U.S., Egypt agreed to discuss upgrade in ties
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, February 26, 2001
CAIRO — Egypt and the United States have agreed to discuss the
upgrade of their strategic relations.
Officials said the issue was discussed during the current tour of U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell to the Middle East. Powell met with his
Egyptian counterpart, Amr Mussa, and President Hosni Mubarak.
The U.S. secretary said the two countries agreed to discuss an
improvement in both the military and civilian relationship. The details
would be discussed during Mubarak's visit to Cairo in April.
"The foreign minister and I have talked about things we might do in the
future in order to strengthen the relationship at every level trade,
economics, security assistance, military aid and we look forward to
continuing the discussion," Powell said on Saturday. "The exact form that it
will take I think will be discussed by the two presidents when we get
together in April."
Cairo has requested a formal strategic alliance with Washington as well
as new weapons systems that would allow the Egyptian military to build a
rapid-deployment force for use in Gulf defense.
But U.S. officials said a strategic alliance depends on a resolution to
a range of differences between Cairo and Washington on such issues as the
Arab-Israeli conflict, Iraq and Libya. Mussa said after his meeting with
Powell that Egypt does not see Iraq as a threat to the region.
"For us, I don't see that threat," Mussa said at a news conference with
Powell. "But if you ask the Gulf regions and countries of that area, they
will say they would continue to feel that and they say it publicly."
Powell allowed let himself the last word on the regime of Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein. "May I just add a P.S. that if I was a Kuwaiti and
I heard leaders in Baghdad claiming that Kuwait is still a part of Iraq and
it's going to be included in the flag and the seal, if I knew they were
continuing to try to find weapons of mass destruction, I would have no doubt
in my mind who those weapons were aimed at," Powell said. "They are being
aimed at Arabs, not at the United States or at others. Yes, I think he
[Saddam Hussein] has to be contained until he realizes the errors of his
ways."
At the same time, the London-based Al Hayat, quoting Western diplomats,
reported that Britain and the United States agreed to support a lifting of
economic sanction on Baghdad. Military sanctions would continue, the
newspaper said.
Monday, February 26, 2001
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