The future of the Euro-Mediterannean security dialogue

X. How Egypt “thinks Mediterranean”? Joint military exercises and regional security
cooperation
Mohamed Kadry Said 1
In spite of the fact that the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) has almost no clear military
dimension, it is easy to realize that the level of security cooperation and mutual dialogue between
the EMP members is better than before even in military areas. There are more cooperative efforts
against terrorism, more initiatives in crisis escalation control, and more regular joint military
exercises between countries of the region.
In my brief presentation, focus will be directed to bilateral and multilateral joint military
exercises as one of the hottest measures of military and security cooperation. Joint training is
becoming more and more common between Euro-Mediterranean countries. Egypt regards such
activity as an important instrument of its regional security policy. Recently, between 9 October to
3 November 1999, a large scale multinational joint exercise Bright Star 99 have been staged in
Egypt near Alexandria, with the participation of 11 nations, 7 of them from the Barcelona
process. My aim is to stimulate discussion on such high-level military cooperation, although
some of us might argue that such activities are not precisely conducted within the EMP sphere.
From a confidence-building perspective, joint military exercises strengthen ties between
countries and personnel of the forces involved. They progressively help to unify language,
terminology and concepts required to carry out joint operations during war and peace. The
Egyptian wide scope programme for air, land, and sea joint exercises reflects Egypt’s interest in
sharing experience and building confidence with other Mediterranean partners. It is clear that the
programme expands in size and type of missions to serve the needs and interests of the
participating countries as well. It also creates diverse relations with different security actors like
NATO, WEU, the EU, and the US.
The multilateral Bright Star series in which Egypt plays a central role since 1981 is now
considered the largest joint exercise outside NATO. Conducted every two years, it presently
involves 11 countries: US, Egypt, France, UK, Germany, Italy, Greece, Netherlands, Kuwait,
Jordan, and United Arab Emirates. While Bright Star 97 included 58000 troops and seven
participating countries, Bright Star 99 included nearly 75000 sailors, soldiers, airmen, marines,
and focused on air, land and sea operations as well as command and control interoperability. It
has expanded into a major war game on a scale not seen since the 1990-1991 Gulf War. Bright
Star 99 saw also an amphibious landing on the Egyptian coast, air operations, surface-to-surface
engagements, and data sharing. The US Secretary of Defense William Cohen, British Secretary of
State for Defence Geoff Hoon, and Egyptian Defence Minister Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein
Tantawy attended certain phases of the exercise.
Another important example is the Cleopatra series of joint naval exercises, which started
in the Mediterranean in 1988 with the participation of Egypt and France. Italy has joined the
exercise in 1996. It includes joint planning, war games, lectures, debates, and seminars. The
principal naval missions exercised are terrorism fighting, rescue operations, fact-finding, ship
inspection and monitoring. The Cleopatra series can be considered as a “Mini Euro-Med”
military cooperation project that can be easily expanded to include other Euro-Med countries or
to merge with other defence activities in the area. Other bilateral joint training projects are
1 Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, Cairo.
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