Diplomacy is about cat and mouse, and also about establishing the space of interactions, writes Amin Howeidi* Judging by Egypt's organising the African Union conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, the president's tour of South Africa and Uganda, and co- presidency of the Union for the Mediterranean, no one can accuse Egyptian diplomacy of being lacklustre, although many still do. Any yet, launching a diplomatic offensive on so many fronts is not necessarily a good thing. It is generally believed that to act is better than to stand still, but when it comes to diplomacy, the devil is in the detail. We should make up our mind as to what our priorities are. Should we pay more attention to the north, despite all the pitfalls and the roads strewn with thorns? Or should we head south and tackle those vicious crocodiles heading our way? Or maybe we need to focus on the home front first? If you ask me, we should always give priority to the home front. But then again, Egypt is not an inward looking country. It towers over the Arab region and it draws its lifeline from Africa. And we have the Red Sea and the Mediterranean to worry about too. So our decision-makers have to stay always ahead of the game. We may be driven occasionally off course, but we cannot lose our way. Unfortunately, whether we head north or south, we're likely to run into multiple traps, so we have to tread carefully. All around us there are countries torn by power struggles and domestic tension, and we cannot help but get involved every now and then. Whatever we do, we have to refrain from using military force. Ours is the role of a fireman. We need to contain the fire or at least keep it from heading our way. The hose we're using to keep down the fires is called deterrence. To avoid the use of force, you have to convince others that you're ready to use it. When the going gets tough, it's not a bad idea to keep others guessing. Take, for example, our northern borders. There is a sticky situation going on at the crossing points controlled by Israel. Israel may seem to be pressuring the Palestinians, but what it is actually doing is throwing us a hot potato. Pressured by the Israelis, the Palestinians have no other alternative but to run across the border into Egypt, which we cannot allow. Israel wouldn't have engineered this situation had it been afraid of Egypt. Fortunately, Egypt acted prudently, using its intelligence services to calm down the situation and ease the blockade on the Palestinians. But it doesn't seem that the Israelis and the Palestinians are going to cool it down for long. With demographic pressures building up, Sinai is in everybody's sight. Although no one will say it out loud, Sinai is a security vacuum and therefore vulnerable. We cannot let our guard down. We need to avoid any penetration of our borders, and we need to do that without coming to blows with the Palestinians. Use water hoses, build barriers, or resort to other means, just don't let our borders be violated. We cannot allow our sovereignty to be challenged by foe or friend. Unfortunately, Egyptian diplomacy is proceeding without the economic backing it needs. It would be of great help to our diplomacy if we engage in joint ventures, both on our northern and southern borders. Solid economic relations can avert many a political problem. We need to have more harbours, land roads, gas pipes, electricity supply lines and air routes. This kind of infrastructure is needed to connect us with other nations. Otherwise, it would be hard to consolidate our economic ties with them, or get them to listen. * The writer is former defence minister and chief of General Intelligence.
