Mubarak fires foreign minister as Powell arrives for talks

CAIRO — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has dismissed his outspoken foreign minister — in advance of the arrival here today of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell — as part of an effort to improve strategic relations with the United States.

Western diplomatic sources said Foreign Minister Amr Mussa, 65, was "stunned" when he was told that he was being dismissed by Mubarak. The sources said Mussa — know for his combative rhetoric toward the United States — was not consoled by Mubarak's offer to help install the outgoing foreign minister as the new head of the Arab League.

"It was a move that was being considered for a long time," a Western diplomat said. "But the timing is clearly [thre result of] a new U.S. administration that is willing to see Egypt as its strategic partner in the Middle East."

The sources — in an assertion confirmed by U.S. officials — said Washington has long been dismayed by Mussa's polemical approach to the United States. They said Mussa exacerbated disagreements between Cairo and Washington on such issues as Iraq, Libya and Sudan.

Toward the end of the Clinton administration, the sources said, U.S. officials dropped broad hints that Mussa would be an obstacle to any improvement in U.S.-Egyptian relations. They said Mussa's ouster was supported by many leading Egyptians, who termed the foreign minister an actor who was more interested in theatrics than in substance.

For their part, Egyptian diplomatic sources deny any link between the dismissal of Mussa and the incoming Bush administration. They said Mussa has been in the job for a more than a decade and Mubarak wanted a fresh face and approach to Egyptian foreign policy.

Mussa's successor has not been named. Mubarak is said to have narrowed his list of candidates to four people, the current ambassadors to Israel, the United States, the United Nations and an intelligence chief.

Mubarak has meanwhile been lobbying Arab League members for Mussa's appointment as secretary-general. If appointed, Mussa would replace incumbent Ismat Abdul-Meguid, also a former Egyptian foreign minister.

The replacement of Mussa takes place as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives for talks with Mubarak on Saturday. On Thursday, a U.S. congressional delegation left Cairo, where members discussed Egyptian-military defense cooperation with Mubarak.