Egypt does not believe in Africa, African brotherhood and African institutions. While the whole of Africa lines up in tandem with the popular guiding principle of ‘African solutions to African problems’, Egypt is either indifferent or does not believe in it. One can with no exaggeration conclude that the grand motto of Egypt and its elite in regards to Africa is ‘take your identity; I will take your resource’. This has been proved to be true in history and now, again and again. Let me explain myself.
History has it that leaders and intellectuals in modern Egypt have subscribed more to non-African identity of Egypt. Egypt’s elite such as Khedive Isma’il Pasha who was a viceroy of Egypt under Ottoman suzerainty, (1863–79) or Taha Hussien (1889-1973) who was outstanding figure of the modernist movement in Egyptian literature ‘‘view Egypt’s European heritage to be more important than its African heritage’’.
Khedive Isma’il Pasha in 1878, declared that, “My country is no longer in Africa; we are now a part of Europe”. During that period, Egypt would only need African resources. A military historian John P.Dunn (2005:81) writes that ‘‘…a strong desire to acquire African lands propelled Egyptian imperialism well into the 1870s’’.
The period of rule under the khedives saw Egypt make massive amounts of territorial gain in the African continent as it expanded its direct and indirect control as far south as modern-day Congo and Uganda, as far east as modern-day Eritrea and as far west as modern-day Chad.
Since the removal of the Monarchy in 1952 up to 1970 Egypt was the champion of Arab nationalism/”Nasserism”- Egypt was the pivot of the Arab world. As a result, the lion’s share of its attention was in and with the Middle East.
With the reign of Anwar el-Sadat, Egypt used the African resources (the Nile) as diplomatic ploy to negotiate peace with Israel by Suggesting the possibility of diverting the Nile waters to Israel as a quid Pro Quo. Sarcastically, few days after signing the peace agreement with Israel Anwar el-Sadat threaten Africa, when he infamously proclaimed ‘‘The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water’’.
Egypt’s attitude towards Africa is both officially and at larger society level sadly the same. Egyptians prefer to identify themselves as Arabs to Africans.
Asked by the Word Value Survey (2013) if they (Egyptians) see themselves as part of the African Union, only 36% of the sample identify themselves as such. Similarly asked if they have confidence in the African Union (here after AU) only 13% of the samples have confidence in AU.
Further Corroborating my argument is Shahira Amin who herself an Egyptian, former deputy head of Egyptian state-owned Nile TV and one of its senior anchors.
In a commentary she wrote (September 6, 2012) for Daily News Egypt inscribed ‘‘in July 2007 I was commissioned by CNN to produce a feature story on Egyptian identity. … interviewing hundreds of Egyptians– not just academics and researchers but also laymen and women in different districts in Cairo — asking how they view themselves. …the majority of whom replied” I’m a Muslim Arab, of course”. Surprisingly, none in the sample interviewed thought of themselves as Africans.’’
Pariah diplomacy: Egypt’s diplomatic practice towards Africa
Adding an insult to injury, in the effort to realize its selfish foreign policy towards Africa, Egypt used, what international relations experts and practitioners would refer to pariah diplomacy. This behavior of Egypt is inherent to its foreign policy instruments. It used pariah tactics ranging from direct invasion, words of war, disinformation and misinformation. Its failed invasion of Ethiopia in the 1870s and its invasion of the Sudan and the establishment of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium rule (1899-1955) are well recorded in history books. The primary aim of the mercenary supported invasions was to control the headwaters of the Nile water.
Further down in its diplomatic history, Egyptian president Muhammad Anwar el-Sadat days after signing the historic 1979 peace treaty with Israel after a long war, made infamous statement that “The only matter that could take Egypt to war again is water”. Egypt’s source of water is Africa; the Nile. According to Joyce R. Starr the unveiled threats of war was against Ethiopia which is a sources of over 85 % of the Nile River. In a similar fashion, ten years later, the Egyptian former foreign minister and UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali repeated similarly threats of war statement when he said, as quoted from Peter H. Gleick: “The next war in our region will be over the waters of the Nile, not politics.” Geographically speaking, the sources of the water both officials were referring to is Africa. That means if Egypt should go to war, it is against Africa and Africa.
Its rogue diplomacy remained the same during Hosni Mubarak. A dispatch, Wikileaks found from the U.S. private-security firm Stratfor, from June 1, 2010, that cited a “high-level Egyptian security/intel source, in regular direct contact with Mubarak and [then-intelligence head Omar] Suleiman” said:
The only country that is not cooperating is Ethiopia. We are continuing to talk to them, using the diplomatic approach. Yes, we are discussing military cooperation with Sudan. … If it comes to a crisis, we will send a jet to bomb the dam and come back in one day, simple as that. Or we can send our special forces in to block/sabotage the dam… Look back to an operation Egypt did in the mid-late 1970s, i think 1976, when Ethiopia was trying to build a large dam. We blew up the equipment while it was traveling by sea to Ethiopia.
From this intelligence communication, one can understand, Egypt’s tool of foreign policy towards Africa has been uncivilized. This pariah diplomacy is not limited to Egypt’s engagement with Ethiopia but it is extended to other African countries. But it is much pronounced with its relation with Ethiopia and the Sudan as both countries have direct water resource relations with Egypt.
In 2013, in a live television broadcast Egypt’s leader — including the president at the time, Mohamed Morsi — discussed covert tactics to scupper the dam, including a bomb attack.
As recently as April 2020, Egypt reportedly threatens to remove the prime minister of the Sudan, should Sudan continue to side with Ethiopia on the GERD.
Egypt’s policy towards Ethiopia and the Sudan has been for the most part dominated by threats, military intervention, and ethnic-
religious subversion; pariah diplomacy.
Egypt’s foreign policy and diplomacy towards the Nile and particularly the GERD (here after GERD) is therefore grounded on that strong non-African political history, psychological make up of foreign policy decision makers.
As a testimony of history repeating itself, as we speak, Egypt under Abdel Fattah el-Sisi repeated its non-African attituded in its attempt to resolve perceived concerns with regards to the GERD.
In the first place, Egypt while it was the chairperson of the African Union (Feb 2019 to Feb 2020) outsourced and sold out the GERD issue to the United States of America (USA) for Donald Trump’s ‘Middle East Peace plan’ as quid pro quo. Secondly, Egypt, while it was well positioned to present its case to the African union, ran to the Arab league for a deplorable resolution. In third place, had Egypt believed in the African Brotherhood (undugu wa African) and the African Union, it would not have crossed all along the Atlantic Ocean to seek the good office of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). These are diplomatic illustrations indicating that Egypt only extends, at foreign policy level, lip service to the principle of ‘African solutions to African problems.
In conclusion from its diplomatic history, one can read that Egypt’s diplomatic presence in Africa has been for a monopolistic control of the Nile River and the means to that effect has been pariah diplomacy. The foreign policy approach to do that is ‘Africa Take Your Africannes, I Take Your Resources’.
References
John P. Dunn. (2005). Khedive Ismail’s Army. Routledge: 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN. P.81
Joyce R. Starr (1991). Water Wars: Foreign Policy, No. 82 (Spring, 1991), pp. 17-36Published by: Slate Group, LLC. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1148639 Accessed: 15-05-2020 21:46 UTC
Peter H. Gleick. (1993). Water and Conflict: Fresh Water Resources and International Security: International Security, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Summer, 1993), pp. 79-112. Published by: The MIT Press. URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2539033 Accessed: 15-05-2020 22:02 UTC
Tamim K. Kashgari (2011). The African Dimension of Egyptian Foreign Policy. VOL. 3 NO. 09. URL: http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/574/2/the-african-dimension-of-egyptian-foreign-policy. Accessed 20-05-2020
U.S. Department of State (2018) Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States Transmitted to the Congress with the Annual Messages of the President, December 2, 1978. Government Printing Office, Washington. This ebook was generated on May 26, 2018. Please visit the Office of the Historian ebooks web page to access updates. P.925
The Ethiopian Herald June 19, 2020
BY YOHANNES GEBEYEHU
