America's Greater Middle East Initiative has exacerbated the already strained relations between Cairo and Washington, writes Gamal Essam El-Din This week, in both America and Egypt, political leaders locked horns as America's Greater Middle East Initiative (GMEI) prompted outbursts of anger in Cairo and other Arab capitals. Marc Grossman, undersecretary for political affairs at the US State Department, visited Cairo on Monday in a clear American bid to contain Egyptian anger stirred up by the initiative, and the manner in which it was exposed by the media. Grossman did his best to convince Cairo that the initiative was not a tool aimed at imposing American-style reform on Egypt and the Arab world. "Reform cannot and will not be imposed from outside. The best ideas will come from you," Grossman said. Grossman was the second senior US official to visit Egypt in a week to provide clarifications about the GMEI, which was recently announced by US President George Bush. US Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs Alan Larson was in Cairo on 26 February to meet with Prime Minister Atef Ebeid, the ministers of foreign trade and finance, Youssef Ghali and Medhat Hassanein, and Gamal Mubarak, the 40-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the ruling National Democratic Party's influential Policy Secretariat. Larson's visit came amidst angry reactions to Bush's GMEI from both Egypt and Saudi Arabia. At a press conference at the American Embassy in Cairo, Larson made a desperate attempt to describe the project as a sincere American effort aimed at bettering the region's future. The GMEI "is not a blueprint", Larson said. "This is an offer of cooperation, and the only way that we are going to cooperate is in a real partnership with one's friends." Analysts agreed that Grossman and Larson's visits reflected the increasingly strained relationship between Egypt and the US, a dynamic that was further inflamed in the wake of Washington deciding to announce the GMEI without consulting a single Arab country. As he headed home from a meeting with King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz in Saudi Arabia, President Mubarak told Egyptian journalists, "we hear about these initiatives as if the region and its states do not exist, as if they had no sovereignty over their land." Mubarak said "these kinds of initiatives do not deserve a comment, [but] need to be confronted by scientific and convincing answers from thinkers, so as not to leave people to fall prey to misleading impressions and misconceptions disseminated by such initiatives." In Riyadh, President Mubarak agreed with Saudi leaders that, "imposing a certain model of reform on Arab and Islamic states from the outside is unacceptable." An official Egyptian-Saudi statement emphasised that Arab countries are "progressing on the road to development, modernisation and reform, but in a way that is compatible with the needs, interests, values and identities of their peoples". The rejection triggered instant reactions in Washington's political circles. Bush phoned Mubarak on 25 February, just a few hours after the latter's return from Riyadh. According to a presidential statement, Mubarak and Bush exchanged views on several regional issues, as well as bilateral relations between Egypt and the US. A White House spokesman also said, "both leaders stated that they look forward to seeing each other." Earlier, Mubarak had told journalists that he maintains excellent relations with President Bush. "We always exchange opinions, have a constant level of understanding, and good relations." Informed sources indicated that Egypt's negative reaction to the GMEI topped the agenda of the Bush-Mubarak phone call. They said Bush made a point of reassuring Mubarak that Washington had no plans to impose the initiative on the Arab world. Informed sources also said the phone call resulted in Washington's decision to send Grossman to visit Egypt and other Arab countries (Morocco, Jordan and Bahrain), as well as Turkey. By sending the senior official, they said, Washington wanted to give its Arab allies the impression that it was consulting with them, and acting "as if the region really does exist, and has sovereignty over its land", even if that impression was blatantly false. US Secretary of State Colin Powell -- speaking to the US-funded Al-Hurra Arabic satellite television -- also rushed to dispel Egypt and Saudi Arabia's fears. "I agree with the Egyptians and the Saudis that reform can not be imposed from outside, and that it has to be accepted from within," Powell said. "The initiative must be acceptable to all the countries in the region." Washington's efforts to contain Arab anger appeared, however, to be going nowhere. There were even indications that all the shuttle diplomacy only served to deepen the rift between Egypt and the US over the suggested initiatives. Egyptian politicians have always found America's blatant calls for political reform embarrassing and undiplomatic. Informed sources said Grossman and Larson's visits reinforced that impression. When Mubarak then revealed that Egypt was coordinating with Saudi Arabia and Syria to submit two initiatives aimed at upgrading the Arab League and introducing political and economic reforms in the Arab world to next month's Arab summit, news agencies dubbed Mubarak's GMEI criticism and his counter-proposal for Arab political reform as Egypt "taking the reins of revolt" against the initiative. Other foreign commentators predicted that Egypt's anti-GMEI "revolt" might just be the first nail in the initiative's coffin. "It is unacceptable to be content with receiving initiatives from abroad," Mubarak said on 1 March. Egypt and the US, meanwhile, are planning to restart a strategic dialogue during Mubarak's expected visit to Washington in April. Sources said part of Grossman and Larson's visits to Cairo was meant to lay the groundwork for that dialogue.
