January/February 1997, pg. 59-60

Diplomatic Doings

Foreign Correspondents Association Hosts Three Embassy Briefings

The ambassadors to the United States of Bahrain, Yemen and Algeria welcomed members of the Washington, DC-based Foreign Correspondents Association to their embassies for briefings on current Mideast issues in October and November.

Bahrain is Stable

On Oct. 30, Ambassador Muhammad Abdul Ghaffar Abdulla of Bahrain told the journalists that Western ignorance of a geographic area does not necessarily indicate that there is a “strategic vacuum” there. He reviewed Bahrain’s long experience with rivalries between powerful countries around the Arabian Gulf and the historical precedents for today’s regional dynamics. Numerous “radical” movements have swept over the area throughout the millennia, he noted, including the Carmathians, an Ismaili sect of the 9th century, and the Iranian revolution of 1979. Yet, the ambassador maintained, “We are more secure since the Gulf war than Europe was after World War II.” He described Bahrain as having a positive and stable climate for foreign investment.

On the subject of Iran possibly joining the Gulf Coorperation Council (GCC), Ambassador Abdulla said Bahrain would welcome the Iranians “so long as they want to join and be a positive factor…[so long as the Iranians] don’t interfere with our internal affairs with radical ideological acts of violence.” “Any act which brings Iran closer to the GCC,” he said, “is a good thing.”

Yemen Exploring for Natural Gas

On Nov. 7, Ambassador Mohsin A. Alaini of Yemen reviewed Yemeni relations with the U.S., which recognized the new state in 1962, while England and France waited eight years for full recognition. He noted that many U.S. oil companies now are working in Yemen, where natural gas is a more promising commodity than oil.

The ambassador also touched on Yemen’s position vis-ö-vis Israel and the Mideast peace process. “Where is the peace?” he asked. Ambassador Alaini asserted that the minimum requirement for peace is Palestinian statehood. “Without this,” he said, “we are wasting time...The political solution [to the Arab-Israeli conflict] is the real atmosphere for economic development,” he concluded.

Revised Constitution For Algeria

On Nov. 22, just prior to Algeria’s national referendum on its newly revised constitution and restructured government, Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra of Algeria addressed the correspondents. He described a new chamber, the majlis al-umma, similar to the U.S. Senate, to be added to the existing chamber, the majlis al-shaabi alwatani, which is like the U.S. House of Representatives. The ambassador also noted that the new constitution would limit Algeria’s president to two terms, as in the U.S. He said that the new constitution also would, for the first time, permit Algerians living abroad not only to vote, but also to elect their own representatives. Algeria, he said, currently is working toward privatization and a market economy. Economic problems, such as severe unemployment and lack of housing, he said, have fueled Islamism in Algeria more than political and religious considerations.

—Deirdre L. Boyd

Kuwaiti Ambassador Discusses Parliamentary Elections at NAAA Forum

Six years after the violent and devastating invasion by Iraq, Kuwait’s October parliamentary elections concentrated less on military threats and security and more on jobs, economics and the national deficit, according to Kuwaiti Ambassador to the United States Mohammed Sabah Al-Salim Al-Sabah. Ambassador Al-Sabah discussed his country’s elections at an Oct. 3 forum sponsored by the National Association of Arab Americans.

In Kuwait, the only Gulf country that currently holds parliamentary elections, 230 candidates competed for 50 parliament seats. Ambassador Al-Sabah said the debate during the campaign was “lively” but peaceful, with candidates tackling controversial issues such as Islamic law and women’s rights. “Following a rather violent period in Kuwait’s history, this is very significant,” he added.

Although the ambassador pointed with pride to a 75 percent turnout of eligible voters, he said that women are not yet allowed to vote in Kuwait. He added, however, that this and a law that forbids women to run for parliament are being challenged by women’s groups and that some women have made great strides in Kuwaiti society. “Women’s rights in Kuwait are, in some ways, unprecedented in the Arab world,” Ambassador Al-Sabah said. He added that Kuwait University is the only major Arab university to have a woman president and Kuwait’s ambassador to South Africa is the only female ambassador from the Gulf region.

Despite the lack of participation by women, Ambassador Al-Sabah said the parliament shows some diversity, with 17 members belonging to political parties, including Islamist parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood. One Shi’i scholar won election to parliament as did a number of politically liberal candidates. Also significant in the parliamentary elections was the amount of turnover, Ambassador Al-Sabah said. Fifty percent of parliament seats changed hands in this year’s elections, and 30 percent of the resulting freshman class are first-time members.

“The ‘throw the rascals out’ movement is very lively in Kuwait,” Ambassador Al-Sabah explained.

—Geoff Lumetta

Egyptian Adviser Calls Israel Relations Bleak But Hopeful

Known as a consummate moderate and a voice of peace in the Egyptian government, Osama El-Baz, political adviser to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, discussed relations with Israel and his ideas for a new definition of peace during a lecture at the Middle East Institute Dec. 6.

“The old definition of peace is very narrow—countries are either belligerent or not,” he said. The new kind of peace entails the complex relationships between neighboring countries where the welfare of one country is crucial to the other. “I believe in a wider interpretation of peace that creates the kind of structure that will make it very difficult to wage war in the future,” El-Baz added.

Since the election of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, however, Israel and its Arab neighbors are not moving closer to this kind of relationship, El-Baz said. Relations are “more polarized than ever,” especially since the Israeli government has adopted the position that the Oslo and Madrid accords should be renegotiated. El-Baz stressed the need for continuity and said the “land-for-peace” principle should be respected by Netanyahu. Negotiations “should not start from scratch,” he said. “Israel should abide by the principles of Madrid and Oslo.”

El-Baz said that Arab countries have “unanimously” endorsed peace with Israel as the best strategic and security measure in the region. Israel, however, insists on having security before it moves forward on peace. According to El-Baz, this position should be reversed. “It has been our view all along that if you make peace, it will help make you more secure,” he said.

Despite these bleak conditions, El-Baz said the peace process is stalled but not stopped, and he still has hope for improved relations in the region. El-Baz said he is confident that Netanyahu eventually will remove Israeli troops from Hebron and honor the Oslo accords. “If the Palestinian track is successful, than there will be hope for the other tracks,” he said. “It is my belief that a majority of the Israeli people are in favor of peace.” This, he said, eventually will sway Israeli policies.

—Geoff Lumetta

Afghanistan Conflict Likely to Confound the West

The Islamist Taliban militia and the current conflict in Afghanistan have risen out of 190 years of European rule, war and superpower rivalries, according to former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Robert Oakley. These conflicts, he said, will not go away without the creation of regional solutions and a unified Afghan state.

Ambassador Oakley spoke along with five other foreign policy experts Nov. 6 at the Washington, DC-based United States Institute of Peace. He said that “peacekeeping” attempts in Afghanistan are bound to fail or be temporary solutions and only serious attempts at creating a stable government will bring real peace. “Peacekeeping is conceptually wrong,” he said. “We need to focus on state-building.”

Eden Naby, a Central Asia professor and scholar, agreed that solutions in Afghanistan should be “regional” in order to keep foreign interests from destabilizing the country. She said a number of countries, including China, Pakistan and Iran, have interests in Afghanistan and may want to retain some future influence in the country.

Marvin Weinbaum, a senior fellow at the USIP, said, however, that foreign influence has been overestimated in Afghanistan, particularly in the rise of the Taliban. While theories have surfaced about the Taliban being a product of Pakistani or even U.S. making, Weinbaum said that the ultra-conservative Islamic group is an indigenous creation. “Pakistan did not create the Taliban, it discovered the Taliban,” he said. Pakistan and other countries have supported various groups in Afghanistan, but no one was sure who would come out on top, according to Weinbaum. But now that the Taliban has taken Kabul and established itself as a power, the West shouldn’t expect the group to relinquish control any time soon. “The Taliban will not go away or be rolled back,” Weinbaum said. “We will have to deal with them.”

Barnett Rubin, director of the Center for Preventative Action at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said that dealing with the Taliban and other forces in Afghanistan will be a difficult task. Unlike some countries where the conflict is over ethnic differences, Afghanistan suffers from generational, religious and ethnic problems. These overlapping problems will make building a stable state very difficult, he said, and the interests of competing neighboring nations will also hinder the process of stabilization. With these countries vying for some control, instability in Afghanistan is likely to continue and may even escalate. “What we want to avoid most is a proxy war breaking out over the interests of others,” he said.

—Geoff Lumetta