A new Arab order

By Nevine Khalil
In May Egypt expects to move one of its most successful foreign ministers in recent history to lead the 22-nation Arab League into a new era of Middle East politics and economics. Amr Moussa's appointment to the post of Arab League secretary-general, replacing Esmat Abdel-Meguid, is expected to be secured at the Arab summit in Amman later this month.
While Cairo believes Moussa is the "right man" to revive the flagging Arab dream and lay down the basis for future inter-Arab cooperation, other Arab quarters saw Moussa's nomination as an artful manoeuvre to undermine any discussion over the Egyptian monopoly of the league's top job.
"Cairo chose a top calibre diplomat to avoid objections from other members and drown out protests that Egypt was monopolising the chair," said one highly-placed source.
Tradition dictates that the secretary-general of the Arab League carries the nationality of the country hosting its headquarters. For the most part of the past half century, league secretary-generals have traditionally been Egyptians as Cairo hosted the league's headquarters beginning in 1945. However, during the 1979-1989 hiatus in Egyptian-Arab ties when Cairo was shunned by the rest of the Arab world for signing a peace agreement with Israel, the league moved to Tunis. During its decade there, the organisation was led by Tunisian El-Shazli El-Qulebi.
Not only would Moussa fill the shoes of Arab League secretary-general comfortably and with little contest, his anticipated plan of action at the league is expected to address the need for administrative restructuring. The top priority for the next secretary-general will be to modernise and restore the 56-year-old organisation by reforming its management and reviving and revamping its mechanisms towards recovering its prestige and political clout.
Apparently a popular career diplomat such as Moussa would be "satisfied" at the top job at the Arab League at the threshold of the "New Arab Order," as he recently termed the coming period. His eloquence, charisma, sharp image and charged statements have won him respect -- and sometimes resentment -- in both foreign and Arab corridors of power.
The Arab public has memorised some of his signature phrases, whether original or borrowed: "It takes two to tango," when talking about making progress in Arab-Israeli negotiations; "harwala" [eagerness without assessment of consequences] in describing the premature rush by some Arab countries to normalise relations with Israel; and "motashae'l" [pessoptomistic] when asked to judge new and ambiguous Israeli policies.
While the daunting task of actually realising a strong and effective Arab Common Market may take many more years, the next secretary-general will be charged with paving an otherwise bumpy road towards that end. After decades of disarray, actually closing Arab ranks on the basis of common economic and political interests should be helped along by recent decisions to hold regular ministerial and Arab summit follow-up meetings, and annual full-fledged Arab summits.
But as Moussa prepares for his new job, diplomatic corridors at home and abroad have begun to apprehend the gaping hole at the top of Egypt's foreign ministry. And although rumours are flying fast and furious, a decision has not been taken yet on who will fill this position. In light of globalisation and the mushrooming of economic blocs, candidates for foreign minister are expected to have a good understanding and background on the dynamic relationship between economics and foreign policy.
After more than five decades of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the political agenda in the region is changing and understandably Egypt's next battlefront will be to build and cement bilateral and multilateral economic ties in the Middle East and with the rest of the world. Already, Egypt has begun restructuring its foreign policy agenda, basing its policies on economic interests to go hand-in-hand with the domestic economic reform.
In January, it initialled a partnership agreement with Europe and it is currently engaged in a dialogue with other Mediterranean countries through the Barcelona process. But these are not the only regions in which it is forging ahead; it has finalised and is negotiating more bilateral free trade agreements with a number of countries, including the US; and at the same time is optimistically looking south for economic cooperation through the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
Eventually, it hopes to be a leader and pioneer in a Common Arab Market and an influential player in Middle East cooperation within the framework of the multilateral tracks which were launched alongside the political tracks in Madrid in 1991.
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