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At UN, Egypt Crisis Sidelined

At UN, Egypt Crisis Sidelined
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Δευ, 30 Σεπτεμβρίου 2013 - 17:27
In mid-August, when hundreds were killed in Cairo after Egypt's interim authorities cleared out antigovernment protest camps, the country's political crisis moved front-and-center of the world stage.
In mid-August, when hundreds were killed in Cairo after Egypt 's interim authorities cleared out antigovernment protest camps, the country's political crisis moved front-and-center of the world stage.

U.S. President Barack Obama suspended joint military exercises with Egypt . European foreign ministers rushed back from summer vacations for an emergency meeting. Iran's foreign ministry claimed Egypt was drifting towards civil war.

Six weeks later, at the annual United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, Egypt's crisis has seemed a side issue--a regrettable irritant that needs mentioning but not tackling.

That's partly because of the magnitude of other news here this week, including the highest level U.S.-Iranian diplomacy since the 1979 revolution and a much-prized UN Security Council deal ordering Syria to hand over or destroy its chemical weapons by mid-2014.

More fundamentally, as some policymakers admit, it's because Western countries remain torn on events in Cairo: worried Egypt's interim leaders are veering from a democratic track but hoping they can restore stability and then deliver on pledges to proceed to elections.

"What is our interest in Egypt? A stable Egypt," said Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn in an interview late Friday. Mr. Asselborn said the West has no choice but to deal with the current leadership whatever its unease about the violence and the early July military intervention to oust Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi.

"I believe Egypt needs a second chance," Mr. Asselborn said.

On Saturday in his speech to the General Assembly, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy was unapologetic about the authorities' actions, equating the military ouster of Mr. Morsi amid huge protests against the Muslim Brotherhood with the Arab Spring events of early 2011 that forced out former strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Mr. Fahmy said the government was "determined to fully implement" a transition back to democracy, including parliamentary and presidential elections by next spring.

He challenged the international community to stand behind the authorities' efforts to restore stability and eliminate what he labeled terrorism and violence.

"I trust that the international community, which has for long rejected terrorism, will firmly stand by the Egyptian people in the fight against violence and its advocates, and will not accept any attempt to justify it," he said.

The events in Egypt haven't gone unmentioned here. Egypt reportedly recalled its ambassador from Tunis after Tunisia 's moderate Islamist President Moncef Marzouki used his UN speech to urge Egyptian authorities to free Mr. Morsi, who has been detained since his ouster. Turkish President Abdullah Gul slammed the "waves of reaction" against the Arab Spring and said democratic advances in Tunisia , Libya and Egypt would prove "irreversible."

On the sidelines of the UN meeting, small pockets of pro-Morsi protesters waved flags and denounced the "treason" of armed forces chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton discussed the Egyptian situation at a closed-door session with EU foreign ministers on Tuesday.

Baroness Ashton said she would travel to Cairo early next week to push for dialogue, her third trip since Mr. Morsi's ousting. But there was pushback according to one official present. Some ministers were "extremely worried" about the drift of events and concerned Brussels was not pressing the interim authorities hard enough.

The EU had said in August that after curtailing some military ties, they would consider further steps if the situation didn't improve. While Egypt 's state of emergency was extended earlier September, no further steps have yet been taken by the EU.

Mr. Fahmy also met with a number of senior officials including Baroness Ashton and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

After Sunday's meeting, a U.S. official said Mr. Kerry pushed his counterpart on the authorities' pledge to advance the transition and raised the issue of the arrests of leading Muslim Brotherhood officials.

Yet the official said Mr. Kerry avoided any detailed discussion with Mr. Fahmy on the Obama administration's thinking about military aid nor pressed Mr. Fahmy to release Mr. Morsi, although that remains the official U.S. stance.

That balance, trying to prod Cairo without pushing too hard, was evident in U.S. President Barack Obama's speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday.

Mr. Obama criticized Mr. Morsi for proving "unwilling or unable to govern in a way that was fully inclusive."

"The interim government that replaced him responded to the desires of millions of Egyptians who believed the revolution had taken a wrong turn, but it, too, has made decisions inconsistent with inclusive democracy," Mr. Obama said.

The president said it was in U.S. interests to maintain a "constructive relationship" with the interim government but warned that just as the U.S. has already curtailed some military assistance, "our support will depend upon Egypt 's progress in pursuing a more democratic path."

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