Plans to send an Egyptian ambassador to Iraq are progressing, if at a snail's pace, reports Dina Ezzat "Why should we send an ambassador there? What will he do there? They are killing one another. In Iraq today there is only killing," said Atef, a Cairo taxi driver. Speaking as he listened to the news on the radio, Atef appeared disenchanted by the regional situation in general, and that in Iraq in particular. Every day Atef spends about eight hours on the road. He listens to the news on different radio stations. He seems informed about regional and world affairs. Every day, he says, he hears news of inter-Iraqi killing. And now, he adds, "it seems that the Americans are going to leave and what does that mean? More killing. So why send Egyptians there? We should get the Egyptians who are there back and not leave them to be killed." In press statements this week, opposition political figures expressed concern over announced Egyptian plans to send an ambassador to Iraq. Speaking to the press Friday, however, Presidential Spokesman Suleiman Awwad was keen to reassure the Egyptian public that seconding an Egyptian diplomat to head the otherwise closed Egyptian embassy in Baghdad is not immanent. "Egypt will only send an ambassador there when we are very confident about the security of the embassy or when we can have the ambassador stationed in the Green Zone, which is supposedly the most secured part of Baghdad, even if it is still subject to assaults," he said. The presidential spokesman was sure to recall Ihab El-Sherif, a career diplomat who headed Egypt's mission in Baghdad for a few months in 2005 before he was kidnapped and reportedly killed in July of that year. "Egypt is not willing to risk the lives of its diplomats," Awwad asserted. The statements of Awwad came 48 hours after a high security delegation arrived in the Iraqi capital to inspect the site of the Egyptian embassy and to consult with their Iraqi counterparts on security or even a transfer of the embassy -- at least on a temporary basis -- to the Green Zone. The delegation received no promises regarding the transfer scenario. Considerable assurances with regards to security alternatives, according one security source, were offered. According to this source, who is familiar with the situation in Iraq, the offers made by the Iraqi side were "not sufficiently reassuring" for Egypt to make a confident decision to reopen its embassy in Iraq that has been all but shut down since the killing of El-Sherif. "The situation is not an easy one. Because even if we send the ambassador to the Green Zone and then the Americans started to pull out early next year, we would have a big problem because this would be the most targeted spot in all of Baghdad," he said. Egyptian officials say that while there are no final plans yet, Cairo wishes to reopen its embassy in Baghdad as part of its commitment to engage Iraq and in response to growing concern over increased Iranian influence in this otherwise key Arab nation. Cairo too, they add, is being called upon by the US to delegate an ambassador in view of the positive impact this move could have on the decision of other Arab capitals to operate embassies in the Iraqi capital. "But we have to think of what would happen if we have another Ihab El-Sherif. The public was very angry at the time," said one official. Security concerns, informed sources agree, are not the only obstacle before an Egyptian decision to send an ambassador to Iraq. Egypt too has "political issues" with the current Iraqi government in view of its "exaggerated alliance with Iran" that is seen to be "at the expense of Iraq's Arab affiliation". As such, Iraq has only a charge d'affaires at the head of its diplomatic mission in Cairo. And during the past couple of weeks, the Iraqi government exerted efforts to take back as many Iraqi refugees as possible of the estimated 150,000 refugees that have been residing in Egypt since the outbreak of civil strife in Iraq. Iraqi diplomatic sources say that the government in Iraq is "very keen" on having the best of relations with Egypt as with every other Arab state. They add that to serve this interest, Iraq is willing to cooperate on security arrangements and political consultations. "But we, too, want to have some clear signals that there is a firm commitment," one source concluded.
