Cameron Arrives in Egypt Unannounced to Urge Democracy
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron urged Egypt’s military rulers to bring opposition leaders into the government and end a state of emergency to demonstrate their desire to move toward democracy after the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak.
“We want them to complete this transition,” Cameron told reporters in Cairo after talks with the military and opposition figures. “It’s quite right, as a friend of Egypt, to ask lots of questions about how, when and where. That’s what I did. If Egypt can make this transition, it will have a huge positive and useful impact elsewhere.”
The premier arrived in Cairo this afternoon on an unannounced visit amid escalating tension in the Middle East, with security forces attacking anti-government protesters in Egypt’s neighbor, Libya, and Iran planning to send warships through Egypt’s Suez Canal. Oil rose to a two-year high and gold climbed above $1,400 an ounce.
Cameron’s visit to Egypt was the first by a Western leader since Mubarak fell on Feb. 11. Anti-government protests that led to the ousting of Tunisia’s president last month have spread across the region from Algeria to the Gulf. The premier, who’s also seeking to boost trade on a regional tour, is counting on greater economic and political openness to increase stability. Later today, he arrived in Kuwait.
‘Evolving Societies’
“British foreign policy is focused on identifying emerging markets, and they’re throwing their weight behind the idea that emerging markets are also evolving societies,” Claire Spencer, the head of the Middle East and Africa section at the Chatham House research institute in London, said in a telephone interview. “Doing business with them doesn’t mean keeping existing systems in place, especially if it means denying opportunities to a new generation.”
Mubarak stepped down Feb. 11 after 30 years of autocratic rule, bowing to the demands of protesters who occupied Tahrir Square in central Cairo for 18 days. Egypt’s army dissolved the country’s parliament and suspended the constitution, pledging to hold elections in the Arab world’s most populous country.
“The more you let opposition members into the government, the more you can take your time over elections,” Cameron said. “You can only take that time if people have confidence that there is a genuine transition taking place.”
The prime minister said the opposition leaders he met were “genuinely inspiring. These are people who’ve risked a huge amount for what they believe in. It made me think we should do as much as we can to make sure this transition is a successful one.”
Muslim Brotherhood
Cameron held talks with Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, and Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, as well as leaders of the protests that ousted Mubarak, though he didn’t meet with representatives of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood movement.
As Cameron visited Cairo, the rulers of Libya and Yemen vowed to stand firm in the face of opposition protests. Saif al- Islam Qaddafi, one of the sons of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, who’s held power since 1969, called on demonstrators to engage in dialogue or face civil war.
Security forces and protesters fought overnight in the capital, Tripoli, the Associated Press said, citing witnesses. Protesters in Benghazi, the second-biggest city, claimed to have taken control after violent clashes yesterday, the AP said. Human Rights Watch put the number of dead in the Libyan protests at more than 200.
“What’s happening in Libya is completely appalling and unacceptable,” Cameron said on the plane from London to Cairo. The protesters “want to see that country make progress -- one of the most closed and autocratic.”
Ambassador Summoned
The Libyan ambassador in London was summoned to the Foreign Office today, U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters in Brussels. Hague spoke by telephone yesterday with Saif Qaddafi “to express our strong disapproval of the use of force against protesters.”
West Texas Intermediate oil in New York gained as much as 2.5, trading up 2.4 percent at 10:40 a.m. in New York. Gold rallied for a sixth day, climbing 1.1 percent.
Cameron’s Middle East tour is aimed at promoting trade, something he’s put at the heart of U.K. foreign policy.
The conflict between building business ties with governments and pushing for democracy and human rights has been highlighted by a British review of licenses to export arms to the region. The U.K. revoked permits for sales to Libya and Bahrain, where security forces also opened fire on protesters.
‘Very Important’
“The Gulf and North Africa is a very important region for the U.K.,” Cameron said. “We’ve got very important trading relationships that we want to expand. We’ve got a very important security relationship that we need to sharpen and increase. Political and economic reform don’t run counter to those other two objectives. Greater openness, greater reform and democracy lead to greater stability.”
Security will be the third focus of Cameron’s tour, according to his office. He raised with the Egyptian government its approval of a request from Iran to send two warships through the Suez Canal on their way to Syria.
The United Nations has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear development. The U.K., along with the four other permanent UN Security Council members and Germany, have been holding talks with Iran to push it to abandon the program. U.K. Defense Secretary Liam Fox said last month the West should be prepared for Iran to develop a working nuclear weapon by next year.
The 120-mile (190-kilometer) Suez Canal carries about 2.5 percent of world oil output, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and is a key route for ships carrying Asian consumer goods to Europe.
The waterway is a historical sore point between the U.K. and Egypt. It was built by the British and the French in the 19th century, and the Egyptian decision to nationalize it in 1956 provoked both countries to invade. They pulled out after the U.S. refused to back their action.
To contact the reporters on this story: Robert Hutton in Cairo at rhutton1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Eddie Buckle at ebuckle@bloomberg.net
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