8 - 14 February 2001
Issue No.520
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 8 - 14 February 2001 Issue No.520 |
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Gathering steam
As Israeli voters went to the polls on Tuesday to choose between Labour leader Ehud Barak and his Likud rival Ariel Sharon, President Hosni Mubarak was shuttling from Tunisia to Kuwait, wrapping up a week of top-level consultations with Arab leaders. In the run-up to next month's Arab summit in Jordan, Mubarak has been touring the region, with visits to Syria and Saudi Arabia last month and stops in Oman, Tunisia and Kuwait this week.
Mubarak in Muscat with Qaboos ...
... sharing a joke with Bin Ali in Tunis...
... and joined by Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabbah at Kuwait airport
Arriving in Oman a week ahead of the Israeli elections, Mubarak warned that in choosing their next prime minister, Israeli voters should look for "impartiality and a true desire to achieve a just and comprehensive peace."
Topping the president's agenda throughout his tour was the Middle East peace process, Iraq and UN sanctions. Mubarak consulted Arab leaders on prospects for the Middle East peace process in light of Israeli elections and the new White House administration and sought to strengthen Arab solidarity ahead of the Arab summit, scheduled to be held in Amman at the end of March. On the subject of Iraq, Mubarak rallied support for a unified stance on lifting crippling UN sanctions, as well as the need to thaw the decade-long freeze in relations between Kuwait and Iraq. He also pushed for the removal of UN sanctions against Libya. Touring with the president were Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, Mubarak's chief political adviser Osama El-Baz and Minister of Information Safwat El-Sherif.
In recent months, Cairo has stepped up efforts to bring Baghdad back into the Arab fold and there are reports of efforts to forge a better understanding between Iraq and its post-Gulf War foes Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. In 1991, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Egypt garnered the support of most Arab countries to take part in the 32-nation, US-led military alliance which drove Iraqi troops out of the small Gulf state. In Kuwait, Mubarak emphasised "the necessity of alleviating the suffering of the Iraqi people," El-Baz said, adding that "the Kuwaiti leadership support all efforts to close Arab ranks."
Khaled Suleiman Al-Jarrallah, under-secretary at the Kuwaiti foreign affairs ministry, noted that his country "was among the first to call for the lifting of sanctions against Iraq," but in the same breath, he blamed the Iraqi regime for the suffering of its people. Despite the high-level consultations, Foreign Minister Moussa maintained that Mubarak's trip to Kuwait "does not mean that there is Egyptian mediation between Kuwait and Iraq at this time." The top diplomat also condemned recent aggressive statements from Iraq against Kuwait, calling them "questionable" and warning that the escalation in tone is "unacceptable and futile."
Last month, the 10th anniversary of the military operation against Iraq, Operation Desert Storm, coincided with two notable, but unrelated visits to Cairo: Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi and Iraqi Vice President Taha Ramadan, who was in Egypt to sign a free trade agreement. Al-Kharafi said this week that Mubarak's visit to Kuwait would have a positive impact on inter-Arab relations, emphasising that "coordination and sound preparations" for the upcoming summit would be necessary. But he insisted that he was unaware of any Egyptian effort to broker warmer relations between Kuwait and Iraq.
Al-Jarrallah went a step further, saying that his country did not feel threatened by a cosier relationship between Cairo and Baghdad. "It is up to our brothers in Egypt to decide what their relationship with Iraq will be," Al-Jarallah said. "We are confident of Egypt's support of Kuwait and understand that it has trade and economic ties with Iraq. It does not worry us." But he added that his country "still considers Iraq a threat," and urged Arab leaders who will convene at the Amman summit to take a firm stand against Iraq's hostile rhetoric.
Ahead of his Kuwait visit, Mubarak held talks with Tunisian President Zeine Al-Abidine bin Ali in the country that hosted the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) headquarters between 1987 and 1994. The two leaders were optimistic about the prospects for Arab reconciliation and cooperation, especially after the creation of a follow-up committee to monitor the implementation of Arab summit resolutions. "Both leaders hope that the upcoming summit in Amman will further cement Arab solidarity," said Egypt's Ambassador to Tunis Mokhles Qutb.
The two presidents condemned continuing Israeli aggression against Palestinians, as well as Tel Aviv's threats against Syria and Lebanon and reaffirmed their position that Israel must withdraw from all occupied Arab territories. En route to Tunis, Mubarak spoke by phone with new US President George W Bush to discuss the future of peace negotiations. The two presidents agreed that the peace process must be put back on track for the sake of security and stability in the region.
In Muscat for a three-day private visit ahead of his Tunisia trip, Mubarak said his meeting with Oman's Sultan Qaboos was an opportunity for "relaxed and in-depth consultations" on Arab and regional issues. During his trip to the Gulf state, Mubarak also discussed the strained relations between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) over sovereignty over three islands in the Gulf.
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