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Cycle of change
(May 15 2001, cairolive.com) A new era in Egyptian and Arab foreign policy begins. Just as Amr Moussa replaced outgoing Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel-Meguid ten years ago, Ahmed Maher replaced Amr Moussa as Egypt's new foreign minister on Tuesday. Just as Abdel-Meguid went from the Ministry to the Arab League, where he became secretary-general, Moussa is now doing the same.
The difference, of course, is that Amr Moussa is not Esmat Abdel-Meguid, and Ahmed Maher is not Amr Moussa. How that stylistic disparity will play out, both in the interaction between the two bodies, and for Egyptian and Arab foreign policy as a whole, is what insiders, the man on the street, and the world will be watching out for.
The fact that Amr Moussa would be leaving the Ministry for the Arab League has been known for some time now. Who his successor would be was only revealed on Tuesday, just one day before Moussa moved down the street to his new job. In between, much ado was made of who the contenders might be, and of the logic of keeping the decision secret until the last moment. Truth be told, the man chosen as the new foreign minister was never really amongst the choices the rumor-mongers and the press made such a fuss about. His brother, Ali, Egypt's ambassador to France, was, however, as were several other candidates. On Tuesday, in fact, at least two major newspapers and even Egyptian TV announced that Ali Maher was the new Minister.
Ahmed Maher, meanwhile, arrived at the Ministry after swearing allegiance in front of President Hosni Mubarak, who is the ultimate architect of the country's foreign policy, in a televised ceremony in Sharm El-Sheikh on Tuesday morning. Maher then attended Mubarak's meeting with Yasser Arafat, and, at the press conference afterwards, made comments about Israel's intransigence and the opportunities inherent in the Egyptian-Jordanian initiative. Later, at the Ministry, Maher took over officially, and had a photo op as he tried out his new desk. The man who occupied that desk until today, Amr Moussa, came by to congratulate Maher. Moussa said Mubarak made a careful decision in choosing Maher, and that the two of them would consult often and share ideas. Maher, for his part, said Moussa had left the Ministry in tip-top shape, and that he would seek Moussa's experienced advice on important matters.
Maher is a man of no little experience himself. A 65-year-old career diplomat, he has been Egypt's ambassador to Portugal and Belgium, as well as 4 and 7 year stints, respectively and consecutively, as the country's top diplomat in Moscow and Washington. He was part of the negotiating team at the Egyptian-Israeli peace accords in Camp David in the late 1970s.
Commentators are still gauging what effect Maher and Moussa's new posts will have on the institutions they now run, as well as the future of diplomacy in the region. The transition comes in the midst of nearly no hopeful signs that the seven month old Al-Aqsa intifada, which has killed hundreds of Palestinians in clashes with Israel, is any closer to a conclusion.
Will the Arab League, under Moussa's stewardship, play a stronger role in the current crisis, as well as other regional affairs? And how will Ahmed Maher, as Egypt's new foreign minister, direct the busy ship of Egyptian diplomacy? Probably sooner, rather than later, some of the answers to these questions will become very clear.
Photo: Ahmed Maher arrives at the Foreign Ministry's headquarters on the Nile Corniche near Maspero on his first day as Foreign Minister.
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