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The recent upsurge in
sea piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean has had ripple
effects on many countries. Because it owns and controls the Suez Canal,
Egypt is one of the countries most affected by these criminal
activities. Naturally, one would expect Egypt to have a lot to say, or
to show some leadership, on this matter. So what has Egypt done
regarding this issue? The answer is: very little. It organized a
conference in Cairo, for the Red Sea countries, in November last year,
which was attended by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Sudan, Djibouti and
Yemen. Reports from this conference indicate that like so many Arab
conferences it was a waste of time. Instead of focusing on the problem
at hand and what their governments were going to do about it, the
participants were busy figuring out why Eritrea did not attend the
conference, and how come no Israeli ship was hijacked even though the
Israeli Zim Lines use these waters.
The participants did agree on a few points. One, that piracy is a
serious problem and must be tackled. Two, that piracy has to do with the
lawlessness in Somalia. Three, that the Red Sea itself is free of piracy
and the participants in the conference do not want international forces
to enter the Red Sea in pursuit of pirates and should leave the security
of the Red Sea to the countries of the Red Sea.
It is hard to disagree with the first two points. But the third point is
puzzling. It is true that piracy has not yet reached the upper part of
the Red Sea but there is no doubt that piracy has already affected the
lower part of the Red Sea. Moreover, once the lower part of the Red Sea
is affected that means the upper part, too, is indirectly affected.
Therefore, point number three is only half true.
Even if the international community leaves combating piracy in the Red
Sea to the countries of the Red Sea, are these countries willing and
able to take care of this problem. The answer is no. Egypt knows this,
but instead of facing its impotence it is resorting to rhetoric and
diversionary tactics such as: how come piracy is still taking place
despite the presence of naval forces from several countries; and how
come no Israeli ship has been hijacked.
As expected, at the end of the conference, another conference was
scheduled to be held in Djibouti this month; before that a conference is
to be held in Yemen in order to prepare for the Djibouti conference; and
so it goes. Amazingly enough, instead of taking his own government to
task for failing to come up with a coherent and realistic approach to
the problem or just plain admitting that there was nothing it could do
about it, an Egyptian reporter for Ruz al-Yusuf who reported on the
conference found it relevant to point to his readers the Djiboutian
ambassador’s poor Arabic.
There is nothing wrong with caring about the Arabic language. We only
wish the Egyptian journalist and his government were more honest about
piracy.
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