Word is circulating that the file of Nile basin countries and Egypt's Nile river share is transferred from the ministry of Foreign affairs to the General intelligence Service aka GIS.
I think this is the fourth file to be transferred to the GIS from the ministry of foreign affairs after the Palestinian file , our relations with Levant countries "Syria and Lebanon" file and the Sudanese file !!
I understand the national security dimension of these files that demands the role of intelligence agencies as source of information not as a decision maker regardless of the negotiation talents of General Omar Soliman and his men because crisis requires diplomacy in the beginning and in the end , yes a little bit of dirty work is not bad on the short run but on the long run we need a solid basis for mutual relations with our neighbors in the South.
Already I do not know the GIS can do after the deal has been made in the South , what Soliman can possibly do with his men if diplomacy does not work ; Shall we play on the political instability of these countries ?? I do not think that we should play this game because the reason I mention in the previous paragraph and also we are not that strong country anymore to play this game to be honest.
Transferring the file to the GIS means that the civilian ministry foreign of affairs is suffering from sort of problem because this is not the first file to be transferred to the GIS , the problem seems to be in its minister to be accurate because since Abu El-Gait's appointment our diplomacy is moving from bad to worse to worst. Abu El-Gait seems to achieve nothing at all I can recall , unlike for instance his colleague minister Faiza Abu Naga of international cooperation for example. The ministry of foreign affairs seemed to be a burden on the state in time of Abu El-Gait , it does not provide help or stand with Egyptians abroad , it is following the orders of the regime blindly and the important foreign relations files are transferred to the GIS where Omar Soliman is technically our acting minister of foreign affairs ; tell me what is the use of having that ministry especially it has huge costs.
By the way I have question , Does not the GIS have its share from that fiasco of our Nile river share along with ministries of Foreign affairs and water source and irrigation !!?? I mean I can't believe the GIS was away from what is happening at the South as logically the ministries back in Egypt could not move without intelligence information. Of course Abu El-Gait had misused the intelligence he was given, there is no doubt in that.
Another question if the GIS does not save the day in the South , will General Omar Soliman face the public in the parliament and confess his fiasco !!?? Of Course not because we do not have this type of parliament in the first place.
I am very angry because the ministry of foreign affairs of those men like Mahmoud Fawzi and Ismail Fahmi has reached to that level.
'crisis requires diplomacy in the beginning and in the end , yes a little bit of dirty work is not bad on the short run...'
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely not.
Egypt has tried to destabilise the other Nile riparians, particularly Ethiopia through support to Eritrea and Somali seperatists.
And Eritrea defeated the dergue government and Ethiopia suffered from some instability but in the end...
Egypt's tactics achieved absolutely nothing to change Ethiopia's opposition to the Nile Basin's legal regime which favours Egypt.
Eritrea which is an observer state in the Nile Basin Initiative attacked the agreement made by the upstream riparians as a means of countering Ethiopia - I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the reaction of certain Egyptian specialists in the media, who saw right through Erirea's motives and called for 'more' engagement (most definitely not of the dirty kind) with Ethiopia.
Egypt hosts Sudanese opposition and outlaws, yet when Sudan did the same in the early 90's this was met with indignation.
Most recently Sudanese pressure forced Egypt to break off talks with Khalil Ibrahim leader of the Justice and Equality Movement, forcing him to Chad where his Chadian travel documents were confiscated and where he was asked to leave - and he is now under the 'protection' of Qaddafi in Libya...
I agree with the spirit of the post - diplomacy is key and Egypt's diplomacy has failed in the Nile Basin.
I am of the view that Egypt needs to look internally, particularly at its media in order to understand why so many Africans south of Egypt do not hold Egypt in affection.
As for the transfer of these important files (I don't know how the Levantine file can be considered as important as the Nile Basin file!) to my mind it says that the next President might very well be the Minister of Intelligence...