Fifty-three years after independence, Egypt continues to adopt a foreign policy with a focus on the Arab world, despite the fact that the country is physically located within the African continent, plagued by most of the economic and political problems faced by any African country and having suffered from a similar colonial onslaught.
Ambivalence towards Africa still prevails, but a gradual shift in Egyptian foreign policy is beginning to occur. President Hosni Mubarak’s presence at an African Union summit in Nigeria and the talk about Cairo seems to suggest that Egypt will be playing a more vigorous role in African affairs. He appears to have overcome his anxiety over an assassination attempt at a meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa in 1995.
Egypt’s appetite for African affairs is also evidenced by the role it is playing in the Sudan peace process, and its desire to gain an African seat on the United Nations Security Council.
As its erstwhile coloniser, Egypt’s relationship with Sudan has been tumultuous and fraught with difficulties as each country sought to serve its own national interest. The early 1980s and 1990s saw the relationship at its lowest ebb with Egypt — to the consternation of the Sudanese government — hosting John Garang, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, and tensions over the Haliab border dispute facilitating animosity. Tensions with Sudan seem to have waned.
Moreover, Egypt has become acutely aware that it will have to play nicely with the other Nile basin countries to ensure that everyone receives the benefits of the Nile waters, ownership and the use of which has always been a contentious issue. But, besides these initiatives and the establishment of centres for disease control and technical assistance, it would appear that Egypt is glancing south, rather than focusing south.
Economic activity is still north-bound and Egypt is a member of the European Union Mediterranean Partnership that, on the economics side, seeks free trade between the EU and partnership members, and provides aid and investment.
Most analysts maintain that Egyptians view themselves as Arab before African and this explains the Egyptian affinity with the Arab world. More interestingly, though, is that those south of the Sahara will most often refer to those to the north as Arab. The distinctions were heightened and reinforced by the colonists to separate and create discord.
North Africa was portrayed as more cultured and endowed with a richer history because of its ancient civilisations and Greek and Roman influences, while Africa south of the Sahara was deemed as savage, barbaric and uncivilised. Black Africa was also constantly reminded that the Arabs were the first colonisers and instrumental in the slave trade.
This month Egypt celebrates 53 years of independence since the July Revolution of 1952, led by the charismatic Egyptian leader, Gamal Abdul Nasser. When great African leaders of the independence years are recalled, Nasser falls comfortably within the Kwame Nkrumah-Julius Nyerere fold.
Although Nasser’s The Philosophy of Revolution made Africa secondary to the Arab component in Egyptian foreign affairs, his affinity with African leaders and struggles remained a defining pillar of his leadership. After the failure of the 1967 war, the Arab aspect became more pronounced, as a resurgence of a strong Arab identity was required to stave off the repercussions of the defeat.
Anwar Sadat’s reign is clearly more memorable for its Arab-centred foreign policy that culminated in a peace agreement signed with Israel in 1978. The Middle Eastern focus of Egyptian foreign policy during this period is best described by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who once wrote that Egyptian foreign policy had two dominant features, the Israel-Palestine issue and the containment of Israeli ambitions.
The focus on the Arab world remains the prevailing characteristic of Egyptian foreign policy. However, it has shuffled southwards once more, to some extent reminiscent of the early revolutionary years. These steps need to move away from baby steps to Herculean ones if old colonial boundaries are to be broken down and Egypt is to be regarded as part of the great African continent.
Naefa Khan is a former International Relations lecturer at Wits University and is currently working on her doctrate on Egyptian foreign policy and international law