US special envoy wants Egypt to back Qatar initiative

By Daniel Van Oudenaren

December 15, 2008 (WASHINGTON) – The US Special envoy to Sudan Richard Williamson wants to push Egypt to support the Qatari mediation efforts in the Darfur conflict, he said last Wednesday at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

Williamson could not be reached for comment, but his public remarks indicated that Washington still considers the US relationship with Egypt as an important avenue for diplomacy with Sudan.

During a discussion on democracy promotion, the ambassador said, “In 90 minutes I’ll be in the Oval Office with the president discussing Sudan. And I’ll be arguing how we should use Cairo to advance the Qatar peace initiative to help Darfur.”

Other panelists at the event had criticized the US ties with Egypt, indicating that it has not helped Egypt transition to democracy, but Williamson noted, “It doesn’t mean that I don’t care about democracy in Egypt. But my responsibility is to try to end the genocide in slow motion, and Cairo can be helpful.”

Some US diplomats have been unenthusiastic about the Qatari mediation, though officially the White House supports the initiative in the context of United Nations-African Union Joint Chief Mediator Bassole’s involvement.

Egypt is historically sensitive to any other country playing a greater role than it in its southern neighbor, and privately gave the Qatari effort a cool reception.

Some panelists voiced frustration with Arab countries’ attitudes toward Sudan and democracy. “Why do we have to pay a billion dollars to get them to talk to us in the Sudan?” expressed Michael McFaul, an Obama advisor speaking in his capacity as a professor.

“We might stop subsidizing autocracy,” he said of the Egyptian government. “And at least, if we’re going to pay them that money, let’s not call it democracy assistance”

But the US envoy rejected any links between the US aid to Egypt and the Darfur crisis.

“I would comment that I would love it if the United States was willing to use a billion dollars of leverage to get progress to stop the genocide in Darfur. It is not giving that money to Egypt for that reason,” responded Williamson.

“Now, if your argument is we should recalculate the Egyptian-Israeli relationship, which is why we give them that money, that’s a different debate” Williamson said.

“The trade-off is not because of Sudan, it’s not because of anything but what has been accepted as a vital interest to the United States for sixty years, which is the support for the longest living democracy in the Middle East,” he added.

Williamson later on referred to changing Arab attitudes toward the Sudanese regime in states not bordering Sudan, remarking, “Where we’re going to be able to make progress on Arabs tend to be those that don’t have other interests that aren’t quite so vital.”

Arab governments have generally supported Sudan’s position on the Darfur crisis despite calls on them to be more involved in pushing Khartoum for a resolution.

However some Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have shyly started describing the situation in Darfur as a “humanitarian tragedy.”

U.S. military aid to Egypt totals over $1.3 billion annually.

International experts also say more than 300,000 were killed and 2 million have been driven from their homes by the conflict in Darfur, a region that is roughly the size of France.

(ST)