Egypt’s mediation successes show it can take on a regional leadership role
Egypt’s fruitful mediation in some hot issues in the Middle East region, including the recent inter-Palestinian reconciliation, cease-fire deals in Syria and factional dialogues in Libya, has enhanced Cairo’s leading role in the turmoil-stricken region, said Egyptian political experts.
Cairo has proved its effectiveness and influence in gathering conflicting parties together, either for inner reconciliation as in the Palestinian case, ceasefire agreements as in the Syrian crisis, or settlement talks as in the Libyan issue.
Cairo hosted last week the signing of a reconciliation agreement between rival Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas to end their long-time rift and enable a unity government to take over and have full control of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, the Palestinian consensus government already started restructuring its ministries and departments in Gaza as part of the Egyptian-brokered reconciliation deal.
“Signing the deal under Egyptian sponsorship signifies that Egypt is in more control than other regional powers over this issue,” said Mohamed Gomaa, researcher at the Arab and Regional Unit of the Cairobased Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
Relations between Egypt and Hamas have been tense since the Egyptian military ousted former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a Hamas ally, in 2013, and outlawed his Muslim Brotherhood group. Ties gradually improved after Hamas showed security cooperation with Egypt and disengaged itself from the brotherhood.
Still, Egypt is not on good terms with Turkey and Qatar, as both hosted fleeing members of the currently blacklisted brotherhood group following Morsi’s ouster.
There’s positive progress signifying that Fatah and Hamas seem more earnest to achieve reconciliation. It is in the end in favor of Egypt’s national security and its anti-terror war in the restive North Sinai province when Gaza is controlled by a unity government that is not in constant confrontation with Israel. “Relatively, the reunion deal reflects Egypt’s success until now in limiting the influence of Qatar and Turkey on Hamas movement,” Gomaa told Xinhua, adding that it also shows Egypt’s restoration of its sponsorship of the inter-Palestinian reconciliation is in a better shape.
Egypt’s mediation between Palestinian factions is closely linked with the desire of the US, whose ties with Egypt improved under US President Donald Trump after a rift during the Obama administration, to revive the stalemated Middle East peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
“This aspect also enhances Egypt’s role in the region as it involves a kind of coordination between Cairo and Washington despite their different visions on the core of the settlement process,” Gomaa pointed out. On the very same day the interPalestinian reconciliation deal was signed in Cairo last week, Egypt hosted a cease-fire agreement signed by three rebel factions holding a small pocket of a territory in southern Damascus, capital of war-torn Syria, with a guarantee from Russia.
Earlier in August, Egypt and Russia also brokered an agreement to create a “de-escalation zone” and a cease-fire between the Syrian government forces and armed rebels in the northern Homs countryside in Syria. Cairo successfully brokered an earlier deal to de-escalate conflict in the Eastern Ghouta region in Damascus.
The forces of the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad are backed by Russia, Iran and Shiite militias.
“Taking part in brokering several cease-fire deals in Syria asserts that Cairo is assuming its place in the arrangement of Arab issues,” said Tarek Fahmy, a political science professor at Cairo University.
“Cairo, thus, is restoring its role in Arab open issues as a result of the good performance of the Egyptian diplomacy whether regionally or internationally,” the professor told Xinhua.