Briefing Paper

Egypt’s Evolving Role in Africa: A Sub-Saharan Perspective; A presentation at the Institute of Diplomatic Studies, Cairo

“Talking about the role of a country in a specific region means, to a large extent, talking about its foreign policy vis-à-vis that region. One could therefore write the title of this presentation as “Egypt’s foreign policy towards Africa” or “Egypt’s African Policy”, and all these formulations will more or less mean that same thing. As it is clear from the title,this presentation will deal specifically with the role of Egypt in Sub-Saharan Africa through the lenses of a Sub-Saharan observer and analyst. However, given that there are many factors that a country must take into account in formulating its foreign policy
choices, I will start by analysing the main factors that inform Egypt’s foreign policy
actions vis-à-vis Africa.”