FRESH ASPHALT gleams on the palm-lined avenue leading to Cairo University where Barack Obama is to deliver his eagerly anticipated address to the Muslim world today.
Workers have been busy scrubbing pavements and anything else likely to be seen by Obama as he arrives to make a speech intended to scrape away from US-Muslim relations the thick grime of mistrust accumulated over the eight years in which George W Bush was president.
“Events like this do not happen frequently in international relations,” said Abdel Moneim Said, head of the Cairo-based Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. “This is as big as Nixon’s visit to China. After eight years of talk about the clash of civilisations, this guy comes to an Islamic country to make a point about our shared humanity.”
Obama has made it clear he wants a new chapter in US-Muslim relations based on “respect” and shared interests. In the Arab world he will be speaking to a largely receptive audience, albeit one that wants to see how his words will translate into actions.
“So far Obama has sent several positive signs,” said Jamal Khashoggi, editor of Al Watan newspaper in Saudi Arabia. “I believe he will try to rearrange the relations with the Muslim world and fight terrorism in a more rational way.” The address will be closely watched for signs of a willingness to put pressure on Israel and to implement a serious plan for Middle East peace. A survey of six Arab countries by polling agency Zogby International found 45 per cent of Arabs had a positive view of the US president, but only 3 per cent had “a lot of confidence” in the US.– (Copyright the Financial Times Limited 2009)