Vital Partner

Building the Cairo connection

In tight formation, the twelve Phantom F-4E jets streaked in low over the Pyramids of Giza, then banked in a sharp descent to land at Cairo West airbase. After a 13-hr, flight from Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, the American fighters were joining a sister squadron of 35 Egyptian Phantoms for three months of joint maneuvers. The training exercises, first to be held by American forces in the Middle East in several years, were a striking symbol of Egypt's emergence as a vital partner of the U.S. in the region.

Since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's historic peace mission to Jerusalem nearly three years ago, the relationship has blossomed. During the aborted attempt to rescue the American hostages in Iran three months ago, Sadat permitted U.S. C-130 transports as well as rescue troops to use Egypt as a staging area, and he has said he would do so again. As many as a dozen official U.S. delegations pass through Cairo each month, not to mention a steady flow of American politicians, businessmen and tourists. U.S. development aid is pouring into Egypt at the rate of $100 million per month. During the next five years, Washington plans to send more than $4 billion worth of arms to Egypt to replace antiquated Soviet equipment. Besides the 35 Phantoms that arrived last fall, the Egyptians are buying 40 F-16 fighters, 800 armored personnel carriers, 244 M-60A tanks, 86 tank recovery vehicles, twelve patrol boats and an improved Hawk air-defense system.

This strengthened relationship comes at a time when Egypt is basking in a spell of peace-induced prosperity. Thanks to the return of the Sinai oilfields, which Israel had held since the 1967 war, Egypt is now pumping 625,000 bbl. of oil per day, and this year will earn $2 billion in petroleum export revenues. Suez Canal tolls should amount to nearly $1 billion by next year, and Egyptian workers abroad currently send $2 billion per year back home. Overall, the rise in foreign-exchange earnings, from $2.6 billion in 1975 to $7 billion in 1979, has produced an impressive economic growth rate of 8.5%. However, it has brought 25% inflation, fast-rising housing costs and a greater-than-ever disparity between rich and poor.

Some U.S. military officials fear that the ties could loosen in response to mutual frustrations. As one example, they note that many of the 1,600 buses the U.S. provided for Egypt's chaotic transport system two years ago have broken down, either through bad maintenance or overloading; some arrived in Egypt without mufflers and produced a grating roar that Cairenes cynically refer to as the "voice of America." U.S. military officials are also concerned about the ability of Egypt's armed forces--considered the best in the Arab world--to cope with the complex U.S. weaponry that will replace the country's aging Soviet guns and tanks. Some U.S. diplomats worry about how the alliance would hold up if Sadat were to be toppled in a coup, or to die without a clearly defined successor.

Beyond that, America's Cairo connection is threatened by the lack of progress on the Egyptian-Israeli negotiations over Palestinian autonomy. Delegates from each side last week ended three days of preliminary talks, unable even to reach agreement on the agenda, with visceral expressions of hostility. At issue was the status of Jerusalem. As U.S. Delegate Herbert Hansell listened in obvious discomfort, Egyptian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Butros Ghali told reporters in Cairo that "Jerusalem is an integral part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and Israel refuses to discuss it." Israeli Minister of Justice Shmuel Tamir tartly responded that "Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and therefore it is not a matter to be negotiated at the autonomy talks." Sadat was reported to have ruled out another meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Said Sadat: Because of Begin's "wounding personal attack on me," in which the Israeli leader accused the Egyptian President of retreating from the Camp David peace process, "there is no place for another summit meeting between us at this tune." qed

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