5 - 11 April 2001
Issue No.528
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 5 - 11 April 2001 Issue No.528 |
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In Amman last week, the Arabs set out to achieve reconcilliation, support the Palestinian Intifada and bolster the Arab League. Dina Ezzat, who was in the Jordanian capital for the summit, appraises the results
More than a paint job
The new secretary-general of the Arab League has plenty of ambitious ideas for the organisation. But he will need to rouse it from its bureaucratic torpor first
The Arab League has been living in untroubled tranquillity, to say the least, for the past ten years. But come the middle of May and it will start to undergo serious political and structural changes, if its new boss has his way. In Amman last week, Arab leaders approved the nomination of Egypt's Amr Moussa for a five-year term as secretary-general of the Arab League. Moussa assumes his new post the day after current Secretary-General Essmat Abdel-Meguid ends his second term on 15 May. Change is high on the agenda of the new boss, who is still Egypt's foreign minister. But he may find change harder to achieve than in the Foreign Ministry where he made his name.
Exit Abdel-Meguid (left); enter Moussa
Shock is likely to be Moussa's first reaction when he enters his new office in Tahrir Square on 16 May. It is woefully unkempt compared to the elegant bureaus of the Foreign Ministry. But the decrepit state of the Arab League building will be far from Moussa's worst worry. In fact, reupholstering the downtown headquarters could be the easiest part of his bid to revamp the League. As an Arab League source pointed out, "Moussa is one of the most respected Arab figures. It is literally impossible for any Arab government or leader to turn him down if he approaches them for allocations to give the League a face-lift." But when it comes to making changes to the League that go beyond the ornamental, Moussa may find the hurdles considerably higher.
One problem far greater than the poorly kept status of the headquarters is the League's parlous financial state; the fault of the failure of several member states to pay their dues over many years. Moussa will have to persuade them to be less shy. Nor is the organisation richer in human resources. It is common knowledge that the Arab League is stuffed with slothful employees, hired from across the Arab world for their personal contacts not their professional merit. "The League is a place where very few of us have anything to do," commented an Arab League source. The source also judged that among some 900 employees only nine people take their work seriously. And given the pervasiveness of poor skills and stunted ambition, Moussa will find rehabilitating his staff members a daunting task. But they cannot, alas, be fired.
Spending time and effort on exploring staff potential is something that Moussa could afford to do when he took responsibility for restructuring the Foreign Ministry in May 1991. As a result, when Moussa departs office next month, he leaves behind a cabinet of 21 diplomats. The eldest, Ambassador Mohamed El-Orabi, is still only in his early 40s and is chief of the foreign minister's cabinet.
But encouraging the smartest youngsters may not be possible at the league. "That was not an impossible job with the Foreign Ministry because it is an institution with an established format of work that goes on regardless. This is not the case with the League, which has been largely non-functional for the past half-decade," commented a retired diplomat who has served in both the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Arab League.
"Moussa has a vision for the League. He wants to make something of it and turn it from a mere secretariat for some Arab meetings into a political and economic body that helps settle inter-Arab disputes and facilitate inter-Arab coordination," commented a source close to Moussa. He explained, "For this to happen he needs to rework the current structure of the League in terms of the division of responsibilities and the nature of job descriptions."
Certainly, Moussa will need good diplomats to help him in his ambition to forge a new Arab League which plays a more instrumental role in Arab affairs and in Arab-international relations. Such a cadre is a minimum requirement if the League is to assume a new role at a time of obvious regional and international developments. It will be hard for Moussa to force existing employees to work more. He may need to hire new staff. But financial limits could disrupt his plans.
Those who have served in the 55-year-old Arab organisation say this ambitious idea cannot work in the Arab League. "The employees and diplomats of the League, especially those of the richer Arab countries, have worked for years under the impression that they work for their countries in the league and that the secretary-general has no say in what they do or don't do," said an Arab League source. But, he added, "Moussa's good personal relations with many of the Arab foreign ministers and in some cases leaders will help. It is also true that the support that President Hosni Mubarak offers Moussa will help. Still, it will be a year or so before the League starts functioning to the standards that Moussa has established in the Foreign Ministry."
Those who know Moussa well say that he cannot let his first year in office pass without the League making a serious impact on regional and international affairs. The eager Moussa is already planning to take part in an Arab foreign ministers meeting that takes place in the Algerian capital on 18 and 19 April to prepare for Arab-African dialogue and cooperation. He will be there in his capacity as Egypt's foreign minister and the future secretary-general. Moussa is also abuzz with ideas for Arab-EU dialogue, Arab-Arab economic cooperation, and an Arab-Asian 'dialogue of civilisations.'
But he will need to walk before he sprints. The new secretary-general will have to shape the Arab League into an effective policy instrument to realise his ideas, and that means changing, refurbishing, recruiting and, not least, accommodating. Time will also need to be spent on the political role that Moussa will have to play, with its deluge of routine visits and meetings. But those who have worked with Moussa are bullish: they predict that by the time of the next Arab summit in Beirut in March 2002, Moussa will be in a position to tell the Arab Leaders that he has accomplished the mission of re-working the League and the role of its secretary-general. That is quite an order. If he manages it, Moussa will have more than a new coat of paint on headquarters to boast about.
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