David Cameron visits Egypt

Prime minister becomes the first leader to fly into Egypt after Hosni Mubarak ousted as president David Cameron has flown into Cairo amid tight security, becoming the first world leader to visit Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was ousted as president in the revolution 10 days ago. A news blackout was lifted as the prime minister landed in Cairo for a brief five-hour stopover hastily added at the start of a planned tour of the Middle East. Cameron arrives in Egypt at a delicate moment in the second month of protests across the Arab world, as violence intensifies in neighbouring Libya with the loss of hundreds of lives. The protests started in Tunisia, Libya’s neighbour to the west, in January. The prime minister, who made clear soon after arriving in Downing Street last year that promoting British trade should be a top foreign policy priority, will attempt to show he is in tune with the new times. Portraying Britain as a “candid friend” of Egypt, he will urge the country’s interim military rulers to abide by their commitments to hold free and fair elections. The prime minister is due to meet Field Marshal Mohammad Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak’s minister of defence who is head of the supreme council of the armed forces. The council assumed power on 11 February, when the former president finally stood down after 18 days of protests. Cameron is also due to meet Ahmed Shafik, another member of the military council who was appointed by Mubarak as prime minister at the end of January in response to the protests focused around Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and opposition figures. Downing Street arranged the visit to Egypt in great haste amid fears that a long-planned trade trip this week to other Middle East countries with questionable commitments to democracy would look out of step as a tide of protests sweep across the region. Arms sales are expected to be on the agenda throughout the week. Cameron will say today that promoting British commercial interests in the Middle East is consistent with encouraging political reform in the region. As a sign of his new approach, Cameron will depict himself as a “candid friend” of Egypt as he urges the interim military rulers to ensure they abide by their undertakings. These finally prompted most of the demonstrators to leave Tahrir Square. The military council has agreed to hold a referendum on constitutional changes within the next two months. Many pro-democracy campaigners fear that the military, which will govern by martial law for at least six months until elections are held, may present a weak package of reforms in the referendum. Downing Street, which points out that Cameron condemned the violence in Egypt in strong language, believes the military council is making initial moves in the right direction. But Britain believes that Egypt is still politically fragile and there is a long way to go until a broad-based government is in place. Cameron, who will urge Egypt’s interim leaders to waste no time in bringing on board opposition figures, will highlight the importance of what he calls the “building blocks” of democracy. These are: fostering an array of political parties, promoting non-governmental organisations and allowing a free media. The prime minister will say that Britain will help Egypt through the Foreign Office Arab Partnership Fund and other economic assistance. Cameron, who landed in Egypt a few hours before the EU foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton, will say that the EU should redirect its large funds more effectively to Egypt. Downing Street says Cameron’s visit to Egypt, and the rest of his tour of the Middle East, shows that Britain does not have a “one-legged foreign policy” focused solely on trade. Britain faced pressure over the weekend when it was forced to revoke arms export licences to Bahrain and Libya amid fears that British arms may have been used in the violent crackdown on protesters. Cameron outlined the approach he will take this week in a telephone call on Sunday with the King of Bahrain. A Downing Street spokesman said: “The prime minister stressed the importance of responding to peaceful protest through reform, not repression. The violence of previous days had been deeply concerning. “As a friend of Bahrain, the prime minister said that we supported the process of national dialogue which the Bahraini government had initiated. All sides now needed to engage urgently with that process.” These remarks illustrate the three priorities, all interlocked, of this week’s trip: • Encouraging political reforms, though these should happen in different ways in separate countries. Cameron believes it is important not to generalise because no two countries in the Middle East are the same. But he will say that the protests across the Arab world are of immense significance because they are driven by economic and political demands and do not represent a wave of Islamist fundamentalism. Amid this background, officials say that Cameron will be careful not to offer any lectures or to suggest any particular model is appropriate. He will simply speak up for his own values of freedom and tolerance. Cameron will say that Middle Eastern governments must not respond to the protesters’ demands through violence and repression. Governments must also listen to what the protesters are saying and allow their views to be heard. Failure to do so will simply lead to a boiling up of anger and frustration which will make matters worse. • Pushing British commercial interests. The prime minister will say that it is in Britain’s national interests to develop commercial links with one of the fastest-growing areas in the world. • Addressing security issues which are common to the Middle East and to Britain. The most pressing security threat is Iran and its nuclear ambitions. Cameron expects most of the Middle Eastern countries he will be visiting to share Britain’s concerns about Iran. Britain believes that the twin-track approach to dealing with Iran’s nuclear ambitions – negotiations and sanctions – is failing to make much headway. He expects to receive support for tightening sanctions. The other security issues throughout the week will be the stalled Middle East peace process, the instability of Yemen and piracy. Cameron will say achieving his three broad goals – promoting reform, delivering economic growth and facing up to security threats – are the best way of ensuring long-term stability in the region. David Cameron Egypt Hosni Mubarak Middle East Protest Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk

Posted by on February 21, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry