Egypts envoy on 62 year of independence and relations with Uganda Last week, Egypt celebrated her 62nd anniversary its 1952 Revolution as well as the 1st anniversary of the 30th June 2013 Revolution that deposed Mohammed Morsi from power. The Sunrise caught up with the Egyptian Ambassador to Uganda Ahmed Abdel-Aziz Mostafa who also told him about Egypts road map that has seen the election of President Fatah El Sisi. Below are excerpts. How is this 62nd Anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution important to your country? The Egyptian Revolution is not only fundamental to Egypt as a nation but the whole of the African Continent. The Revolution marked a crucial inspiration for the freedom for the whole of the African continent. During the liberation struggles for the independence of African countries, Egypt played a key role in offering support through providing training, political and technical support, financial resources, shelter among other forms of support to the various liberation movements. Secondly, this historical revolution marked the beginning of self-determination for the people of Egypt, the nation of Egypt has been able to register tremendous achievements as a sovereign country. This is the first celebration under the regime (of President El Sisi) we chose through elections having gone through three-and- half years of turmoil. How has Egypt changed in terms of governance and socio-economic transformation? As I mentioned, Egypt became more and more pivotal in the regional affairs. For example in the Middle East Conflict where Egypt has been the main protector of the rights of Palestinians; the Iraqi conflict; the Gulf conflicts and other conflicts where Egypt has been instrumental in fostering negotiations for peace. Egypt had registered tremendous successes and developments across all sectors. The country had built a strong economy which unfortunately became threatened by the tumultuous challenges we have been experiencing. President Al Sisi has started a very ambitious plan aimed at creating a strong economy and socio-cultural society by applying practical and pragmatic measures to rebuild Egypt. Some of these measures, unfortunately, are painful for the Egyptian people. For instance reducing subsidies on fuel and electricity resulting in higher prices for fuel and energy; he is also targeting the health and education sectors meaning more resources are being channeled to this effect on a priority basis. But, we do support these measures as we are aware that they are for the good of the people of Egypt. In terms of governance, the people have become more assertive and participatory in the affairs of their country. Egypt was the epicenter of Africas liberation from colonialism. Do we still see Egypt provide the platform for Africas liberation, mainly socio-economic liberation? Much of Africa today is out of the shackles of colonialism, and the biggest effort is on economic development which Egypt has been fostering across the continent. Yes, Egypt has provided direction and support for her African brothers and sisters politically, economically and socially, but the recent turmoil that has plagued the country has significantly affected Egypts capacities especially in the field of development cooperation. We are still re-organising ourselves internally so that we continue with the support to our brothers and sisters in Africa from a more effective perspective. Recently, President El Sisi announced the launching of the Egyptian Agency for Development which will focus primarily on helping our African brothers and sisters by providing technical assistance and expertise, grants, training opportunities, funding projects aiming to help in the cause of Africas development. How would you assess the relationship between Egypt and other regional countries, especially the Nile Basin nations? I state strongly that the Nile is fundamental to Egypt as it is its only source of water. It is also the lifeline of other Nile Riparian countries. What goes on along the Nile affects Egypt much as it affects Uganda, the two Sudans and other countries that depend on the Nile waters. Egypt for long has been key in supporting other countries to preserve the Nile and increase its capacities to meet the increasing needs of the riparian nations; therefore, Egypt cares to preserve with all other Nile Basin countries a healthy relationship. We have got one goal in common: to protect the Nile and boost its resources so that we all continue to benefit from it. Egypt is a regional powerhouse when it comes to modern agriculture and food production. How are you helping Uganda achieve her agricultural potential? We have been providing technical support to Ugandas agricultural sector. Every so often the government of Egypt sends agriculture experts to work closely with the Uganda Ministry of Agriculture to develop Ugandas agricultural potential. Even as we talk now there are training opportunities going on for Ugandan agriculturalists in Egypt sponsored by the government of Egypt. Secondly, our Minister of Agriculture visited Uganda last October and held talks with the Ministry of Agriculture officials and the Prime Minister of Uganda with a view to boost the cooperation in agricultural field such as model farms. Its no secret that Uganda has enormous agricultural potential which should be tapped to feed the whole region; with the increase in population across the continent, the demand for food will exponentially shoot up. There have been challenges in managing transitions from Hosni Mubaraks long rule to Mohammed Morsis short rule and finally to President El Sisis current leadership. How is Egypt prepared to move on in the new order of political stability? Egypt is already moving on; the good news is that we have got a new President who was elected overwhelmingly by the people, the people of Egypt are the ones who forced President El Sisi to contest for presidency. But what I want to stress is the fact that the nation of Egypt was threatened by extremist forces internally and externally for purposes of destabilizing the future progress of the country. The first step of the road map to achieve Egypts stability was the referendum on the formulated Constitution which divides powers among the President, the Prime Minister and Parliament. Apart from the terrorist threats of the dark forces that refuse the choice of the Egyptian people, we are having regular opposition political power. The Government maintains a civilized dialogue with these powers to ensure that democracy will properly prevail and all the people are getting involved in this democratic process to protect those democratic gains. Why did the people choose El Sisi as President and yet military men had messed up Egypt? Well, its not true that the military had messed up with the country, as most of the presidents in Egypt were of military background too. And it is the same case in many successful experiences around the world. But the case of President El Sisi was particular. The country was on the verge of collapsing, people lived in total fear, most of the countrys institutions started working against our wish. So it is the army that quickly rushed to respond to our call and save the Egyptians from an unknown dark future as they did so in 2011. After responding to the wish of the Egyptians, the army retreated paving the way for our revolution to decide. What we have faced in three and half years as Egyptians is unforgettable. Our existence as a nation was severely threatened internally and externally. We had forces who tried to enforce the rule of terror instead of respecting the rule of law. Externally, there were forces trying to jump and start dividing Egypt. The military faced these conspiracies, and the challenges related, and fortunately managed to disarm this plan that was designed to keep the country in perpetual anarchy. Talk about the successful achievement of the 2nd phase of the Egyptian roadmap through electing the new President. The roadmap consisted of three steps. The referendum on the new Constitution of 2012; a presidential election and parliamentary elections. We have succeeded in reformulating our Constitution, and successfully elected our president who was even chosen before the elections. What is left are the parliamentary elections which shall be held in the near future. As you mark these events, what should the rest of Africa expect from Egypt? President El Sisi said in Malabo recently that the Egyptian Revolution has inspired many African countries and that many positive developments will spring from Egypt. He also confirmed Egypts determination to launch new cooperative relations with the African continent. Such relations that really reflects the depth existing with our sincere African brothers, and respond to the hopes of these nations in its struggle towards proper development. What message do you have for the people and government of Uganda? For the government of Uganda, I have the honour to express a lot of appreciation from the Egyptian leadership and people. We can never forget that it is Uganda through President Yoweri Museveni that led the voice of reason when the international community and some African countries voted to suspend Egypt from AU membership. President Museveni in particular criticized the double standards applied to Egypt. Therefore, Egypt was keen not to halt its technical program with Uganda despite the immense troubles we were facing back home. Now we intend to expand and deepen the scope of collaboration and development for the mutual development of the two countries. Uganda and Egypt share a lot of similarities. It is Uganda who is playing the main role in pacifying the Great Lakes region by facing terrorism in Somalia, South Sudan, DR Congo, Central African Republic, Chad and among others. It is also Uganda that fostered peace talks in countries like Burundi and so forth. For Egypt, the same applies with regard to its role in pacifying the Middle East region and Egypts role in hosting most important peace efforts among Palestinians, with Israelis, among Sudanese factions and finally not to forget the vital role that Egypt played in facing the conspiracy related to the Arab spring as Uganda faced the same.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 13:35:10 +0000
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