US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's itinerary in Cairo recognised the duality of power in Egypt, reports Dina Ezzat In her first visit to Cairo since President Mohamed Mursi was sworn into office US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke in support of Mursi's assumption of all presidential prerogatives. Addressing the press on Saturday evening the US secretary of state said that the time has come for the military to return to its national security related responsibilities and allow the freely elected head of state to assume full presidential powers. However, in choosing to hold separate meetings, first with Mursi and second with the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), Clinton offered de facto US recognition of the duality of power in Egypt. "It is simply not done for a visiting foreign minister, even the US secretary of state, to meet first with the president and then with the head of SCAF, and the fact that it happened after Mursi was officially sworn in goes to show that beyond the politically correct statements that Clinton was making for the benefit of democracy groups in the US, Washington is well aware that it has to deal with both Mursi and SCAF," argues Diaa Rashwan, director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. Clinton arrived in Cairo on Saturday afternoon and headed directly to the presidential palace where she met with Mursi, mostly in the presence of Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, for close to 90 minutes. Afterwards Clinton and Amr held a joint press conference reviewing the key points of the talks: Egyptian-Israeli peace, wider regional stability, Egyptian-American economic cooperation and democratic transition in Egypt, with a special attention paid to minority rights. Clinton's subsequent meeting with Tantawi on Sunday morning was not followed by a presser but it is there, say informed sources, that hardcore matters were addressed: border security between Egypt and Gaza, upgraded borders security arrangement between Egypt and Israel, the situation in Sinai, regional stability, particularly with an eye to US strategic oil interests in the Gulf, and Egyptian-American military cooperation. "The talks were direct, to the point and very constructive," said one source. He denied that the meeting was tense because of statements Clinton had made at the presidential palace less than 24 hours earlier. "To the contrary, I would say that the talks were cordial in general. Of course Mrs Clinton spoke of the free and fair presidential elections that the army secured and spoke of the need for continued army support for the process of democratic transition." Clinton's statement at the presidential palace regarding the full transition of power from SCAF to Mursi came as no surprise to the leaders of the military, even if it was not to their liking. In recent weeks US officials and Congress members have underlined the need for the military to abandon any role in the executive administration of Egypt, which remains a cornerstone of US Middle East interests. According to one senior retired US diplomat, there is no way the US will compromise solid relations with Egypt. And at the heart of this relationship, say both the retired US diplomat and Egyptian officials, is the army. In the words of an Egyptian official: "There is no doubt in the mind of anyone in Egypt that the Americans can in any way sideline the army or negate its influence either domestically or regionally." Egyptian sources in Washington say the US administration offered no support to the bill presented to the US Senate seeking to revise the Egyptian military budget as a condition for continued US military aid to Egypt. And according to Rashwan, statements made by Tantawi following his meeting with Clinton stressing the determination of SCAF to prevent Egypt from falling under the control of any single political faction indicate that there are few, if any, serious differences between SCAF and Washington. "US support of Mursi is carefully tailored to promote a non-military version of the Islamic rule; it is meant to defy the models of Al-Qaeda and other militant Islamic groups, and maybe to entice Hamas to consider a non-militant approach," says Rashwan. No matter how keen Washington might be "to incorporate rather than alienate the Muslim Brotherhood", he adds, this will not be done at the expense of US relations with the military. This sense of balance in the US approach towards the military and the Muslim Brotherhood, as represented by the presidency, does not seem to be shared by many in Egypt, and certainly not in Coptic quarters where there is growing concern that the US is striking a deal with the Muslim Brotherhood to serve Israeli interests -- not least the containment of Hamas --- at the expense of the interests of minorities in Egypt. Several Coptic figures turned down an invitation to meet Clinton during her visit to Egypt. While the official line offered by these figures for their refusal was designed to refute any religious-based selection of guests, the real reason, for some at least, was genuine concern over the intentions of the US regarding the Muslim Brotherhood's future role. "There is Coptic concern over the true nature of US-Muslim Brotherhood engagement at this point. Even so, it was a positive move for Copts to decline an invitation addressed to them strictly as Copts and not as intellectuals or members of civil society," says Rashwan. In her statements at the presidential palace Clinton commended Mursi for his inaugural statement in which he vowed to be a president for all Egyptians and to uphold the rights of women and other minorities. "I think the Americans will try to hold Mursi to his word on a whole range of issues, starting from keeping peace with Israel to observing the rights of women and Copts," says a Washington-based Egyptian diplomat. "Ultimately Mursi is a democratically elected president, and this is a fact that has to be recognised by all." This is Clinton's second visit to Cairo since Mubarak was forced to step down on 11 February 2011.
