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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 20 - 26 January 2000 Issue No. 465
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Stage set for Africa-Euro summit
By Dina Ezzat
Egypt will make the necessary preparations for hosting the first Africa-European Union summit next spring. A political dispute had previously blocked the convening of this summit, that is now scheduled for 3-4 April.
A message from Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika, the current chairman of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), was delivered to President Hosni Mubarak by visiting Foreign Minister Youssef Yousfi on Tuesday. It stated that the conflict between the Western Sahara and Morocco regarding the latter's participation in the summit, had been resolved. The former will not participate; the latter will.
The status of the Western Sahara, located in the western portion of Morocco, has been the subject of a long-standing dispute. Algeria and the OAU recognise the territory as independent, while Morocco does not. According to Rabat, the issue of Western Saharan self-determination should be resolved through a UN-sponsored referendum of the territory's inhabitants.
The Western Sahara has been a serious point of contention between Algiers and Rabat for almost two decades. Morocco accuses the Algerians of supporting those whom it calls the "Sahara rebels". Algeria denies these accusations.
In a conciliatory move, Mohamed Abdel-Aziz, the leader of the Western Sahara, told Bouteflika this week that his country had decided not to take part in the Cairo summit to allow it to convene with the participation of Morocco, as stipulated by the European side. The conference will be called the "Cairo Summit for African-European Cooperation" -- and not OAU-EU as originally suggested by Portugal in 1996. This will permit the participation of Morocco -- which had frozen its membership in the OAU to protest the organisation's recognition of the Western Sahara as independent.
"As President Bouteflika said, this decision on the part of Mr Mohamed Abdel-Aziz was wise, as it sought to allow Africa to seize the opportunity to hold this summit," Yousfi said. The Algerian foreign minister made these comments on Monday in Cairo following talks with Foreign Minister Amr Moussa that focused on the proposed summit.
On Tuesday, Moussa and Yousfi met with their Portuguese counterpart Jaime Gama, whose country is the current chair of the EU, and the EU High Commissioner on Foreign Policy Javier Solana to discuss the summit agenda and other details related to the event.
This agenda is, however, quite problematic. The African side believes the summit should focus on issues related to economy and development. "We want to discuss the issue of debt forgiveness with the Europeans. We want them to increase their investment in our countries," commented an African diplomat. But the Europeans have a different agenda in mind. What the EU is proposing is a mainly political agenda. "The Europeans want to discuss political rights, democratic elections and economic human rights. And you cannot speak of political rights in the absence of some basic human rights," commented the African diplomat.
At a news conference he held with Moussa and Solana on Tuesday following the four-way meeting, Gama argued that what is important is for the summit to convene; the details can be worked out later. Discussion of basic political rights is high on the Europeans agenda for the summit.
Another issue that the Europeans and the Africans have yet to agree on is whether the summit will become a regular event. The Europeans believe that the summit should be a one-time event. The Africans -- and the Algerian chairmanship of the OAU in particular -- think otherwise. "What is the point of having a summit that makes resolutions if you don't have a follow-up mechanism. If this summit is really about helping Africa, then a follow-up mechanism should be there," commented an Algerian diplomatic source.
Working groups of OAU and EU officials will be meeting shortly to determine the shape of the agenda and a potential follow-up mechanism. In any event, Egyptian officials seem to believe that this summit will be a good start for closer African-European coordination and cooperation.
Cairo, the host, and Algiers, the current OAU chair, will cooperate more closely in the coming few weeks. This may reinvigorate the warm rapport between the two Arab capitals that began last summer when President Mubarak made three visits Algeria in a clear political endorsement of then newly-elected President Bouteflika. At the time, Egyptian diplomacy made a successful effort to repair French-Algerian relations.
Improved Cairo-Algiers relations encouraged both countries to suggest that Mubarak and Bouteflika chair meetings of a joint Egyptian-Algerian committee, instead of their two foreign ministers. It is likely that an agreement concerning this committee will be made in the coming few days. In addition to the joint committee, the two North African states are planning to establish a high-level mechanism for political consultation to be chaired by Moussa and Yousfi.
The growing warmth in Cairo-Algiers relations may encourage Egypt to play a more active role in resolving the ongoing dispute between Algeria and Morocco over the Western Sahara.
