Dina Ezzat watches Cairo's attempts to extinguish some of the region's fires Seriously disturbed by the region's multiple political and military crises, Egyptian diplomacy has gone into overdrive, concerned that if the situation is not contained, increasing public anger and region wide economic recession might result. As it attempts to cool these disturbances, Cairo has its hopes sets on catalysing a different American approach towards three key issues: Sudan, Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict. Engaging Americans into stabilising the situation on these three fronts was a key Egyptian objective during talks between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and top Egyptian officials in Cairo yesterday. Presidential spokesman Ambassador Maged Abdel-Fatah said "these three issues are of obvious and direct impact on our strategic interests." The last thing Egypt wants is a southern neighbour divided into several states with unclear political affiliations. Because Sudan is in "our immediate backyard and strategic depth", it was accorded much attention during the talks with Powell, Abdel-Fatah said. "We are particularly concerned about the developments in Darfur and their impact on Sudan. However," Abdel-Fatah told Al-Ahram Weekly, "the international approach towards this issue has to avoid unwanted escalation and threats of sanctions." The message Powell was expected to get from Egypt yesterday, said the presidential spokesman, was that mediation and humanitarian assistance, rather than sanctions, are the ways to contain the crisis in Darfur. "We believe that mediation has a good chance and we are willing to support all international and regional efforts on this front," Abdel-Fatah said. In this respect, Egypt is backing Sudan's effort to solicit Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the African Union's mediation. On Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit was in Tripoli delivering a message from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak; the brief visit also aimed to secure a positive response from the Libyan leader to the Sudanese request. Relations between Tripoli and Khartoum were strained recently, said informed Arab diplomatic sources, by Libya's decision to help the US by directly transferring humanitarian assistance from Libyan territories to Darfur, without coordinating with the Sudanese government. Khartoum has also been concerned about alleged Libyan involvement in supplying arms to some of the militias fighting in Darfur. Khartoum and Cairo are banking on Gaddafi's influence within the African Union and his new line of communication with Washington, to help them ease the pressure emerging from the international community, and especially the US. Powell was also cautioned against getting the UN Security Council to issue a resolution imposing sanctions on Sudan. "The message," one source said, "was clear -- sanctions have a destructive impact on people's lives, they alienate governments, and they do not lead to positive results". Abul-Gheit, meanwhile, spoke to Ahmed Abdel-Halim, Sudan's ambassador to Egypt, about the steps Khartoum needed to take to avoid the US-proposed sanctions. Here, again, the Egyptian message was clear: even if Khartoum felt it was being picked on for no particular reason -- that all the international attention is not genuinely prompted by the humanitarian crisis, but by power interests -- the Sudanese government still has to address the problematic situation in Darfur, in cooperation with concerned international organisations, so as to dispel international concerns regarding the government's mismanagement of the crisis. Otherwise, there might be no avoiding consequences ranging from harsh economic sanctions -- which could erode the strength of the central government -- to international isolation. Egypt's worst-case scenario would be the Darfur crisis prompting the division of Sudan into smaller states. "I believe that the Sudanese government is trying very hard to handle the situation, and that it is willing to cooperate further on this front," said Abul-Gheit. Regarding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Egypt wants the Palestinians to clean house, and the US to play a much more helpful role in stopping Israeli aggression. Containing the tension on Egypt's eastern borders at Gaza has also been a parallel top priority for Egypt's diplomats. The trouble is, in the words of one source, "it would take a miracle" for peace talks between the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Chairman Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority to resume. Egypt, meanwhile, is becoming increasingly concerned with the unabated rate of Israeli aggression against Palestinians under occupation. "We wanted to help stabilise the situation," presidential spokesman Abdel-Fatah told the Weekly. "We told the Israelis that we would help the Palestinians handle the security situation in the Palestinian territories, and that we would send experts to train Palestinian security officials, but there is no way we will do that when Israeli jet-fighters keep targeting Palestinian cities. This is simply out of the question for us." According to Abdel-Fatah, Egypt used the Powell visit to encourage the US to help secure "a clear and genuine Israeli commitment on this matter -- this message was made clear to the American secretary of state". Powell was expected to expound on the disappointing performance of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and his authority in general, complaining about Arafat's failure to enable his prime minister to do his job properly, and to instruct the Palestinian security apparatus to keep the situation under control. Abdel-Fatah said Egypt knows "the Palestinians have a role to play, and this is something that we have been discussing with them. We tell them that they have to work on reforming their economic and overall performance, and that we are willing to help if they want us to." Palestinian Minister of International Cooperation Nabil Shaath did just that during talks with Abul-Gheit on Saturday. Shaath stressed the Palestinians' willingness to work on reform measures that served Palestinian interests. With the crux of these talks being conveyed to Powell, Egyptian sources said Cairo hoped to convince the US's top diplomat to tentatively agree on a joint Egyptian-Palestinian-American follow up on this matter. While there were no major differences between Egypt and the US on the issues of Sudan and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, rifts appeared when it came to the Iraqi file. Egypt does not want to send troops to Iraq, but the US thinks that Cairo -- as a true ally seeking a Free Trade Agreement -- should contribute security assistance to help stabilise the situation. In Cairo's view, what US troops are doing is far more critical to stabilising the situation. "We believe that it is the US's role to empower the caretaker Iraqi government and to give it enough authority to not be seen in a negative light," Abdel-Fatah said. This message was relayed to Powell, as was Egypt's belief "that the prime responsibility of [US] troops is to maintain stability and security within Iraq, but that as they do so, they should not be bombarding Iraqis, or making their lives more difficult than it already is", Abdel-Fatah said. Egyptian officials also held talks on Iraq over the past few days with top officials from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Syria. "There is an agreement that the territorial unity of Iraq has to be maintained, and that the timeline for the process of [elections] in Iraq should be maintained," Abdel-Fatah said. If these requirements are unmet, Egyptian officials warned, the situation in Iraq could turn highly unpredictable. "We warned them before the war that it would not be an easy ride, and they did not listen. We hope that they will listen now," one senior Egyptian official said.
