowly changing in favour of closer ties with Egypt. In the meantime, Cairo has detected signs that attempts to divide Sudan into a northern Muslim and a southern Christian-animist state may be on the rise. "Even within the Sudanese regime there seems to be an increasing tendency towards partition in hopes of ending the civil war in the south. This is why we have to act now; otherwise we will miss the opportunity," explained one source. Egypt is on record, at the highest level, of being in favour of a united Sudan.
For its part, the Sudanese government is showing signs of good faith. Sudan promised that it will hand over this month "a good deal" of the Egyptian properties that had been confiscated by the Khartoum regime. A delegation, headed by Fouad Youssef, assistant to the foreign minister for Sudanese affairs, is expected to fly to Khartoum any time now.
Youssef made a similar trip in the spring of 1998 but came back empty-handed after the Sudanese government reneged on a promise to hand over some of the properties.
Asked if there were adequate guarantees that this disappointing outcome would not be repeated, Foreign Minister Moussa responded: "We do hope that this is not going to happen again."
Sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that the chances of a repetition of this scenario are slim because the delegation "is aware in advance of the properties it is going to get back". These are mostly rest-houses belonging to Egypt's irrigation and education ministries. But the Khartoum branch of Cairo University -- now called the University of the Two Niles -- is not on the list of the properties that will be restored immediately. "We are not being unreasonable; we are well aware that the handover of some facilities requires some time due to obvious logistic concerns; we just want to start the process," a source said.
Asked if Egypt would respond to the handover of properties by sending an ambassador to head its diplomatic mission in Khartoum that has been led by a chargé d'affaires for the past few years, Moussa replied: "Progress has to be made in steps; this issue will certainly be addressed in the future. We hope that this is going to be in the foreseeable, rather than the unforeseeable, future."
Meanwhile, Cairo has reacted cautiously to diplomatic efforts by other quarters with regard to an inter-Sudanese reconciliation as well as reconciliation between Sudan and its neighbours.
Said Moussa: "Egypt welcomes all [efforts] that could contain disputes [there] as long as these efforts are serious." However, Cairo is closely monitoring developments on this front to make sure that its objective of restoring stability to Sudan, and to Egyptian-Sudanese relations, is not undermined.
