Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 April 2000 Issue No. 476
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

---

	Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Summit Features Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters

On the sidelines

By dina Ezzat

Libya's international reintegration, Sudan's national and regional reconciliation, and reconciliation between Algeria and Morocco dominated a large number of talks, on the fringes of the summit, between top Egyptian officials and participating delegates. Also on the agenda were such crucial concerns as the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and the removal of the land mines that infest the North African countries, particularly Egypt.

In the corridor opposite the Mecharanes hall, where the preparatory ministerial meetings and summit sessions were held starting last Saturday, President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Amr Moussa were repeatedly seen holding bilateral and trilateral meetings with their counterparts to discuss these questions.

Some of these issues proved easier to address than others.

One particularly thorny topic was the relationship between Algeria and Morocco. Prior to the summit, diplomats from Egypt, Morocco and Algeria discussed the possibility of a three-way meeting between their respective heads of states. The objective is to kick start a reconciliation process between the two neighbouring North African countries.

Morocco and Algeria have been locked in dispute for many years now over the status of the self-styled Saharan Arab Democratic Republic in the disputed Western Sahara, an area which is largely controlled by Rabat.

"Morocco recently told Egypt that Rabat expects Cairo diplomacy to play a role in narrowing the gap between the two countries," an informed source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Algeria had made the same request last summer when President Mubarak visited Algerian President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika."

But making arrangements for the three-way meeting turned out to be a highly complicated task. Rabat wanted King Mohamed VI to meet separately with the Algerian president before President Mubarak joined them, so as to make sure that the rules of the reconciliation game were first established on the bilateral level.

Moussa and Cook preparing for the summit at the Foreign Ministry (left); King Mohamed VI of Morocco receiving dedicated European attention from the French president and Portugal's prime minister (right)

This was not something to which the Algerians could agree, without in their opinion sabotaging any chance of serious negotiations for a profound reconciliation.

A brief ceremonial meeting between the Algerian and Moroccan rulers was described by some sources as not particularly substantive.

Moreover, as the opening session adjourned, Bouteflika and King Mohamed VI departed the Chephren Hall together, chatting with each other.

"There are signs that the two countries intend to try and deal with their bilateral problem," commented an informed diplomatic source. He added, "One example is that the Moroccan minister of the interior will be visiting Algeria next week."

Algeria has often complained about Moroccan involvement in providing refuge for wanted Algerian militants. For its part, Morocco has accused Algeria of supporting the separatist militants in the Western Sahara.

Egypt will have to decide exactly what role it can play in future, if it is to meet the requests from the two countries to help them overcome their differences. In this connection, Cairo is expected to coordinate with other key international players, including the US. Washington will be sending special envoy James Baker to Morocco in the near future to search for a political solution to the Western Sahara problem.

Another issue that proved problematic was the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

On Sunday, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel made a scene before going into the preparatory meeting of the EU foreign ministers. Michel accused Egypt of "attempting" to "impose" language about the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons in the Middle East on the summit's plan of action. This, the Belgian official suggested, was a diplomatic manoeuvre intended implicitly to criticise Israel. According to Michel, the Africa-Europe summit should only deal with issues that are directly related to Africa, the EU and their cooperation.

Egypt did not go along with this argument. "First of all, Egypt was not at all attempting to impose any Middle Eastern issues on the Africa-Europe summit. The issue of non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons is of keen interest to African diplomacy since Africa is a self-declared nuclear-free zone," commented an Egyptian diplomatic source. He added, "It is only logical for Africa to pursue the issue of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and try to ensure that its immediate neighbourhood -- that is the Middle East -- is nuclear-free". This issue was the subject of a tête-à-tête discussion between Foreign Minister Moussa and his Belgian counterpart.

According to sources, Michel denied, in conversation with Moussa, that he had criticised Egypt. He said he simply argued that the Middle East should be kept out of the summit.

The African side had originally wanted to include in the plan of action a reference to the 1995 review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the particular language used there concerning the need to make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone. The EU adamantly refused. Compromise formulae were adopted by consensus.

"We wanted to address the matter in general terms and with a more global approach," Portuguese Foreign Minister Jamie Gama told Al-Ahram Weekly. He added, "We thought that this is the right attitude for this conference to take".

For his part, Moussa seemed keen to avoid making a fuss at the meeting leading up to the summit. "The issue of non-proliferation is referred to in clear language. This is satisfactory," he told reporters at the end of the joint Africa-EU preparatory meeting.

Egyptian diplomacy had an easier time -- at least relatively speaking -- when addressing the issue of Libya's reintegration into the international community in general, and the restoration of its relations with the EU in particular. "The mere fact of Libya's participation in this mega-summit is, in and by itself, a very significant matter," commented one diplomat. According to informed European and Egyptian sources, the issue of Libya was on the agenda of bilateral talks held by President Mubarak and several European leaders. Egypt's message was that it is time to encourage Libya to stage a positive comeback on the international scene. The response to this proposal was reportedly also "positive". According to one source, the coming few days are likely to witness several signs of this new, warmer rapport between Libya and the EU.

Efforts to encourage Sudan to improve its international image also proved fairly successful. Again, Khartoum's participation in the summit was seen as providing ample opportunity for top Sudanese officials to put their case before the EU. Diplomatic sources suggest that the EU is showing a keen and possibly increasing interest in Sudan.

National reconciliation in Sudan was also addressed on the fringes of the summit. President Mubarak discussed the recent development of a joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative for overall reconciliation in Sudan with both Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, while Foreign Minister Moussa held talks on the matter with Sudan's immediate southern neighbours.

"We hope that these talks will permit a speedier move on the issue of national reconciliation," commented Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail.

Egypt was also active in talks on one of the issues directly related to the Africa-Europe plan of action -- land mines.

"This is something that we had to address, since the North African countries, particularly Egypt, are infested with land mines buried by the Europeans during World War II," commented one Egyptian source.

Talks on this subject at the bilateral level, as well as in the summit's first closed session, were not exactly conclusive. The African side argues that it is the responsibility of the countries who planted the mines to remove them. The Europeans, for their part, are only willing to provide assistance.

At the end of the summit, Egypt seemed pleased with the work done both in and outside the main sessions. Diplomats described the event as a good opportunity for touching base on a wide range of issues that figure high on the agenda of Egyptian foreign policy.

	weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg