Egypt's way of reform

In and on the fringe of the Arab summit, Egypt, Sudan and Libya made their voices heard on a number of issues ranging from human rights violations to the worth of the summit and the particularities of Arab identity. Dina Ezzat followed the debate

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Mubarak

Cairo's decision to turn down an invitation to participate in a G8 meeting scheduled for the first week of June is a message signalling Egypt's determination to pursue reform the Arab way.

Egypt was one of a few Arab countries selected by the G8 to take part in talks on reform in the Middle East that will be conducted at the US- hosted meetings.

This is not the only occasion upon which Egypt has declined to engage the issue of reform in accordance with a Western-set agenda. During the past few weeks, Egypt also declined to receive a NATO envoy who visited several Arab capitals to discuss Arab-NATO cooperation on political and socio-economic reform in the Middle East.

"We are not interested in the ongoing talk about the Great Middle East. What we are interested in is our Arab region," President Hosni Mubarak said yesterday in the Romanian capital. Addressing a press conference following talks with the Romanian president in Bucharest, Mubarak underlined Arab dedication to pursue reform, as has been demonstrated by the recent Arab summit in Tunis. He insisted, however, that this Arab march towards reform will be conducted in line with Arab priorities, under the umbrella of the Arab League. "Arab countries have agreed on reform. The Arab League is working on the issue," Mubarak said.

Earlier this week, during the Arab summit, Egypt insisted that any discussions on reform related matters to be conducted by Arab countries with non-Arab groups, including the G8, have to be conducted under the umbrella of the Arab League.

"Egypt believes that the Arab League should always remain as the solid foundation that brings together all collective Arab efforts. This is the way to maintain the Arab identity," President Hosni Mubarak told the Arab summit earlier this week in Tunis.

Speaking to Arab leaders during the opening session of the summit, President Mubarak urged that while Arab countries have agreed on a framework of measures conducive to reform, modifiable in accordance with the particular national priorities, leaders must ensure that each blueprint will be executed.

Towards this end, Egypt presented an Arab foreign ministers meeting held in the Tunisian capital on the eve of the summit with a draft proposal for establishing a follow-up mechanism that should be in charge not only of monitoring the reform process but also of securing a collective Arab response to any foreign proposals made on reform in the Middle East. The three page Egyptian proposal called for a process of continuous consultations among Arab countries on reform implementation. It also called for systematic inter-Arab coordination vis-ˆ-vis foreign groupings or countries regarding the reform process. According to the Egyptian paper this process should be conducted under the umbrella of the Arab League.

Egyptian officials who took part in the preparatory meetings suggest that the paper was received with "initial approval". Egyptian officials say that the rationale behind the paper was to avoid any attempt to dilute Arab countries into a so-called "Greater Middle East". "We are Arab countries. There is something that is called the Arab world. This is how we should be addressed and this is why we believed that we should work on a follow up mechanism through the Arab League," one Egyptian official said.

The Egyptian proposal, sources indicate, and the support it received from several delegations in Tunis, was a direct response to a request made by US Secretary of State Colin Powell to Arab foreign ministers during a World Economic Forum meeting held earlier this month in Jordan to arrange for regular meetings between US and selected Arab officials to follow up on the progress of regional reform initiatives.

Sources add that Cairo found this call to be too patronising and decided to locate any monitoring body under the umbrella of the Arab League.

The Egyptian proposal emerged from a fairly lengthy process of drafting. The aim from the outset was to include it in the Tunis Document for Modernisation that was adopted by the summit.

However, in the words of Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, "The paper lost its way to the document ... We worked on it, and along with several delegations reached a consensus [on] language, but the paper disappeared."

President Mubarak left about half an hour before the closing session was initiated. Tunisian sources acknowledge that Mubarak's departure without taking part in the closing session was a sign of dissatisfaction over Tunisian moves to disregard the Egyptian proposal.

In a press conference held with the Arab League secretary- general at the end of the summit, Tunisian Foreign Minister Al- Habib Bin Yehiya denied any wrongdoing on the part of Tunis and indicated that the paper was dismissed for lack of consensus over its language.

For its part, the secretariat of the Arab League is trying to play down the Tunisian-Egyptian disagreement, calling for a middle of the ground approach.

"I think it is very important that Arab countries conduct their dialogue with countries or groupings who address this issue on a collective basis," said Hesham Youssef, chief of staff of the Arab League secretary-general.

According to Youssef all resolutions adopted by the Arab summit, including those related to reform, will be subject to a continuous follow up process both by the Arab countries and secretariat of the League.

As for the "important Egyptian proposal", Youssef said, it could be picked up again by Arab foreign ministers in their next meetings that will come after positions on Middle East reform are voiced by the G8 summit and other key meetings, including the NATO summit and the US-EU summit.

Meanwhile, Youssef said that the Summit Follow Up Committee, traditionally established by every Arab summit, could deal with the initial reform monitoring process until a further step is taken following a collective Arab decision.