COMESA revisited EGYPT is enhancing its already keen association with COMESA (Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa). The move is projected by Cairo as part of a wider scheme designed to re-emphasise Egypt's ties with the black continent to end what is perceived by some African capitals as an unjustified decline of warmth in communication with Cairo. This week, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit was in Nairobi, Kenya, to head the Egyptian delegation to the foreign ministers' and summit sessions of COMESA. Abul- Gheit's participation is the highest by Egypt in this African sub-regional grouping in four years. It was secured after a pressing demand from the secretariat of the COMESA for the re-invigoration of Egypt's participation. As Abul-Gheit said, this participation "is a clear indication of Egypt's keenness to develop relations with COMESA." A trade bloc that groups 20 African states from Libya in the north of the continent to Zimbabwe in the south, COMESA was launched in December 1994. Egypt joined in January 1999. Today, total inter-COMESA trade amounts to $5.6 billion. Egypt's share is $260 million in both exports and imports. Egypt's annual exports of around $200 million are mainly pharmaceuticals. Egypt is well ahead in the pharmaceuticals industry by comparison to all other COMESA members. This week in Nairobi, COMESA member states examined plans to move towards the launching of a customs union by the end of next year to allow for a faster flow of exchange of trade and investments. Nine COMESA member states, including Egypt, are already associated by a free trade agreement. Participants to the COMESA summit also approached the state of peace and security in the member states of the grouping, in view of the direct impact of ongoing conflicts among and within African states on the chances of promoting development on the African continent in general and particularly in the COMESA states. A conflict early warning mechanism was considered by the summit which concluded its work yesterday in the Kenyan capital. Egypt's interest in Africa today seems to be focussed around trade and economic cooperation. Egyptian officials, however, affirm that Egypt is also interested in working through all possible diplomatic apparatus to enhance the illusive stability that the continent has been aspiring to since independence from foreign colonisation. This stability, officials add, is essential to the promotion of development which by definition is a prerequisite to the fight against terrorism. Two African woes ALPHA Oumar Konare, secretary-general of the African Union (AU), was in Cairo for talks with President Hosni Mubarak on developments in Darfur and Somalia. Following their meeting on Monday, Konare told reporters that Egypt promised full support to the AU effort to promote dialogue and stability in Darfur and Somalia. Konare warned that if these two problems were to go unresolved then East Africa would be contaminated with chronic conflicts that might prove as hard to resolve as the Middle East problem. Konare said the AU was trying to encourage all conflicting parties in Somalia to pursue a process of dialogue on condition they accept the current government, transitional as it might be. "There will be no superimposed answer for the Somali problem. Only Somalis can find an answer to their problem," he said. Konare said that AU peacekeeping forces could go into Somalia once a political compromise was reached by the conflicting parties and in the wake of the prompt pullout of Ethiopian troops which entered the country to lend support to the transitional Somali government. Konare, however, warned against the chaotic consequences of a hastened withdrawal of Ethiopian troops. Konare urged an end to threats of sanctions made by the international powers, with no direct reference to the US or the UK, against the Sudanese government for its failure to contain the human catastrophe in Darfur. He said Khartoum was moving on the right track in cooperating with the international community to resolve the situation in Darfur but needed to be encouraged rather than threatened. In earlier talks with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit, Konare supported an Egyptian call to pursue an effective negotiation process between the Sudanese government and the rebels of Darfur over sharing power and wealth and the security arrangements in that western Sudanese province. Moreover, Konare said this week in Cairo that he pressed his Egyptian interlocutors to consider the revival of a mechanism for Afro-Arab cooperation. "I called upon President Mubarak to use his leadership to help the convocation of the second Afro-Arab summit which is way overdue given that the first summit was held back in 1977," the AU secretary-general said. Engaging Salvador SALVADOR President Antonio Saca arrived in Egypt on Sunday for a three-day visit tailored to improve his country's relations with Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. Salvador's Arab relations went through a tough time when the Latin state decided to operate an embassy in Jerusalem in contrast with the consensual diplomatic trend to keep all embassies in Tel Aviv, not in Jerusalem as Israel wants, until a final solution is agreed upon between Palestinians and Israelis on the status of Eastern Jerusalem, annexed by Israel through military force during the 1967 War and viewed by the Palestinians as the capital of their future state. The Embassy of Salvador to Israel was transferred from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv last year. In 1984, Egypt severed its relationship with Salvador when it opened its embassy in Jerusalem. The resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries was declared in September in New York following a meeting between Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and his Salvadorian counterpart Francisco Lainez on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The talks between the presidents of Egypt and Salvador, and their foreign ministers, examined ways of improving economic and cultural cooperation between the two countries. Yesterday, upon the conclusion of his visit, Saca said his country was planning to open an embassy in Cairo in the near future. Lebanon crisis talks AGAINST a backdrop of growing tension in Lebanon, UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for Resolution 1559 Terje Rod-Larsen arrived in Cairo this week for talks on developments in the country. Rod-Larsen was received by President Hosni Mubarak on Monday. He also conferred with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa. At every press briefing he made, Rod-Larsen emphasised the "grave concern" of the UN secretariat over developments in Lebanon. At the Arab League, he said the UN and Arab League both "urge all parties to act with maximum responsibility". In a press communiqué distributed after his meeting with Rod-Larsen, Abul-Gheit stressed the need for security containment to go into effect in Lebanon. "Lebanese law has to be respected and all those living on Lebanese territory need to act in accordance with [Lebanese] legitimacy and to observe law and order as specified by the state institutions." The communiqué underlined support for the Lebanese army and police forces to act towards maintaining law and order across the country in the interest of Lebanon's sovereignty and the safety of the Lebanese people. A matter of borders JAVIER Solana, the European Union Higher Coordinator for Foreign and Security Policies, said yesterday that the Europeans had accepted to renew the mandate stationing observers at the Rafah borders between Egypt and Gaza. Speaking to reporters in Cairo following a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, Solana stressed that the European Union (EU) will endorse a renewed mandate of its observers prior to the expiry of the current agreement with Israelis and Palestinians next Friday. According to Solana, the EU had informed Israel that it would like its mission on the borders "to be more effective". Solana said the observers will be informed when the Rafah borders will open or be closed by Israeli authorities. Israel, he added, would need to provide the observers with an explanation over the reasons why the Rafah border is closed. "We are discussing with the Israelis the provisions of our mission in Gaza," Solana said. The understanding reached between the EU and Israel, however, would not entail an amendment of the mandate of the around 70 observers. The mission of the European observers was reached in November 2005 under an American sponsorship, as part of the administration of the unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. For the past 18 months, the work of the European observers was often interrupted, inexplicably, by the Israeli authorities' sudden decision to close the Rafah border without prior notice. Meanwhile, while in Cairo, Solana discussed a floated Israeli proposal to install international observers at the borders between Gaza and Egypt to stop what Israel alleges is the smuggling of weapons from Egyptian territories to Hamas operatives in Gaza. European sources say the idea is still at a very preliminary stage. They add that it was unlikely that any agreement on the matter would be reached soon in view of the stipulations included by Israel for the operation of such forces which include possible arrest of smugglers, something the Europeans do not want to be involved in. Egyptian officials say Egypt will not accept the presence of any international observers on its side of the border. Egyptian officials had earlier proposed to Israel an upgrade of the Egyptian security presence in Rafah to allow for tougher control of any smuggling activities but Israel turned down the offer on the basis it would deviate from the limited Egyptian security presence allowed at the border by the rules of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. Earlier this week, right-wing member of the Israeli cabinet Avigdor Liberman said Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should order the reoccupation of a corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border to stop smuggling of arms to militants. Appeal for mercy THE INDEPENDENCE of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) issued an appeal on Tuesday to the Foreign Ministry to promptly intervene in the case of 24 Egyptians facing execution in Libya. "Twelve of the 24 are expected to be executed within a week and we are asking for prompt and effective intervention by the Foreign Ministry." The ACIJLPs written appeal alleged that the Egyptian embassy had failed to take the necessary steps to secure the release and repatriation of the concerned citizens despite what it qualified as the success of Libyan civil society to pressure its government into allowing an out of court settlement for the Egyptians charged with killing Libyan and Egyptian individuals residing in Libya. Foreign Ministry sources denied accusations levelled against the Egyptian Embassy in Libya of failing to help the Egyptian citizens involved. They argued that the embassy was trying to resolve the matter with the Libyan authorities, contrary to the ACIJLPs position.
