Alwaght - Egypt has a special place in shaping the regional developments and trends, to the extent that some countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia have always tried to make use of the capacity of the country in line with their regional goals and ambitions. However, due to deep cultural and social differences between public opinion and political elites, as well as different conflicting approaches of politicians of both countries towards regional issues including the issues associated with Yemen, Syria and Iran, the two countries have never fully reached an accord on various regional issues. Accordingly, aiming to clarify the nature of relations between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and the views of the elites about the regional issues, including Yemen, Alwaght news and analysis website has conducted an interview with Dr. Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University in Egypt, details of which are as follows.
Alwaght: What stance have Egyptian experts taken on the Saudi-led aggression against Yemen? Today, we see that Saudi Arabia has staged a terrible war against the oppressed people of Yemen, to the extent that many believe that Yemenis have become like the people of Gaza who are under siege from all directions and are targeted from both the sky and the sea. Considering these issues, what stance have the Egyptians adopted towards the Yemeni people?
Dr. Nafaa: When a war is launched against a disadvantaged government and poor people who suffer from many problems, undoubtedly nobody feels comfortable, especially when that nation incurs many casualties every day. However, concerning what is happening in Yemen, we should note the political situation before the formation of the Saudi-led coalition. The coalition was organized by Saudi Arabia, the country which has complex and multifaceted relations with Yemen. We should also pay close attention to conditions created after the formation of the coalition and the collaboration of the former regime with some groups which is a strange one, and even some analysts believe that this partnership is aimed to let a certain group wrest control over functions and capabilities of the country.
Accordingly, a wave of violent attacks and insurgencies broke out in Yemen which were not resolved through peaceful solutions. Therefore, some infer that main cause of the civil war in Yemen was the internal Yemeni groups who showed a non-responsible behavior and tried to exclusively assert full control over the country. But the political crisis in Yemen required no war in this manner; therefore, we see that the international coalition against Yemen has been a weak and fragile one.
Saudi Arabia is the country which bears the main burden of the war, both the military and financial costs. However, the UN and other countries, especially Egypt have made attempts to resolve the crisis. The Egyptian government has tried to directly and secretly contact all the Yemeni parties to persuade them to resolve the crisis and prevent another war. The Egyptian experts and elites will not rest assured until the crisis in Yemen ends. We ask all the countries in the region to take necessary measures to end the terrible crisis in Yemen.
Today, Egypt is also worried about its security, as there has been a significant lack of stability in Yemen, Syria and Libya. Over the last 4 years, Libya, and more recently Iraq have been engaged in war, and Egyptian experts believe that the government has been surrounded from all directions. However, the Egyptian government is powerful enough to resist against the terrorist operations. All these crises are interconnected and cannot be resolved separately, all of them must be fully resolved through political means.
Solving this crisis requires international cooperation and wide-range talks between the countries of the region, especially major countries of the Muslim world, such as Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
Alwaght: Concerning the disputes between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, some believe that Saudi Arabia has threatened Egypt to cut off its financial support from Egypt and get close to the Muslim Brotherhood to force the Egyptian government to give up its current policies. Besides, there are speculations over the differences between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Syria, Yemen and Iran and some other issues, what is the reason for such differences?
Dr. Nafaa: Saudi Arabia is a large and influential country in the region, and Egypt is an important country in the Arab world in terms of its population, history, civilization, and great government. The relationship between these two countries is mainly affected by Egypt's domination over Saudi Arabia in time of Mohamed Ali Pasha (reigned over Egypt from 1805 to 1848). In those days, there were many differences between Egypt and Saudi Arabia over Yemeni Revolution in the early sixties (in the last century), as the regional Arab system was mainly governed based on cooperation between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria. Such a cooperation was particularly significant during the invasion of France, Britain and the Zionist regime in 1956. In the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, Saudi Arabia in the reign of King Faisal I, decided to stop oil exports to countries supporting Israeli regime. One can see both conflict and cooperation in relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. However, it is important to note that both Saudi Arabia and Egypt need each other's help and support.
During the reign of King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia, after Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood were removed from power, Saudi Arabia decided to provide Egypt with political support. Therefore, Saudi Arabia offered Egypt a major financial support with the help of the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. If this support were not provided, Egypt would run into many difficulties. However, the cooperation during the reign of King Abdullah did help to resolve some disputes over regional issues. For example, Egypt's stance towards the Syrian crisis was quite different from that of Saudi Arabia, and even Saudi Arabia's financial support to Egypt, failed to make them reach a common ground over the Syrian crisis.
The views of two countries about other regional issues were also seriously different, for example, while Saudi Arabia wants the Egyptian ground forces to participate in the war against Yemen, Egypt considers it as a red line. Therefore, it is very difficult for Egypt to send its ground troops to Yemen, while Egypt prefers to peacefully resolve the crisis. Despite the very low but continuous cooperation between the two countries during the reign of King Abdullah, the two countries sought to reduce their differences and increase their common interests; however, they both know that they need each other. When Iran and the P5 + 1 countries reached a comprehensive agreement on Iran's nuclear issue, Egypt congratulated Iran, while Saudi Arabia voiced its concern over the agreement, indicating that it is one of the subjects that Egypt and Saudi Arabia have not reached a common view about.
Alwaght: We know that Saudi Arabia does not tolerate good bilateral relations between Egypt and Iran. Nevertheless, these two countries are among the most effective countries in the Muslim world, because if two countries work together on regional crises, many of them will be resolved. Iran is a country with great economic and scientific capabilities in peaceful nuclear energy, gas and petroleum production, and Egypt needs to develop the same capabilities to increase its economic growth.
Dr. Nafaa: I am one of those who have always insisted on establishing strong bilateral ties between Egypt and Iran, because as I mentioned both countries have powerful governments which can play an important role in resolving the regional issues; however, they have some conflicting ideas on some regional issues.
In this situation, Egypt has understood that Iran is a powerful and influential country which is entitled to use all legitimate means to safeguard its security and assume a significant role in the world. The Egyptian government and nation appreciate Iran's efforts to support the Resistance Movement against the Zionist regime, as it has played an effective role in empowering the Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad to firmly stand against the Israeli regime.
On the other hand, I believe it is essential to end the ethnic and religious conflicts between the Shiites and Sunnis, as Islam is the religion of unity. You know that when Sheikh Mahmoud Shaltout was the head of Al-Azhar University, Egypt was among the first countries which took some significant steps to bring about unity between the Shiites and Sunnis; therefore, there is a fertile ground for cooperation between Iran and Egypt. I am one of those who have declared both in speech and writing that even if Iran and Egypt have some differences on regional issues, they should develop strong ties; therefore, the diplomatic relations between Iran and Egypt should be strengthened, and reach its highest level. They should both make efforts to resolve the ethnic strife in the region, this is very important point which deserves careful attention.
In my opinion, after Iran's insistence on striking a nuclear deal with the United States of America, there have been better conditions for increasing the level of cooperation between Egypt and Iran, and there are many opportunities for both countries to develop strong ties and serve the interests of their people.
Alwaght: What are the possible goals of the visit the US Secretary of State, John Kerry made to Egypt? In current situation, how is the relation between Cairo and Washington?
Dr. Nafaa: Egypt and the United States of America share common interests, the US is a great power that has dominated the international system and has the power to interfere in the affairs of the countries of the world. The relation between Egypt and the United States has gone through various crises. In fact, political developments in Egypt have made the United States to preserve its relations with the Egyptian government and hold "strategic talks" with this country.
Egypt knows that the United States is a powerful and influential state in the world; therefore, Egypt cannot ignore it and tries to resolve the country's problems with the US through peaceful settlement. The US has also found that Egypt is a large country in the Middle East which has to do with the peace treaty with Israeli regime. Therefore, there is a common ground for cooperation on shared interests of both countries.
The strategic talks was started 15 years ago, but due to current political situation in Egypt and the region, the talks have been suspended. Although the disputes between Egypt and the United States are considerable, but efforts have been made to resume the talks between the two countries and deal with the issues of mutual concern and minimize the differences. The relations between Egypt and the US is sought to move in the direction of pre-January 25, 2011 phase. I think, it would be very difficult, as the policies of the United States, in many cases are based on supporting the Israeli regime and creating tension and conflict in the West Asia. Nevertheless, we cannot easily leave the talks. Without these talks, the conflicts will increase which is to nobody's benefit.
However, it is necessary to know that the history of relations between Egypt and the US has experienced many ups and downs, and both sides have tried to focus on common interests to reach an agreement. Therefore, we should not expect the relations between Egypt and the US to quickly improve from conflict to cooperation or strategic alliance. It requires much more time.
Alwaght: What groups are behind the explosions in different parts of Egypt, including Sinai region?
Dr. Nafaa: Our information about the groups that are conducting terrorist operations in Egypt is very limited; however, we have some information about the terrorist operations that certain groups have launched or claimed responsibility for. There are differences between the operations that are conducted in Sinai region and elsewhere in Egypt. In fact, the operations carried out in the Sinai region are actually against Egypt's armed forces and police, they are associated with the ISIS terrorist group, as some of their operations are very remarkable in terms of size and strength. In particular, the operation that was simultaneously launched in a number of military checkpoints in which more than 300 terrorists were involved, and a large number of Egyptian soldiers were wounded or killed. The operation was aimed to capture the city of al-Sheikh Zuweid; however, the terrorists failed. The terrorists sought to capture one of the cities in the Sinai region, to implement here the same strategies they had adopted in Iraq or elsewhere in the Arab world.
Terrorist operations are not limited to Egypt, rather they are threatening the entire Arab world and even all countries in the whole world; no state is totally immune from such actions. As you know, there have been various terrorist operations in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and even in Western countries, including France. Accordingly, we may conclude that terrorism is a global or regional issue rather than a local one. Therefore, regional and international organizations must remain firmly united in the face of this dangerous phenomenon.
