With the cancellation of an upcoming reform conference, the diplomatic tensions between Egypt and several key Western capitals bubbled to the surface. Dina Ezzat reports Although Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit will be heading to London next week to head Egypt's delegation to a conference on reforming the Palestinian Authority, Egypt's top diplomat will simultaneously be defending his nation's own commitment to reform as well. That commitment was severely called into question last week, after the Egyptian government chose to postpone a Cairo-based, foreign ministerial, Arab-G8 meeting meant to promote reform in the Arab world. Cairo cancelled the meeting "based on our assessment that it was not going to deliver its objective of securing G8 support for the reform priorities perceived by Arab societies," said one senior Egyptian official. Egypt, it seems, was willing to discuss an agenda of "modernisation" in the Arab world, but "was not at all willing to accept instructions, or to implement the dictates of some Western capitals about their own set of reform priorities for the Arab world -- and certainly not when it comes to Egypt," the official said. But while the Egyptian account suggests the West was trying to impose an agenda, Western diplomats accused the Egyptian government of trying to get the G8 to rubber-stamp a document that falls short of the reform topic the meeting was meant to discuss. "When the Egyptian government proposed the idea of the meeting, we agreed," commented one Cairo-based Western diplomat. "We actually welcomed it on the assumption that we will be discussing overall reform, political reform included. This did not turn out to be the case." Another Cairo-based Western diplomat said Egypt and several other Arab countries were trying very hard to avoid any direct or clear commitment on the political reform issue. Some Arab capitals suggested that the meeting should focus on educational reform, while others referred to economic reform; very few bothered to offer serious thoughts on political reform. In the end, representatives of the concerned Western capitals made it clear that their governments might not be willing to delegate their foreign ministers if the document that was supposed to be adopted in Cairo -- "The Cairo Declaration: A document on modernisation and stability" -- fell short of reflecting a clear commitment to embracing political reform. "We made it very clear that there is no getting away from, or around, the issue of political reform. For us, this is a priority we are not willing to compromise," said one Western diplomat. And according to another, while G8 foreign ministers would not have "minded discussing issues like reforming the education system, this was not good enough without seriously discussing political reform." Although some Western diplomats argued that Egypt would need to "explain" its stance on the matter, it is unclear whether or not Abul-Gheit will pick up the issue with Western ministers participating in next week's PA reform conference in London. Obviously, as he did in Washington earlier this month, Abul-Gheit will have to deal with an avalanche of questions about Ayman Nour, the Ghad Party chairman arrested for allegedly forging thousands of the new party's membership applications. Egyptian officials said Cairo's stance on Nour was clear, reflected by presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad's comments about Egypt's rejection of any foreign interference in such internal affairs. "There is nothing new to report on the issue of Ayman Nour," said an Egyptian diplomat. "The charges levelled against him are currently being investigated, and until -- and unless -- the charges are cleared, Nour will continue to be treated in accordance with Egyptian law." The Nour issue has also been subject to recurrent discussions between Western embassies in Cairo, and concerned Egyptian officials. "We made it very clear that what was happening to Ayman Nour was incompatible with the line of political reform that we believe needs to prevail," said one Western diplomatic source. The Nour case -- perceived by the Western public as a clear violation of political rights -- would have also made it difficult for many G8 governments to delegate their foreign ministers to Egypt for a reform conference. "It was simply impossible," the source said. "I know that people in Egypt think it was only a problem for the US secretary of state, but this is not correct. Other foreign ministers had problems too." Egyptian sources said that neither US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, nor other concerned foreign ministers, had officially informed Cairo of their intentions to skip the meeting. "A few, however, had asked for the date to be reconsidered, due to other pressing commitments they had," an Egyptian source said. Sources indicated that while releasing Nour might take care of one element of the problem, ameliorating the Ghad Party chairman's situation would not, in and of itself, resolve the issues that may have led to the Cairo reform conference's postponement. The crux of the issue, Western diplomats said, was that Egypt, and other Arab countries, have to be willing to seriously commit themselves to political reform, "not necessarily Western style, but in accordance with the universal standards of democracy and human rights." Considering an Egyptian diplomat's comment that the "meeting was not really cancelled; it was just postponed, although we have no new date in mind," that willingness may still be a long way away.
