The view from Cairo
Egyptian diplomacy continues as a volatile region yearns for stability, writes Nevine Khalil
During a brief stopover in Egypt, US Secretary of State Colin Powell was scheduled to meet with President Hosni Mubarak in Sharm El-Sheikh yesterday to discuss pressing issues in the region, including the volatile situation in Iraq and the stalled peace process. Powell was en route from the Sudanese peace talks in Kenya to Spain for an international donors conference to raise funds for Iraq's reconstruction. Before sitting with Powell, Mubarak met with the head of US Central Command (Centcom) General John Abizaid who leads some 250,000 US soldiers deployed in several countries between the Horn of Africa and Pakistan, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
Although a chill has recently been felt in Egypt-US relations -- most notably the fact that Mubarak has yet to make his annual trip to the US this year -- officials on both sides deny that relations are rocky. Mubarak reassured his audience during a public rally in the southern city of Qena on 16 October that relations with the US were "strong and built on respect". A few days later, US Ambassador to Cairo David Welch noted that there were issues on which the US and Egypt do not always see eye to eye, but "our strategic concerns are very similar". Welch, speaking at a lecture at the American University in Cairo (AUC) on Monday, described Egypt as "a long- time friend and strategic ally of the United States. It has enjoyed strong and moderate leadership for many years; Egypt is key to any hope for a stable and prosperous Middle East".
In press statements published on Tuesday, Mubarak's chief political adviser Osama El-Baz agreed that Cairo and Washington sometimes approach issues, especially pertaining to the Middle East, from very different angles. He told Al-Akhbar newspaper that the difference in positions arises from the fact that the US is not a front- line state in the region, is the primary supplier of weapons to Israel and Israel's staunchest political, diplomatic and economic supporter. "Nonetheless it has good relations with many Arab countries and is not their enemy," El-Baz said. "It is our duty to highlight to the US many of the situations and challenges which the Middle East faces."
Powell's visit to Egypt is one of many diplomatic meetings undertaken by Cairo to explore the prospects for restoring stability to the region. Other visiting officials include China's peace envoy Wang Chi Geh, who arrived in Cairo on Tuesday on a three-day visit to discuss with officials what his country can do to help the peace process. Spain's Foreign Minister Ana Palacio is also expected within hours to talk about the latest developments in the Palestinian territories and Iraq. Meanwhile, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi, whose country is a principal financial donor in the peace process and also cooperating closely with Egypt in the reconstruction of Iraq, will arrive in Cairo on Saturday.
Earlier in the week, Mubarak's address to naval officers stirred up a storm in the Israeli press against Egypt and its leader. Mubarak, speaking on 15 October while celebrating Navy Day, called on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to be more careful in his accusations against Egypt. Recently, Sharon said that he did not rule out the possibility of Israel being attacked by Egypt and Syria, as was the case 30 years ago on the eve of the October 1973 War. "Fear God," Mubarak said, addressing Sharon, "[our countries] signed a peace agreement together. You know [Egypt's] efforts are focused on making peace. Your logic is reversed."
The backlash in the Israeli press over the weekend included declarations that Sharon "will not make the pilgrimage to Egypt" as his predecessors did every time there was a problem in the peace process. "Sharon refuses to be a toy in Mubarak's hands, and is willing to speak with him in the language of peace and not in a dialogue of threats and conditions," according to Maariv newspaper.
Speaking to the naval officers, Mubarak also denied Israeli claims that Egypt was aiding armed Palestinian groups by facilitating the smuggling of weapons across the Rafah border through underground tunnels. "The Egyptian border guards do not allow this kind of activity," he said. "The tunnels are opened from the Israeli side so they should not blame us." The president also said "the leaders of Israel should realise that the Arab citizen holds no grudge against the Israeli citizen; it is the governments which deepen grudges by killing and destroying."
Meanwhile at AUC, Welch took to task the Palestinian leadership, telling his audience that in order for peace to prevail the Palestinian leadership should be "untainted by terror". It should also be "capable of delivering on its promises and willing to ensure the security environment necessary for a viable new Palestinian state to be born, side by side with Israel." Welch added that although the Palestinian Authority condemned attacks by militants, "it needs to take meaningful action to dismantle the infrastructure of terror and the groups that support it." Without such steps, Welch noted, the "hatred of the few" will continue to hold hostage the "hopes of the many".
Yesterday, Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher held his first meeting with the newly appointed Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Alaa), to discuss the escalating violence in the Palestinian territories. "The situation in the territories is dangerous," Maher told reporters ahead of the meeting. "By all measures, it has become a tragedy." He blamed Israel for the collapse of all political and diplomatic channels through which attempts were being made to bring calm between the two sides. "Israel thought it can oppress the Palestinian people, but no one can condone Israel's actions." Maher described the Arab proposals condemning Israel's security fence -- currently being debated at the UN General Assembly -- as "a test to see the international body's capability to take a firm position in confronting illegitimate actions."
Discussing the standstill in the peace process, El-Baz told Al- Akhbar that the right-wing government in Tel Aviv will not stay in power forever. "There will be change, like there has been in the past," he said. El-Baz believes that Israeli public opinion can be influenced positively regarding the peace process and Tel Aviv's policies through "a well composed Palestinian and Arab dialogue [with them]".
On Iraq, El-Baz said that Egypt's perspective is that "there is a US occupation of Iraq... and the US should keep its presence in Iraq brief." He counselled that the US should "hand over power to the Iraqis gradually to avoid a collapse [of the country] once the allied forces exit quickly".
"We will not abandon the Iraqi people to a power vacuum," promised Welch at AUC, "but we will leave Iraq just as soon as the Iraqis themselves can take over their own governance... Full Iraqi control of Iraq is our goal." Out of a seven-step process decided on by the US, already three -- the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC), the preparatory committee for drafting a new constitution and appointment of Iraqi ministers -- have been accomplished. What remains for the full transfer of authority in Iraq, Welch said, is the writing of a constitution, its ratification, electing a new government and the final transfer of sovereignty.
"These are steps to be taken by the Iraqi people, and they will proceed at a pace determined by their representatives, the Iraqi Governing Council," he noted. The US diplomat called on all in the region, "to give the Iraqi people the benefit of the doubt and help them along this road".
IGC member Jalal Talabani, leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), arrived in Cairo on Monday for talks with top officials, including Foreign Minister Maher and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. Talabani's trip comes on the heels of a visit by Massoud Barzani, the leader of Iraq's Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), who was in Cairo last week to garner support for the US-appointed Interim Council.
Talabani presented a similar agenda when he met with Maher on Tuesday, urging Egyptian and Arab participation in the reconstruction of Iraq. Maher told reporters later that "Egypt will stand by the Iraqi people, but under no circumstances will [it] send troops into Iraq." He added that Egypt's diplomatic mission in Iraq will not be upgraded to ambassadorship any time soon. "Of course once there is a sovereign regime, an ambassador will be chosen."
Mubarak believes that the quagmire in Iraq is becoming more complicated by the day, and that "chaos, division and civil war" in Iraq must be avoided at all cost. "Power must be restored to the Iraqi people democratically," Mubarak told the Qena rally last week. He reiterated the global call for an effective UN role in post-war Iraq and again stressed that Egypt would not send any peace- keepers to Iraq.
Mubarak also repeated his initiative to make the Middle East a region free of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). And with Israel in mind, among others, Mubarak noted that the project "should be applicable to all countries in the region, with no exceptions".
This was the same message he conveyed to the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Conference in Malaysia the next day. Mubarak's address, given by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid on his behalf on Friday, called on Muslim nations and the international community to work towards making the Middle East WMD-free. He also noted that "a clear distinction must be made between legitimate resistance to occupation and terrorism," adding that in order to achieve peace in the Middle East, "all rights must be restored to their owners."
