In Algiers, Dina Ezzat examines the agenda of the 2005 Arab Summit and takes stock of 60 years of chequered pan-Arabism, interviewing key contemporary players and profiling past luminaries Centre stage' Egypt secures the support of all 22 Arab League members in its bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council Foreign Minister managed to deliver the support of all member states of the Arab League for a potential Egyptian nomination to a permanent seat on the UN Security Council under reform plans which call for the council to be enlarged. He also secured support for a non-permanent but renewable seat on the Security Council under an alternative reform plan. Both plans are currently before UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Though any reform of the UN Security Council will probably take years before it materialises, lobbying for an Egyptian seat -- to represent the African content and support African, Third World, Muslim and Arab rights -- is, Abul- Gheit explains, a diplomatic priority. It cannot be delayed because it concerns "the unquestionable regional and international status and role of Egypt". And underlining that status and role, Abul-Gheit says, is the number one priority President Hosni Mubarak has set for Egyptian diplomacy. Speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly on the eve of the Algiers Summit Abul-Gheit argued that Egypt is not only qualified to occupy a seat on the UN Security Council but is obliged to pursue the option as vigorously as possible. Arab and Western diplomats taking part in the Algiers meetings see the mobilisation of support for an Egyptian nomination as a significant development. The shift in support towards Egypt, they explain, was by no means a foregone conclusion given growing concerns, expressed in many regional and international quarters, over Egypt's ability to retain its leading role in the Arab world and in Africa. The dwindling of Egypt's diplomatic clout in recent years has, some argue, negatively influenced America's and the international community's perception of Egypt's regional role. Abul-Gheit refuses any personal credit for securing Arab support for the Egyptian nomination. Such support, he stresses, is testimony to the "influential role that Egypt has and will always have". "Egypt is Egypt. Egypt has always been there on the regional and international scenes," he insists. Nor does Abul-Gheit accept the accusations of those who suggest that Egypt's diplomatic role has been steadily eroded. There has been no decline in Egyptian influence, he says, and the recent, up-beat tone of the Foreign Ministry is a result of foreign policy goals "drawn up by President Mubarak" to respond to pressing regional and international developments. "Our role is perhaps more obvious when the situation is more tense than average because it is then that Egyptian diplomacy pulls its weight. But this is not to say that Egypt has at any point lost this weight," Abul-Gheit insists, adding that "the Egyptian role has always been influential" even if some choose to think otherwise. When the situation on the Palestinian-Israeli front hits an impasse, argues Abul-Gheit, Egypt has to act quickly to prevent further deterioration that might impact on the lives of Palestinians under occupation. "The role of Egyptian diplomacy has always been an essential part of the Middle East scene [underlined by] the role of Egypt in hosting and sponsoring the Sharm El-Sheikh understandings," he says. And this applies to Egypt's interventions in relation to developments in Iraq, Sudan and most recently on the Syrian-Lebanese front. There are those, however, who would take issue with Abul- Gheit's argument. Despite a marked improvement in the performance of Egyptian diplomacy Egypt is still a long way from resuming its once exceptional leading role in Africa and the Arab world. In the words of one New York-based Western diplomat: "It will take much more work before Egypt resumes its status to the point whereby its nomination for any international post was automatically and unconditionally supported by Arab and African countries." Abul-Gheit refuses to be dragged into comparisons about Egypt's role today compared with that of the heyday of pan- Arabism. For him it is "the wrong approach". The world, he says, has changed. A few decades ago there were only a handful of independent Arab states and the role expected of Egypt then is different from the role Cairo now plays. "But the commitment is solid," he says. Egypt, Abul-Gheit explains, has taken on board the concerns voiced in some Arab and African quarters over its continued commitment to Arab and African causes it has traditionally championed. "I think it has been made clear to all concerned that there has been no falling off in Egyptian commitment" to Africa and the Arab world. "It is very obvious that whenever there is a crisis Egypt works to defuse that crisis. And in effect, Egyptian involvement has proved essential in directing developments. This is what a leading role is all about," he argues, adding that "Egypt occupies the centre stage of events." Questions as to why Egypt has failed to host any of the key secretariats of the African Union, or why its once leading voice in the Arab League has been contested to the point where Egyptian political and economic proposals are rejected out right by other foreign ministers smack, Abul-Gheit says, of chauvinism. Egyptian leadership, he argues, should be measured by the impact Egypt has on developments in key issues such as the Palestinian cause or the situation in Darfur. The important questions, he says, concerns Egypt's ability to respond to challenges. Egypt remains determined to further strengthen its already "perfectly strong" Arab and African ties. And it will continue, he insists, to do everything it can to support African and Arab organisations -- and especially the Arab League, the "centrepiece of Arab relations".
