Peace key to democracy
Stabilising the region via peace and reform is a priority on Egypt's regional agenda, writes
Nevine Khalil
Tomorrow, President Hosni Mubarak will open a two-day conference on Arab political reform bringing together academics, business leaders and others. Sponsored by both the government and NGOs, the conference, organised by the Bibliotecha Alexandrina, will be attended by representatives from several Arab countries, and is expected to adopt recommendations that will then be submitted to the upcoming Arab summit.
This inauguration will conclude a week of discussions by Mubarak promoting the need for gradual and homegrown reform. These discussions mainly took place during a European tour that began at the end of last week, during which Mubarak held intense talks with the leaders of Italy, France and Britain about the region's prospects.
Plans to reform the region's political, economic and social systems were a pressing issue on Mubarak's agenda during his talks with Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, France's Jacques Chirac and Britain's Tony Blair. Mubarak countered proposals like the US's Greater Middle East Initiative (GMEI) with an Egyptian-Saudi- Syrian proposal for Arab reform, which has already been presented to the Arab League.
Other talking points on all three stops included the deteriorating conditions in Palestine, especially in light of Israeli plans to unilaterally withdraw from the Gaza Strip without coordinating with the Palestinians. The other volatile situation that needed to be addressed promptly is in Iraq, where frequent attacks against occupying US forces are contributing to the region's destabilisation.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, meanwhile, is scheduled to arrive in Cairo today for talks with top officials, including Mubarak. The head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, Meir Dagan, reportedly visited Egypt last month to discuss the Israeli evacuation from Gaza. Dagan sounded out Egyptian officials about the consequences of an army withdrawal from Israel's border with Egypt, within the larger framework of the settlement pullout.
Yesterday, Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman headed to the West Bank for talks with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat about Israeli plans to evacuate most Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip. Arafat's national security adviser, Jibril Rajub -- who recently returned from a visit to Egypt -- said on Sunday that officials in Cairo had emphasised that any Israeli pullout must be coordinated with the Palestinian Authority. "The Egyptians are also worried that the withdrawal from Gaza will be the first, as well as the last one," Rajub said.
Mubarak's European tour comes in the prelude to several top-level gatherings of world leaders set to take place in June, including the G8 summit of industrial nations (where the US will officially announce the GMEI), the EU summit and a major NATO meeting. It also preceded the Arab summit scheduled for 29 March in Tunisia, as well as Mubarak's talks with US President George W Bush next month.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told reporters at the end of the three-stop tour that Mubarak's trip allowed for "lengthy and in depth discussions with the European leaders, giving them an opportunity to listen to Egypt's viewpoint on all current issues." Mubarak's chief political adviser, Osama El-Baz, said that Egypt's perspective with regards to the situation in the Middle East and the need to consolidate efforts to avert an increasingly dangerous state of affairs was close to the positions of the European leaders.
At each European capital he visited, Mubarak made a point of voicing his opposition to the US plan for political and economic reform in the region, emphasising how it was unacceptable to both the leadership and the people of the Middle East. He told the French newspaper Le Figaro that although he was "not informed of any details regarding the US initiative, and only its general outline," he believes that "any initiative imposed from abroad will be rejected by the people." He added, in an interview published on Monday, that this dynamic would lead to "chaos in the region and encourage terrorism around the world". A few days earlier, in an interview with Italy's La Republica daily, Mubarak questioned the viability of the GMEI, asking "how can you impose one ready-made solution on an expansive area that stretches from Mauritania to Pakistan?" He noted that "the most important players are missing from the table, those directly affected that have not been consulted ... We know our countries better than anyone else."
EU foreign ministers have agreed to work closely with Washington on Middle East reform, but have stressed that Arab countries must have "ownership" of the process. "It is not for us to preach," Britain's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had said last week. El-Baz noted this week that Egypt believes the GMEI should be debated from all angles, but only "as a proposal, and not as an imposed plan". He anticipated that at the Arab summit, leaders would work on combining their perspectives to reach an appropriate formula to deal with reform efforts in the Middle East.
The Arab plan encourages Arabs to play a larger role in running their political, economic, social and cultural affairs. It suggests Arabs coordinate their foreign and security policies through new supervision and follow-up agencies. "We hope to have European-American support," Mubarak said. "We hope that we will also have help implementing it."
Meeting with Blair on Sunday at his country retreat Chequers, Mubarak discussed how best to salvage the peace process and stabilise the region. Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif said that "there was much understanding from both sides" during Mubarak's talks with the prime minister. Blair's office said the two leaders had discussed the "impetus for reform in the region and the way partners can engage".
Mubarak believes that "the priority in the Middle East is resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is at the heart of all the region's problems," as he told Le Figaro. He warned against unilateral decisions by Israel -- such as the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza -- and strongly refused an Israeli suggestion that Egyptian troops should replace Israeli forces in Gaza once the withdrawal is complete. "It's a trap; Egypt will end up in a front-line confrontation against the Palestinians."
Mubarak also refused to commit any Egyptian troops to Iraq, saying that Cairo was only willing to send "consultants. The Iraqis would never accept Arab forces on their land," he told Le Figaro.
Following their respective talks with Mubarak, Chirac and Berlusconi agreed that a successful peace process was essential to creating stability in the region, and that reform plans imposed from abroad are futile. "The countries concerned must be directly involved in the evolution of any initiative," noted Berlusconi, whose statement marks a change in the Italian position, compared to its earlier pronouncements. A day earlier, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini had said that Italy subscribed to Washington's initiative, though he also said, "the impetus must come from the region itself."
Meanwhile, in a joint news conference on Friday, Chirac said that France "naturally totally favours modernisation, but we are against interference". France and Germany have been subtly distancing themselves from the US initiative, calling on the European Union to define a "distinct approach" which would be "complementary to that of the United States".
Last week, Jordan's King Abdullah was also in Paris for talks with Chirac about the GMEI. Paris believes that it needs to cooperate with the concerned countries in order to make the region's reform and modernisation process a success. Abdullah also visited London, as did Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and Israel's Shalom.
