As Egypt was counting down to the opening of its most impressive cultural event, the GEM, several world leaders were confirming their planned participation in this top, possibly unique moment when Egypt’s unmatched Pharaonic heritage is to be displayed in elegance and grandeur.
“The presidency put out invitations for all the Arab and world leaders with whom Egypt has close relations, but clearly due to the individual schedules not all of them will be making it. However, we expect no less than 50 to 55 leaders from the Arab world, Africa, and the rest of the world to show up for the event,” said a government official.
He added that while some will be in town for the few-hour opening ceremony, some will arrive earlier, and others will stay longer.
“For sure as of Thursday [30 October], Egypt will start to unroll the red carpet for visiting dignitaries, not just world leaders but also vice presidents and top cultural figures and leading Egyptologists who have also been invited,” the government source added.
He said that while some will be staying at the residences of their respective embassies, others will be hosted luxuriously at some of the city's five-star hotels, including those closest to the GEM, which will open on 1 November.
According to the same government official, some of the participating leaders will be received by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi “in a gesture of friendship and hospitality.” Others, he added, will be received by the prime minister or other cabinet ministers.
Those whom the president will receive, he said, will have a chance for an encounter with the head of state, either at the airport upon their arrival, or later, “depending on the scheduling.” “Of course, these encounters offer a catch-up moment for political consultation, depending on the issues.”
According to the list of political priorities that informed sources indicate, there are five issues that President El-Sisi is closely following: the situation in Gaza, the situation in Sudan, developments in the growing tension between Israel and Lebanon, energy cooperation, and Mediterranean security.
“For sure there is still considerable worry over the situation in Gaza, with all the Israeli strikes that hit Gaza targets including inside the yellow line,” said an informed diplomatic source. The "yellow line" is the designated defining line that separates the east and west of Gaza, and consequently the areas where the Israeli occupation army pulled out its troops from and the areas where the Israeli military is still present.
Since the ceasefire for Gaza went into effect on 10 October, the Israeli occupation army has killed around 100 Palestinians, allegedly to avert potential security threats.
Those Palestinians killed and the many other Palestinians wounded included many children and women.
Senior US officials who visited Israel last week, including the vice president, secretary of state, special envoy to the Middle East, and special adviser to the US president, have all expressed confidence that the ceasefire will withstand any hiccups.
“It is true that the visiting US officials have all pressed [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu that he needs to commit to give the ceasefire a serious chance, but this does not necessarily mean that Netanyahu would accommodate this US wish,” said the same informed diplomatic source.
He added that during the days following the announcement of the ceasefire, in the wake of the talks that were hosted in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh to secure the deal, Egyptian officials have been continuously engaging with Palestinians and Israelis to ensure the sustainability of the ceasefire deal and to give it a future horizon.
He also noted that Egypt’s intelligence chief, Hassan Rashad, visiting Israel last week, was only one of the many meetings Rashad and other senior Egyptian officials, particularly Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, are holding to consolidate the ceasefire.
He stated that with Egypt planning to host an international conference on early recovery in Gaza, possibly two to three weeks after the 1 November opening of the GEM, President El-Sisi is sure to engage concerned visiting world leaders about the humanitarian and pre-reconstruction schemes for Gaza, especially with the advent of winter.
He said other issues require consultations, including Egypt’s wish for a UN Security Council resolution to outline the phases and implementation of the Gaza ceasefire, particularly regarding the proposed International Stabilization Force based on guidelines suggested by US President Donald Trump to end the war.
“We know that after having retrieved all the living 20 Israeli captives that were kept in Gaza, Netanyahu might be less hesitant about restarting the war, even if at a lower intensity,” the same source said. Egypt, he added, is firmly lobbying international support to consolidate the ceasefire.
As the ceasefire went into effect, Hamas agreed to hand over the remaining 20 living captives that had been in Gaza since 7 October.
The bodies of fewer than 30 other captives who died while in captivity were handed over to Israel after being recovered from the debris across Gaza, following two years of Israeli bombardment that international bodies have described as genocidal.
Meanwhile, according to another diplomatic source, there is considerable unease in Cairo and other regional capitals over Netanayhau’s “intentions vis-à-vis Lebanon.” Since the beginning of the Gaza ceasefire, Israel has intensified its strikes against south Lebanon, with the claims that Hezbollah is still gearing up strength south of the Litani River.
According to a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah on 27 November to end the war that started on 8 October 2023, as Hezbollah acted in support of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah was supposed to suspend all operations south of the Litani River.
However, according to an international diplomatic source informed on Lebanon, the claims of Hezbollah activities that Israel had promoted to justify its escalated Israeli strikes that had “at times gone north of the Litani.”
Since the ceasefire went into effect, Israel has never suspended its strikes fully. Nor had Israel fully withdrawn its military presence from the spots it had occupied in South Lebanon.
Amid its escalation against South Lebanon since the Gaza ceasefire went into effect, Israel killed a leading Hezbollah figure.
This week, more than one diplomatic source said that Netanyahu is setting the stage for a considerable military escalation on the Lebanese front. According to these sources, with the level of pressure that Trump has been putting on Netanyahu to stick to the ceasefire in Gaza, Netanyahu is acting on another front.
The concern over a considerable military escalation against South Lebanon is certainly felt in Cairo.
“We are talking with our partners, especially the French and the Americans and we are warning that a new war in Lebanon will be disruptive to regional security and could actually restart a whole new episode of regional tension,” said the first government source.
Meanwhile, he said that for Egypt, the current concern is not only about Gaza and Lebanon to the east, but also about Sudan to the south.
Stability in Sudan remains elusive despite what he described as “a significant Egyptian success in using all political channels” to support the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) “as the national army” against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the conflict that began in mid-April 2023.
According to an informed Sudanese source, “Egypt’s direct support and its lobbying of support” for the SAF was consequential in the ability of the Sudanese army, under Abdel-Fattah Al-Borhan, to regain control of large segments of land that had been taken over initially by the RSF under the leadership of Al-Borhan’s former close ally Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, “who receives considerable support and arms from countries in East Africa and from [an Arab state].”
This source argued that, to support the SAF, Egypt had secured strong regional and international backing. “I think Egypt worked a lot to pass the message on the need to support [SAF] as part of supporting the state institutions of Sudan,” he said.
He added that Washington was one of the capitals that received this message.
Earlier this week, Washington hosted indirect talks between representatives of the RSF and SAF under the supervision of the Quad that, along with the US, brings together Egypt, KSA, and the UAE.
A source close to the talks in Washington said on Sunday that minimal progress had been made. He added that Egypt is planning to follow up on these talks.
He argued that this will happen “irrespective of the developments on the ground,” including the increasing strikes that the RSF has been launching at the Khartoum International Airport and its takeover of El-Fasher in the west of Sudan.
According to the first Egyptian government source, developments in Sudan are expected to figure prominently in consultations on the sidelines of the GEM.
He added that with the recent meetings and calls that President El-Sisi and Foreign Minister Abdelattay have been having with European partners, including El-Sisi’s heading of the first Egyptian-European Summit, which convened in Brussels on 22 October, plans for cooperation on energy and Mediterranean security are expected to be reviewed with European leaders who are participating in the top cultural event of the year.
He said Egypt is now moving beyond its “successful plan” to be a hub for LNG to becoming a mega exporter of electricity to Europe. He added that Egypt’s close cooperation with Cyprus and Italy in particular is essential on this front.
On 15 October, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly oversaw the signing of an agreement with K&K, an Emirati company, to conduct final studies for a planned electricity interconnection project between Egypt and Europe.
During the Egypt–EU Summit in Brussels the following week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Europe is committed to strengthening energy cooperation with Egypt as part of the new strategic and comprehensive partnership.
Falling under the same partnership and under the North-South Mediterranean Partnership mechanism is the pursuit of Mediterranean security. This covers the "management" of undocumented emigration from Africa to Europe. It also covers the management of types of trafficking, including human trafficking.
According to the same government official, a “new axis of cooperation” is being consolidated between Egypt and Europe. “This for sure includes matters of energy and Mediterranean security, but it also includes other forms of cooperation, including cultural cooperation for sure.”
The same government official said that ultimately, a key guest for Egypt in this event is Japan, a key cultural donor whose support had helped with GEM and previously with the Egyptian Opera House.
Speaking on Saturday, the source said he could not confirm whether Japan’s recently appointed prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, will be present for the big opening.
However, last week, Japanese Ambassador to Egypt Iwai Fumio hosted a significant event to mark the upcoming opening, which culminates decades of Egypt-Japan cultural cooperation.
In a statement at the event, Fumio recalled that Egypt and Japan first agreed to collaborate on the museum project in 2003, describing the GEM as “a one-of-a-kind museum dedicated to a single civilization, that of the Pharaohs.”
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