An unexpected piece of news broke just as the 14-day international COP26 conference on climate change drew to a close. The host for COP27 in 2022 is to be Egypt. Moreover, in the interim, Egypt partnered by the Maldives is to organize workshops to boost international adherence to the commitments made at COP26.
COP27 is to be held in
the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on the south-eastern edge of the Sinai
peninsula. Egypt’s president, Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi, in making his bid to host it, said that Egypt would work to
make it "a radical turning point in international climate efforts in
coordination with all parties, for the benefit of Africa and the entire
world."
The fact that Egypt is about
to assume a major role in a key area of international policy is a testament to Sisi’s
determination. The path toward international
recognition of Egypt as a leading player on the world stage has not been
without its difficulties. To succeed Sisi needed to mend fences with the Biden
administration.
Then-US President Barack Obama had disapproved
of Sisi’s coup against Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi, and
condemned Sisi’s crackdown on opponents of his new regime. Joe Biden, Obama’s vice-President throughout
his two terms, made it clear from the start of his own presidency that he was
going to hassle Sisi on his human rights record.
“We will bring our
values with us into every relationship that we have across the globe,” said
State Department spokesman Ned Price in March 2021. “That includes with Egypt.”
Sisi knew that a vital
step in his bid for enhanced global recognition was to persuade Washington to
resume the regular program of US-Egypt strategic discussions. This series of
dialogues was established under the Clinton administration in 1998 and held
periodically since then, apart from a gap from 2009-2015 starting with the
Obama administration.
Sisi pulled it off. On November 8 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken participated in the opening session of the revived US-Egypt dialogue. Afterwards Egypt’s foreign minister, Sameh Shoukry, declared that the talks had boosted relations between the two countries and been a great success.
In warming US relations
with Egypt, Biden is not without his critics.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has long condemned Sisi’s ruthless suppression
of opposition to his government, an opinion widely shared within the Democrat
party. Aware of this, early in September
Sisi issued what he termed his “National Strategy for Human Rights 2021-2026”. Nominally an effort to establish a new
strategy for human rights in Egypt, Sisi called it a milestone in the country's
history. Reporting on the announcement, though, journalists and civil rights supporters
were highly sceptical. They await action
in support of the fine words, and they may yet get it.
On October 25, making a
move in the right direction, Sisi lifted the state of emergency he had imposed on
the nation more than four years ago. Once
again HRW, while welcoming the move, declared it far from sufficient to deal
with what it terms “the country’s prolonged human rights crisis”.
The groundwork for Sisi’s
re-engagement with Washington had been laid months before. In September he travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh to
meet with Israel’s newly elected prime minister, Naftali Bennett.
Afterwards Bennett said the two leaders had “laid the foundation for deep ties moving forward.” He told reporters that the talks covered diplomacy, security and the economy, including aspirations to expand trade and tourism. Other sources disclosed that the discussion had also addressed regional issues, including Iran's nuclear program and Sisi’s aspirations for a resumption of the Israel-Palestinian peace process, based on the presumption of a two-state solution.
No doubt Sisi arranged
this open show of friendship towards Israel with one eye on Washington, and subsequent
events showed that the move was astute. The
warm meeting with Israel’s prime minister was a way of Sisi reminding the US
that Egypt is an irreplaceable player in maintaining stability in the Middle
East – a point included in the joint statement that followed the US-Egypt strategic
dialogue.
Sisi has proved his
value to US interests in a number of ways.
The 11-day conflict between Hamas and Israel in May was resolved as a
result of Egypt acting as honest broker – an outcome not originally foreseen by
Washington. Subsequently Sisi placed
himself in a key role in the Gaza situation by facilitating discussions between
the main players – Hamas, Israel and Qatar – the outcome of which is still in
the balance. Following the meeting with
Sisi, Bennett’s office mentioned Egypt’s role in maintaining stability and calm
in Gaza.
The Israeli and Egyptian
military have been cooperating for years in northern Sinai against jihadist
forces intent on undermining Sisi’s anti-Muslin Brotherhood administration. On November 8 the Israel Defense Forces
announced that the Egyptian army was to step up its activities in the Rafah
area in north-eastern Egypt. The
decision had been taken at a meeting of the joint military committee of the
Israeli and Egyptian armies. The army statement said the move “was approved by
the Israeli political echelon."
The 1979 peace treaty
between Egypt and Israel stipulated that agreed security arrangements were to
be established, and that, upon the request of either of the parties, the
security arrangements could be modified.
More broadly, US
disengagement from the Middle East under Biden has spurred Sisi into seeking meaningful
relationships with China and Russia. Sisi
has given both world powers lucrative contracts. China, by way of the China State Construction
Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), is building Egypt’s new administrative
capital city, some 28 miles east of Cairo, on a vast plot of desert equal to
the size of Singapore. In August
Egyptian delegations visited nuclear power plants in Russia in order to finalize
a deal connected with the construction by Russian nuclear power producer,
Rosatom, of Egypt’s first nuclear reactor at El-Dabaa.
In both cases, and in other deals with these leading powers, Sisi has taken particular care not to jeopardize Egypt’s deep and, it seems, growing relationship with the US. His aim is to enhance Egypt’s standing, and his own, in the world. Given the visit of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, and his wife on November 17, he seems to be succeeding.
Published in the Jerusalem Post, 22 November 2021:
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/egypt-moves-center-stage-opinion-685708
Published in Jewish Business News, 26 November 2021:
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2021/11/26/egypt-moves-center-stage/
https://mpc-journal.org/wp-admin/post.php?post=12927&action=edit
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