Dina Ezzat observes as Amr Moussa gets ready to run for the Egyptian presidency He might get it, which is likely, and he might, which is a possibility. Whatever happens, Amr Moussa will be a candidate in Egypt's next presidential elections. The current secretary-general of the Arab League is already getting strong support from many quarters -- representatives of the 25 January Revolution, political activists, intellectuals and individuals from various walks of life. "I believe Amr Moussa would make a good president because he has a long political experience. He is known for his national positions and for his ability to deal with Egyptian and foreign issues," said Yasmine, a 23-year-old activist. Yasmine spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly hours after having attended a meeting with one of the many foreign officials who recently visited Cairo to assess political developments on the ground. Yasmine said she was asked directly by the foreign official who she thought would make a good candidate for the Egyptian presidency. "I said Amr Moussa; others said so too, but there were some who also spoke of [Mohamed] El-Baradei and others." Speaking to the Weekly in Tahrir Square on Sunday evening, Hassan, a 25-year-old activist said he is not in favour of Moussa. The rationale of Hassan is much deeper than the impressions offered by Yasmine. "Moussa is part of the former regime; a good part or a bad part is not the question. We want a reshuffle of the whole regime, with the good and the bad," he said. Hassan continued: "Yes, Mubarak got rid of him from the Foreign Ministry (which he headed during the 1990s) because he was getting popular, but does this mean that Moussa was opposed to Mubarak or was just more popular than Mubarak, who was never popular in the first place?" Hassan is also concerned about the real stand of Moussa on the revolution. "He expressed support much later, and his support was not unconditional, and when a group of us went to meet him he suggested to them to accept a compromise by which Mubarak would have completed his term in office," he said. What Yasmine wants is someone who could represent the ideas and ideals of the Egyptian revolution but who could still be able to deal with state bodies, she said. What Hassan wants is someone who could represent the true values of the revolution, and "not someone who would join the revolution to promote his own agenda". Between those who perceive Moussa as a good presidential candidate and those who argue otherwise there are many who have not made up their minds and are waiting to see what Moussa will have to offer in his platform, when he announces his candidature. Moussa is keeping his cards close to his chest, but many official and independent sources that met with him recently insist in clear terms that he is getting ready to run a presidential campaign. According to one independent source that met Moussa after the constitutional amendments, "before the amendments were announced, Moussa was apprehensive to talk openly, even to those who visited him offering all forms of support for his future campaign. He was not sure whether the amendments would put an age limit that he might not be able to meet. Now he is more open about his plans, but of course he likes to say things like he is still pondering the wisdom of the move." Moussa is 74 years old. A graduate of the Cairo University Faculty of Law, he joined the foreign service in the heydays of pan-Arabism, a concept that he subscribes to on the basis that no single Arab country can shine on its own, while all Arab countries could gain a good standing if they coordinate their interests. During his years at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Moussa was liked by many, but not all. Some thought he was intelligent and capable, while others ventured to call him a political opportunist. What admirers and critics of Moussa agree on is that he has incredible charisma -- qualified by adversaries as the key he uses to reach people's hearts, rather than his political positions. "It is a blend," said a retired diplomat who served closely with Moussa. "Yes, he has incredible charisma, and of course that helps any diplomat and any politician, but he is also a man with dignity and I stand witness to certain positions where he was firmly called off by the [former] president [Hosni Mubarak] for daring to oppose the president's plans on a wide range of issues, especially those related to the Arab-Israeli conflict," he added. It is the firmness that Moussa tried to apply towards Israel that got him considerable popularity, and it is this popularity that got him on the wrong side of Mubarak, according to a former presidential team official. "Moussa was getting very confident with the growing public support, and with people openly saying he should be appointed vice president, and some of Mubarak's long serving aides were getting uncomfortable with the good chemistry between [Mubarak] and Moussa," said the same source. It was in 1996 specifically, said this source, that the "lobby to exit Moussa off stage started to work. They worked on the [former] president, telling him that Moussa was a threat, and they worked on the younger son of the [former] president, telling him that he could be a good candidate for the presidential post." "The two things worked together, and ultimately the president got very impatient with Moussa and decided to get rid of him," added the same source. On 11 February 2001 the news was leaked to Al-Ahram daily that Moussa, at the time a very popular foreign minister, would be Egypt's candidate for the post of Arab League secretary-general. Ten years later, on 11 February 2011, Omar Suleiman, the former vice president, announced that Mubarak agreed to step down in the wake of 18 days of mass demonstrations against him. On 12 February, Moussa was at his Tahrir Square Arab League office, hearing demonstrators calling on him to run for president. "He is certainly one of the very obvious options, and we were a little apprehensive about the policies on Israel, if only to appease the street, and this is something he quite likes to play with," said a US diplomat who asked for his name to be withheld. American apprehension on Moussa was also influenced in the early days following the ouster of Mubarak by Israel's concern. Today, this concern is largely eliminated. The army is the ultimate guarantor of the peace treaty with Israel and Moussa himself told a recently visiting US assistant secretary of state that he thinks it is irrational to tamper with this pact with Egypt's neighbour. "Moussa was never opposed to the idea of peace with Israel; he was actually convinced at the time of the peace negotiations that this is the only way to regain [the] occupied [Egyptian] territories," said a currently serving Egyptian diplomat. What Moussa was opposed to, according to the same diplomat is "the spineless posture advised by some towards Israel and the US". This diplomat parted ways with Moussa since the latter came to the head the Arab League. He says, however, that during Moussa's 10 years at the helm of the Arab organisation he did not refrain much from meeting with Israeli officials in international events, and that he privately met with senior Israeli officials during these years on the fringe of several international meetings. This week, two leading US senators visited Moussa to inquire about his position: Democrat Joseph Lieberman and Republican John McCain. "This visit is a clear message from the US that they are willing to do business with Moussa, and so are we," said a Cairo-based European diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. With the elimination of Nobel Laureate Ahmed Zuweil from running, due to his dual nationality as an Egyptian- American citizen, Moussa's clear opponent is likely to be Nobel Laureate El-Baradei, one of the first figures to call for political reform in Egypt. Both will be tough competition for the other.
